What IS good, and how do we determine it?

[Randy Carson]

The Orthodox, like the Protestant denominations, caved in to pressure from its membership. Why? No pope.

Hardly a cave Randy, the Orthodox Church accepted contraception long before Protestantism even existed as it did Triadist divorce (that is, the ability to divorce and remarry in the Orthodox Church up to three times). It's Catholics who did a u-turn there as I'm sure any one of Father Seraphim's excellent apologetic sites can explain to you.

Nope. "Until about 1970, the Orthodox Church generally opposed the use of contraception." Wikipedia

And I've had the conversation with EO at CAF, so yeah, the EO finally gave in on contraception - but only very recently.

Now, I've read the rest of your post, but I'm not going to respond to each and every little point because of the amount of time it would take to refute it all. You may call it "running rings around me" if you like. It's just not how I want to spend the time that I have available.

You're just offering another version of "whack-a-mole" - played at a higher level because you've done some reading, obviously - but it's still the scatter shot type of anti-Catholic posting that enables you to assert a half a dozen points in a single post while chuckling to yourself because you know that a reasonable refutation of any one of them would require hours of work. (Interestingly, though, I notice the COMPLETE lack of references in your posts. You know that's not how the game is played. If you want to make a point, cite your source. I'm not saying you're making stuff up to impress the crowd, but I do like to fact-check occasionally. I'm sure you understand.)

All that said, I'm sorry to disappoint you.

I'm here primarily to discuss atheism with atheists and as a secondary concern to answer questions they may have about Catholicism. If you REALLY have issues with Catholics and you are as familiar with the material as you suggest, you know the forum you need to post them in.

You can bet that you will have your hands full there, my friend.

Finally, and just out of curiosity, what brings you to the forum? A former Calvinist who lost his faith? Maybe a seminarian who dropped out, perhaps? Or are you just a cradle non-believer who just couldn't help studying more history of the Catholic Church and the papacy than most people with absolutely no interest in God whatsoever would reasonably invest?