Bishops adopt guideline

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops convened their meeting with several policies either created or solidified; The quote that i have issue with however is none of their "decrees";. My problem is with a statement attributed to Bishop Arthur Serratelli, chairman of the bishops' doctrine committee, which was "To be a Catholic requires a certain choice." If that were true in its entirety then I would be fine with it. After all, religion should be a choice. But is it? Sure you can pick and choose whatever religion you like, or try them all on for size if you like, but the fact is that the first choice isn't made by you.; In most cases it is made by your parents and a part of you if forever stuck with that choice. How so? Well I can only speak for Catholics because that is what my parents picked for me. Once you are baptized Catholic and entered on their "official" rolls, you will forever be counted among the 1 billion plus members of Catholicism. This is true no matter if you request excommunication, change to another religion or choose to believe in no religion. Why does this matter? Shouldn't the fact that you have found a "happy place" be all that matters? Yes, and no. Unfortunately we live in a world with the motto "he who dies with the most toys wins" or in this case the most members. Membership numbers are important, because they translate into dollars from the government.; It also translates into power. Lets face it when the pope speaks, world leaders listen; why? Because hes assumed to represent over 1 billion people.+; That's a perceived powerful man. So the next time you think of religion, remember the number can be an illusion, as can be the perception of power of its leader. After all when contraception is banned under Catholicism, but only 4% of its members adhere to that rule, how influential is their leader really?
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