Joe,

Grishka says: Science should care for science, religion for religion, and ethics for ethics

I dunno, Grishka, I think the three would be better off if they were to consult with one another and learn from each other.

First of all, they should not be confused with each other, and should not interfere with each other. There are connections, of course, but they are more subtle than traditional language tends to suggest. I could mention art as a fourth such entity. I think we agree that religion and science have their separate realms, but I do not agree with you that religions are based on the Golden Rule. Theologians and philosophers should have sufficient knowledge of sciences, religion, and ethics, to avoid undue interference and to find out the connections.

Religion - in an abstract sense - can make us sensitive for ethical questions, but it cannot possibly answer them. A sentence like "Human life is a gift of God" is more or less a flowery variant of "We attribute maximal ethical value to human life". The specific problem of traditionally-minded Christian clergy is that they wish to retain their historic predecessors' monopoly on all kind of intellectual work, notably including ethics, whereas in fact they have strong competition by other intellectuals. Congregations want their clergy to generally enforce a moral point of view, notably besides their originary role in proper religion, but many do not accept such a monopoly.

Rapparee tells us

I have 12 years of pre-Vatican II Catholic religious teaching, and two years of Latin.

I have no idea of the contents of "Gaudium et spes" or "Familiaris consortio"

which I judge as yet one more indication that being instructed about subtleties of ethics is not what believers primarily seek from their clerics.

Also, like other propagandists of ethics, part of the clergy have always abused their power for unethical activities. This does not necessarily make their ethics wrong in itself, but lessens the authority of their institutions. A more modest public appearance of the clergy, comparable to democratic politicians, would enhance their acceptance. The present pope may be about to do a step in that direction - a long way lies ahead. Some other denominations are much more advanced - which does not mean that they are any laxer in their ethics, just less dogmatic.

Generally, we should not confuse "organized religion" (i.e. religious congregations) and their clergy and theology.