There is a huge difference between what the Catholic church teaches and what people who wish to label themselves Catholics believe. It seems to me, at least here in Ireland, that it's all about supporting the home team.

The followers of say Gaelic Football (well it's just known as football here) have a certain mindset: you follow the team you were born into. It's as if it's a crucial aspect of your identity (though needless to say it's one I personally don't bother with).

For example: If you're a Mayo woman/man - born and bred - then you support the Mayo team despite the fact that you've lived in Westmeath for over 50 years. Oh sure you don't really follow the sport and on the rare occasion you do go to a match you certainly don't know all the chants nor do you actually care to learn them. You don't actually believe that the players on the team are much better than anyone else (you might consider most of them to be jerks), and you recognise that, objectively, the team is pretty shit but when it comes down to it, when it comes to the crunch, you support the home side.

Most people I know are self labeled Catholics and yet hold views that are worlds away from what the Vatican preaches is true Christianity, particularly on issues such as homosexuality, condoms, abortion, celibate priesthood, transubstantiation right down towards questioning the divinity of Jesus and the necessity of mass, confession and the priesthood. Most really just hold some vague notions of God (if indeed any notion at all) and some sort of concept of an afterlife mostly embellished with lashings of new-agey woo. It's something I am in some senses grateful for but still find exacerbating. In fact most of these nominal catholics would be reprimanded (and are routinely) by the church for straying but then, like the home team analogy, come census time the church itself is loathe to dismiss those who profess to be Catholics, they feel better when they've got at least the nominal support of the home crowd.

The only conclusion I can draw from all this about Christianity is that there seems to be as many Christianities as there are Christians and, by extension, as many religions as there are people. It's why I question the effectiveness of questioning specific doctrines. There'll always be someone who'll say, "But that's not MY belief as a Catholic/Mormon/Sunni..." What needs to be countered is the underlying irrationality of all superstitious belief... as well as helping people realise that you don't really have to support the home team.

Keith