How much contact have you had with the Catholic church Silverfox? I was brought up an athiest because my mum had been tortured by Catholic nuns. As far as I can tell, most of the anti-catholic feelings stated above come from ex-Catholics who understand how damaging the Catholic church is. I became a Christian in 2001 and have come to the conclusion that the Catholic church is very good at putting people off learning anything about Jesus. It seems to be based, not on the bible, but on the Catholic church. The centralised power structure of the Catholic church is one of things that allows these abuses to continue and the total reverence expected of their flock. I would like to add, that I know someone who worked in many African countries as a missionary and there has been the same degree of reverence imported into local Christian churches with the pastor and his wife being treated like royalty and abusing their positions in the same way. I think blind faith and elevation of church leaders (along with greed and love of power) are the necessary ingredients for this kind of abuse to become endemic in any religious order. The lack of sex for Catholic priests, though, does seem to give the Catholic church the edge in this area!