What's your opinion on Liberal Religion?

[Belacqua]

But looking at my upbringing I think it's understandable that I interpreted it that way, in the sense that my family's (Protestant) beliefs have always emphasised belief over custom/ritual/ceremony etc (as we've talked about elsewhere)... indeed the latter being generally frowned upon... 

I don't know your background, of course, but I suspect you've put your finger on something important here. 

Protestants, as you know, put much more emphasis on one's "personal relationship with God," including what one personally holds to be true about God.
 
Catholicism grew up in feudal times, when people were more comfortable with a hierarchy. What the experts held to be true about theological issues was a matter for experts, and the rank and file weren't expected to know. Any more than most I-phone users can explain how a touch screen works -- that's just something that specialists know and the rest of us just take for granted. 

Charles Taylor's book A Secular Age goes into a lot of the ramifications of the change in people's approach. He describes how particularly holy people were considered to be something like spiritual athletes -- really really good at things that the rest of us just don't have the talent for, just as there was never any chance that I'd compete in the Olympics. 

Obviously the Counter-Reformation and the challenge of Protestantism forced Catholics to adapt, but the difference in emphasis between one's assent-to-propositions and one's participation in rituals most likely remains. I imagine. 

But overall I may have overstated my case, for which I apologize. "Exaggerated for emphasis," as the diagrams used to say. I don't mean to claim that there has ever been a hard-and-fast split, in which what one holds to be true is irrelevant. I just think the description of religion as an early and failed version of science misunderstands the role that religion plays in people's lives.