Catholicism is more morally admirable than Protestantism

I will first address my opponent's claims with counterarguments, then I will defend my own points. COUNTERARGUMENT ONE - Consistency in Beliefs Consistency in beliefs is not in itself morally admirable. For instance, wociety would like a cold blooded killer to act inconsistently with his beliefs, society would want him to have as many views inconsistent with his murderous ways as possible. Consistency itself is not good; consistent moral behavior, however, is. War, and perhaps even the death penalty, have their proper times. It is not morally admirable to have a blanket opposition to them. One must learn to weigh each situation and decide if war is worth it, rather than opposing war at all costs. My opponent has even suggested that Protestantism is more in line with this sort of deliberation (Protestants neither are in favor of every war nor are against every war, whereas, if my opponent is to be believed, Catholics oppose war on a fundamental level). COUNTERARGUMENT TWO - The way to salvation - good works vs. faith alone There are two sides of this point. First, as my opponent has noted, Catholicism gives people more incentive to do good works, and that's admirable. However, it gives people the worst reasons to do 'good works' - greed and selfishness - ideals Christianity itself looks down on. Any morally good act means quite a bit less when the reasoning behind it was some guy seeking eternal happiness for himself. It is more morally admirable to do good works out of ones own character rather than merely to reap some reward. COUNTERARGUMENT THREE - Individualism My opponent argues that Protestantism has always stood for individualism. This is superior to the alternative - conforming to the agenda of some group. Sure, some group might want you to not be greedy and care about your fellow man, but if the only reason you're doing those things is because you're conforming to a group, that's not very morally impressive. Thinking for oneself and deciding to be moral on ones own - that is morally admirable. Supressing the ability of people to think for themselves - that is morally repugnant. Further, most Protestant sects teach that generosity is superior to greed. DEFENDING ARGUMENT 1 - Pope, Misplaced Authority My opponent has compared the pope to ordinary pastors, but this is fairly nonsensical. If a pastor says something ridiculous, it is not taboo to call him out on it. Pastors are not seen as having divine authority. While pastors may have more authority than they should, there is a larger amount of undue authority in Catholicism, and thus Protestantism is more admirable in this regard. Also, the example of Catholics who don't believe the infallibility of the Pope is a non-sequitur. Catholicism, the religion, is what we're discussing, and it teaches that the Pope does have that authority. The fact that many Catholics happen to be smart enough to see through that is not morally beneficial for the religion itself, though it is fortuitous. DEFENDING POINT TWO - Moral Qualms My opponent asks if this is similar to the American Civil War. It is, in a way - but in a reverse way from how my opponent tries to paint it. Slavery had been the status quo. Part of the country decided that slavery wasn't okay. The ones who remained the same (as the Catholics largely did) was the south, who continued keeping slaves in spite of the moral qualms many people had with it. The north reformed its beliefs, as the Protestants did in splitting from Catholicism. My opponent claims that Protestantism is "pro-death penalty" but this claim is unsubstantiated. It may be true that many Protestants happen to be Pro-death penalty, but Protestantism itself does not preach a pro-death penalty stance. We are arguing the moral admirability of religions, not of followers thereof. DEFENDING ARGUMENT THREE - Rituals My opponent points out that Protestantism, too, is ritualistic. True enough, but Catholicism outritualizes it. Catholics, for instance, place a large focus on repeating certain prayers, like in the Rosary, where the Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary prayer are repeated a good amount of times. There's the praying to various saints to which I referred in my last round. There's penance (confession) - if you do anything wrong, you have to undergo the sacrament of penance, telling some priest whatever sins you have comitted (he often makes you do some more praying, for good measure). In fact, there is a much larger focus in Catholicism on sacraments and rites overall. This not only wastes a great deal of time for all people involved, it also makes people think prayer is more important than it is (all studies on prayer have shown it has no effectiveness in curing disease, helping the impoverished, etc.) - people will be more likely to just pray for someone instead of going out and helping them - they'll think their prayer constitutes help when it does not. Such ritualism necessarily draws people away from understanding how the world actually works. This is morally negative. I now give the floor back to my opponent.