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

[rug]

48. I hope you permanently leave Santa Claus out of what is otherwise an interesting discussion.

Chiefly because the challenges to Santa Claus are clearly naturally, foremost of which is how does he fit through a chimney.

Discussion of a god and creation is not that simplistic.

The answer to 1) does the universe have a cause is either yes or no. If there answer is no, then explain it naturally. (We don't know yet is not an answer.) If the answer is yes, then, aside from being consistent within everything we know within nature, then the question is, by what. Which leads us to

2) what caused it? To give an explanation in nature, the only honest answer is, we don't know. (Again, adding "yet" does not make it an answer but a statement of hope, if not faith, in science.) To give an answer outside of nature, i.e., extra- or supernatural answer, it is not unreasonable to consider the notion of a creator. Which does not lead inexorably to

3) there must be an uncaused cause. That is simplistically linear. A more apt inquiry is existence versus nonexistence or, to steal a phrase, being and nothingness. Which again leads us to the notion of a creator, which does not necessarily mean an anthropomorphic god. If you remove yourself from blind linear thinking, you needn't arrive, triumphantly or reluctantly, at 4. Instead you arrive at

5) what are attributes of a creator? Whereupon you have arrived at theology, which has a mixed history of thousands of years.

There is nothing simplistic, childish, deranged or triumphant about the process. Unless, of course, you're simply having an emotional reaction to religion. I can't help you with that.