....and it's been my experience that law and authority have very little effect on most people. Most people do what they want to do, and what they personally think is the right thing to do. They choose to associate with groups that reflect their values and norms, not the other way around.

I just don't buy this idea of "brainwashing" or of people conforming themselves to the dictates of church authority. Yes, there are religious orders within the Catholic Church that are authoritarian and require obedience. But usually people join these orders because they want to subject themselves to authoritarianism. God knows why....

In my two trips to Ireland, I saw religious authoritarianism and severity that made me retch. But it seemed to me that the people who practiced religion in that severe fashion, did so because they wanted to and not because it was forced upon them. MG has a very severe view of her Catholic faith, but it's something she has chosen.

On the other hand, I saw Catholic convents and parishes that were lively and loving and vibrant - and intellectually stimulating.

The same is true for Catholicism everywhere. Some Catholics choose authoritarianism, and authoritarianism is available to them (although I pity their poor children who have no choice in the matter). But many Catholics, not only in the United States, chose a gentler form of the Faith - and that, too, is available to them.

This won't satisfy Musket. He understands only uniformity. He believes that churches can't be churches unless they practice rigid uniformity - and then he loathes them because of that rigidity.

But the fact of the matter is that there is a wide diversity of thought and practice within the Catholic Church, as one might expect in a billion-member organization. And I freely admit that we have more than our fair share of assholes. I try to stay away from them.

-Joe-