Susan Peterson7 said:I am neither a believer nor is this exactly the most appropriate topic for discussion, but you are mistaken. If we are going to discuss "true Christianity," then the only true Christianity is the ancient, original version. Both Catholicism and Orthodoxy are essentially political institutions that have lost touch with actual faith. Especially Orthodoxy, where instead of a universal church, you have different state churches tied to specific nations—that is pure politics. Catholicism emerged as a political tool for the Roman Empire to control the masses and validate the legitimacy of Roman emperors. It wasn't always the uniform monolith it is today, either. There were even anti-popes in Avignon opposing the pope in Rome.
Don't forget that in the original early Christian era, the date of Jesus' birth was actually marked in the spring; the church later shifted it to the modern Christmas, on a day that had previously been celebrated as a Roman festival for the sun god. Early Christians didn't even celebrate Christmas; it was a construct created by the church for pragmatic reasons.
And that is just one of many instances where organized churches altered the religion practiced by the earliest Christians. Take the saints, for example, who largely represent unintegrated pagan elements and customs from various cultures that were folded into Christianity simply to make the new religion easier for people to adopt.
You aren't even a believer, so you don't know the history of the faith, and you clearly don't respect the lineage from Saint Peter's pontificate down to the current Pope sitting on Saint Peter's tomb, etc., etc...
Basically, stop commenting on things you don't understand. You're ignoring 1.2 billion believers who follow the universal, consistent institution of Christ's representative on Earth—the Pope, in all his imperfect glory...
And don't even get me started on how irrelevant it is that Christ's Church added Christmas celebrations or changed pagan customs. It doesn't matter! What matters is that it's an unbroken chain of Christ's revelation that stands by the Bible and by God, even after 2,000 years. It'll keep standing right in the face of people who can't stand it or those who constantly dream of tearing it down. (Mostly people who have nothing to say but love to criticize while believing in absolutely nothing, thinking they're just destined to become dust in a void after death.)