While they may go off on some religious tangents, they do stick to the core beliefs of the Christian faith pretty closely. Our sacraments (the Church collectively, not just Catholicism) are more the superstitious nonsense to us. Holy Communion, also called the Eucharist, is a way for the Body to gather together, to share in a simple meal of bread and wine the body and blood of the Christ, and to be in communion with our fellow believers and with God. The remission of sins you refer to is the core belief of Christianity, that Christ by his virgin birth, death, and resurrection became the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb slain for the sin of the world. We hold that sin is death to the flesh. Because we sin, we are doomed to die. We believe that God became flesh and divine comingled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. We believe that he died on the cross to pay the price of our sin, which is death. We believe that in rising from the dead, Jesus broke the power of death over us and enabled the gift of eternal life to the redeemed. We believe that our faith in the free gift of God's mercy redeems us from sin, and that our works are a reflection of the new creature we are becoming on a daily basis when we follow Christ's example. We are not yet perfected, but we strive to that end. To call such a thing a "gutter religion" shows a decided lack of understanding, not something for me to hold agains you, but something for me to pray about. Satan blinds many, and I pray about that daily, that I might see more clearly as well, not just those around me. As for your assertion about the Church producing the Crusades and the Inquisition, I agree with you partially. I agree that certain people in the Church set these acts in motion, but I dispute that such things are from God. Such acts done by anyone (not just Christians) in the name of God are not in keeping with the faith. I regret their occurance, and I reject the assertion by those who did them that God approved of any of it.