Why is quitting the Catholic church spoken of as some type of drastic, hard step?

[Brettongarcia]

47. Bad Platonistic ideas found throughout More and "high" Christianity; the "Uncaused Cause"

But "higher" theology, following Plato and Platonism, had problems. And in the end, the very highest theologies are really as simple as belief in Santa Claus.

Consider this rather Platonistic theology of our Christian God, this argument for the existence of the universe, and/or of God: the assertion is that 1) the universe must have had a cause; 2) so what caused it? 3) There cannot be an infinite series of causes; there must be some original, ultimate cause, back there somewhere. If the universe had an ultimate cause or a maker (a problematic assertion in itself), then that cause must not itself have something that make it, in turn. The origin of the universe must have had an "uncaused cause." Something that was itself not caused.

And 4) so it is triumphantly asserted, that the universe must have an ultimate cause. And for various reasons, the most likely candidate would be God; God must be the "uncaused cause," (or "unmoved mover.&quot Thus 5) God exists.

But this elevated theological argument for the existence of God, is simply silly, said Bertrand Russell and others. It ends up begging dozens of relevant questions. Especially: WHERE DID GOD HIMSELF COME FROM (as Bertrand Russell objected). To say that he is "uncaused," is just to make a raw assertion; that he "just is." He just appeared out of nothing. And that appearing needs no explanation, it is asserted. But that is not logic, or a proof, at all; that is only raw, arbitrary, assertion. Or belief in magic; in conjuring. Things appearing out of thin air.

So in the end, this major argument for the origin of the universe and for God, this high theological argument ... is just as simple as the belief in any other magical trick. Or belief in invisible things that appear out of nothing. Or belief in a magical flying man in a red Santa suit.

And in fact, we can go through most of the most elevated theologies, the highest expressions of Christian spirit ... and find that at bottom, none of them ever really rise above the level of belief in Santa. And belief in magic.