Catholicism is more morally admirable than Protestantism

I will come up with my own contentions and then answer my opponent's. Argument ONE - Consistency in beliefs The Catholic Church says they are pro-life and then they actually have the ideals to prove it. Protestantism says "we are pro-life" and then only mean in cases of abortion. For Catholics, pro-life means no war, no death penalty, no abortion, no killing, etc. Catholicism is much more consistent in their beliefs here, which is morally admirable. Protestantism claims to be pro-life, but then only means it in one way. They talk about the sacredness of life, yet are in favor of war and the death penalty much of the time. This inconsistency is a detriment to them. Argument TWO - Doing good works vs. faith alone Salvation through faith alone. Ah yes, that Protestant phrase so often quoted from Martin Luther. It is the basis of Protestantism. Yet what does this lead to? Catholicism preached that good work had to be done to be saved. Yes, of course, there were ritualized sacraments and some dogma that the Church preached, but generally Catholicism saw merit in works that benefited mankind. However, Protestantism basically said "Hey, forget about good works - you don't have to do that if you don't want to. All you have to do is truly believe, and you'll go to Heaven. " Protestantism put such a focus on the individual (which I will bring up next) and such a focus on faith alone that good works were not seen as meritous and good works were not an indicator of one's goodness. Only faith in Christ would save you. Good works were encouraged, sure, but there was less of a need for people to do them. Catholicism saw that good works needed to be done and that telling the people that good works would get them into Heaven was the best way for that to practically occur. Protestantism encouraged the tossing aside of good works in favor of individualistic "salvation through faith alone. " Argument THREE - Protestantism has espoused extreme individualism Protestantism is often linked with the rise of individualism and capitalism, but I will argue that this rise of individualism is in fact a negative. It took away from the sense of community welfare and basically told everyone to look out for themselves. No need to do good works to get into Heaven. No need for anything except what you do on your own for God. This led to (and Protestantism itself stemmed from a bourgeois individualism) a type of individualism that made people feel okay to be self-centered, greedy, and individualistic; the sense of a common good was lost. COUNTERARGUMENT 1 - Catholics listen to the Pope just like Protestants listen to their pastors. Both are put in positions of authority. Jesus and God are still seen to be above the Pope. Doesn't any church with a leader have the possibility to say ridiculous things and have masses of people listen? The Pope simply has a larger following than individual Protestant pastors. These evangelical mega-churches that have 10,000-person congregations and more all listen to one person, and they are just as likely to listen to that pastor as a Catholic is to the Pope. To say that Catholics are more likely to listen is to the Pope than a Protestant to his/her priest is an unsubstantiated claim. In fact, there are many examples of Catholics not really believing the infallibility of the Pope. Just look at any Catholic government representative. They do not always agree with their Pope. The argument that obedience to a worldly power occurs more with Catholicism is untrue. The issue is really a wash, as both Protestantism and Catholicism have religious figureheads that people are supposed to listen to, and do much of the time, but not always. COUNTERARGUMENT 2 - Sure, there were qualms Protestants had with Catholicism when they split off. That's why they split off. The South also had qualms with the North when they tried to secede from the United States. Does that make the South more morally admirable? Because it stemmed from disagreements with the North? Does it make Protestantism more morally admirable because it stemmed from disagreements with Catholicism? The answer is decidedly, no. Just as the Confederacy stemmed from the United States, so did Protestantism from Catholicism. That, inherently, does not make it morally admirable. There are many moral qualms that Catholics have with Protestants, worse than "believing" the wine is the blood of Christ. Catholics have a problem with Protestants' pro-death penalty stance. That involves the taking of a human life. This is substantially more important than a disagreement over wine. COUNTERARGUMENT 3 - Catholicism does indeed have ritual; I will not deny that. So does Protestantism. Communion is taken, the same prayer is said each time, services often start in the same way in many churches, baptism, dedication of a child, etc. All of these are seen in Protestantism. So if you would be so kind as to list Catholic rituals that outnumber these greatly, I would gladly concede this point that Catholicism is more ritualistic (though I may try to justify ritualism :) ) More contentions and debate to come!