Good points. Of course, depending on the Pope in question, you also have teachings like the sinfulness of homosexuality, the evil of birth control, and the righteousness of God in torturing nonbelievers forever. Many people place more weight on these beliefs than they do on those of liberal/​scientific elites.
It seems like you’re going to get clusters of authority sentiment. Educated people will place high authority on impressive intellectuals, business people, etc. Conservative religious people will tend to place high authority on church leaders, religious founders, etc. and very low authority on scientists, at least when it comes to metaphysical questions rather than what medicine to take for an ailment. (Though there are plenty of skeptics of traditional medicine too.) What makes the world of Catholic elites different from the world of scientific elites? I mean, some people think the Pope is a stronger authority on God than anyone thinks the smartest scientist is about physics.
Good points. Of course, depending on the Pope in question, you also have teachings like the sinfulness of homosexuality, the evil of birth control, and the righteousness of God in torturing nonbelievers forever. Many people place more weight on these beliefs than they do on those of liberal/​scientific elites.
It seems like you’re going to get clusters of authority sentiment. Educated people will place high authority on impressive intellectuals, business people, etc. Conservative religious people will tend to place high authority on church leaders, religious founders, etc. and very low authority on scientists, at least when it comes to metaphysical questions rather than what medicine to take for an ailment. (Though there are plenty of skeptics of traditional medicine too.) What makes the world of Catholic elites different from the world of scientific elites? I mean, some people think the Pope is a stronger authority on God than anyone thinks the smartest scientist is about physics.