[B-Chan]

Which probably bears out Max Weber's theory as to why the countries of northern and western Europe—England, Holland, Germany, etc.—prospered and outstripped the "Old Europe" of that time which remained Catholic.

Really? What about Catholic Bavaria? Catholic Austria? Catholic Spain? Catholic France? Catholic Italy? Catholic Portugal? The last time I checked these nations were pretty prosperous -- and the problems they do have are neither a result of their Catholic religious heritage nor unique to non-Protestant societies.

Catholic Europe has had no monopoly on being backward: "backwards" Catholic Spain and Portugal conquered the world while the "advanced" Protestant English were busy chopping off Thomas Moore's head.

The Protestant principle of the "priesthood of believers"...

This is not a uniquely Protestant doctrine.

...carries with it the inherent implication that all of us are created equal and that the divine dignity of being made in His image extends to all people.

False dichotomy. The Catholic Church has continuously affirmed the eternal truth that all men are created equal in the eyes of God and that the divine dignity of being made in His image extends to all people. No organization on earth has promoted the idea of the intrinsic equality and dignity of the human being under God than has the Catholic Church. It was the utilitarian Protestant ethic that gave us sweatshop labor, Marxism, and the general idea of people as disposable economic production units ("proletarians", or the capitalist corollary "human resources"), not to mention abortion, euthanisia, and the idea that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice instead of the filthy abomination that it is. The Catholic ethic of the common weal is all that stands between the weakest and most helpless among us and the Soylent Green processing plant.

However, while championing the equal dignity of the individual human life as a creation of God, Catholic social teaching emphatically does not promote the Protestant and humanistic notion that all men are equal in ability as well. Common sense teaches us that some people are born athletes, some are born intellectuals, and some are born leaders -- and that this charisma tends to run in families. (Look no further than the White House for a prime example). In addition, traditional Christianity teaches that God establishes some men in authority over others. In fact, the very idea upon which the "reformation" was based -- the atomstic individualism of Martin Luther -- goes against the explicit teaching of both Our Lord and St. Paul, who says in the thirteenth chapter of his epistle to the Romans

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.

For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.

Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

I see nothing in the Apostle's letter indicating that Christians have the right to rebel, revolt, or rule themselves in matters of church or state. On the contrary: both the Apostle and Our Lord teach us by word and deed that supplication to extant authority is the way of the Cross.

The Protestant worship of atomistic individualism, rebellion against authority, and the deified pagan goddess of Liberty may be psychologically satisfying to those of us raised in the post-"enlightement" age of secular humanism, but let us not fool ourselves that such affection has anything in common with traditional and orthodox Christianity; after all, it was individualism and rebellion that earned the human race the "liberty" of choosing to go to Hell.