Religion.

I was talking to someone today about the new pope--he seems like a politico to me, whereas JPII seemed like a spiritual man who had to do some politics--when she started talking to me about how there will be no peace on earth this side of the final judgement, because of the power of Satan on earth to cause war, which is always evil, except that sometimes you have to do it anyway.

Dude.

I told her I didn't know about all that, only that the new pope didn't measure up to JPII.

Bad thing: When people use religious doctrine irrelevantly to justify an opinion, i.e., that Pope Benedict is a good guy. I'm oversimplifying the train of thought, but I think that was the intent.

Good thing: That I'm no longer a recovering Catholic. I'm not Catholic. I'm not Christian. (To me, it'd be like saying I believe in ratchets and nothing but ratchets when I have a whole box of tools.) But I'm not bitter about it anymore; I don't need to defend myself from conversations that become illogical when religion is mentioned. I don't have to get angry about it anymore.

Now, Focus on the Family is a different story. They're hateful jerks, and if I were Christian, they'd probably make me even more angry than they do now.