that your own particular church is led by opportunist charlatans corrupted by power.

Damn, I hate it when people miss my nuances. I may well have said that some of the leaders of the Catholic Church are "opportunist charlatans corrupted by power," maybe even a "good number" of leaders, or "probably not but possibly a majority" - but I'm not likely to make a statement that is quite so broad-reaching as what Fionn attributes to me.

No, I don't have much admiration for the Pope, and I don't like his doctrine man, Cardinal Ratzinger. But I also contend that we are far too leadership-oriented in our assessment of societies and organizations. That discounts the value of individuals who do the actual work within the organization. The leaders are only part of the organism of an organization - and they are not always the most important part. Leaders are rarely admirable people - don't dismiss religion as worthless, simply because many religious leaders don't make the grade.

-Joe Offer-