is Rick Santorum more or less objectionable because he is a Roman Catholic?

[All Along The Watchtower]

What Santorum represents isn't that uncommon within "strict" Catholicism, but I would hardly call him representative.

[All Along The Watchtower]

To be honest patrick, I might be a bit less judgmental here if Catholics in general were less judgmental of others' choices and rights to make their own decisions.

Ironic coming from you, of course.

[All Along The Watchtower]

I think it's fairly clear that BRTD has no respect for either the philosophical tradition, or the cultural history of Catholicism and the role it plays/has played for many cultures.

It's one thing to disagree with religious teachings, it's another to be willfully obtuse and disrespectful of history, tradition, and culture.

[All Along The Watchtower]

What I find a little ironic about all this is that I believe PR was raised Methodist by a raised Catholic mother, meaning he should have more familiarity with people leaving the church.

The United Methodist Church has arguably more in common with the Catholic Church than it has with hipster evangelical Vineyard churches, but that's beside the point. In any case, I have Catholic relatives and friends who still find meaning in the Catholic Church's rituals and traditions, even though they don't agree with or follow the Church's teachings on any number of issues.

It has been pointed out to you that in places like Europe (and many locales in America, honestly) that people identify as "Catholic" or "Protestant" or "Jewish", etc. even though they are for all intents and purposes, secular or nominal in practice. Just because this supposedly isn't the case for people in the Upper Midwest (which I honestly am not so sure about, but whatever) doesn't mean that it isn't the case elsewhere. You don't have to be so narrowly provincial about this, or think that people are "stupid" because they find meaning in a religion other than personal religious belief.