How the Catholic church can get me to respect it

It would be a lot easier to respect the Catholic church if they'd stop trying to influence the politics and behaviour of the whole world, and instead just pay attention to teaching and guiding their own people. Then they'd be a nice quaint religion with strong morals, a lot of history, like Hutterites, but with a kind of cool mystical thing on top, like Kabbalah (before it became trendy). I could respect that. And if someone said that they, personally, can't use birth control because they're Catholic, I could respect that the same way I respect that Muslim and Orthodox Jewish men can't shake hands with me.

But the instant they start getting political, the instant they start trying to influence people who are not willing members of their church, they become The Enemy. If you can't grok this, try thinking about how you'd feel if the Amish suddenly started lobbying for the elimination of the internet, or FLDS was trying to make polygamy and old-fashioned hairdos mandatory for everyone.