Would Bushie be better off if he were raised Catholic?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

To elaborate, I think Bushie is largely a product of his surroundings. If he was raised Catholic, he'd still absorb all the culture of Oklahoma, and would either end up converting to what he is now anyway (or perhaps something even nuttier like open prosperity gospel preachers or the other things memphis mentioned) or he'd just claim to be Catholic but would still believe in the same type of eschatology and stuff he currently does anyway, which isn't too uncommon. And he'd probably still adhere to the same old "no problem God will provide for me" "theology" that he currently uses to justify everything he does.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Bushie is definitely into prosperity gospel. He just says he isn't.

most of the evangelical (meaning the McArthurs and Pipers of the world) attacks on prosperity Gospel are largely ingenuine at their core, and fueled by jealousy.  they hate Joel Osteen because he's more successful than they are.  they have no problem with accumulating vast amounts of wealth and viewing that accumulation as a divine blessing while giving x% to the poor to assuage guilt.

Osteen's not really the type of prosperity gospel who gets attacked on this though. His theology is more like "God wants you to be happy, so go out and be happy" rather than that God actually rewards righteous people and this is where wealth comes from. He gets attacked a lot for things like being theologically weak and giving sermons that are really just motivational speeches with some Bible references peppered in, but I don't think you can argue the guys you mention are less succesful than say most pastors of the Word of Faith movement. After all they can probably afford to buy private jets too (one "I can't believe it's not The Onion!" article I remember in 2008 was how the recession was hitting even churches and a local megachurch pastor was forced to sell his private jet. And it was even written in a sort of sarcastic "man, don't you seriously feel sorry for him?" tone.)

And for the record, the church Piper used to read is right across the street from this prosperity gospel church, and it's obvious which is more successful: http://www.thewellsat7th.com

[TJ in Oregon]

Rick Santorum is very clearly a heretic to the Catholic Church on evolution. There is no One True Fallacy there. The Vatican declares it to be true and is against creationism. I don't know any Catholics who behave like Santorum and as a layman Santorum has no real authority on the matter within the Church, whereas in a Baptist setting someone like Santorum could become a preacher expressing these views.

It also doesn't change the fact that he's a harmless ole prude.

No he isn't. The Catholic Church does not teach young earth creationism but it also does not forbid Catholics from believing in it. The Vatican doesn't declare evolution as a theological truth and never will because it isn't theological. In order to be a heretic he would have to disagree with some Church doctrine. Evolution is not a Church doctrine, though clearly the last several popes have believed it occurred.

[Keystone Phil]

Rick Santorum is very clearly a heretic to the Catholic Church on evolution. There is no One True Fallacy there. The Vatican declares it to be true and is against creationism. I don't know any Catholics who behave like Santorum and as a layman Santorum has no real authority on the matter within the Church, whereas in a Baptist setting someone like Santorum could become a preacher expressing these views.

It also doesn't change the fact that he's a harmless ole prude.

To be fair, I think Santorum has always been coy about evolution. Like during the  2012 debates, he gave some idiotic, "If he [Huntsman] wants to believe we evolved from monkeys, he can" response. Not a wise response but also not a flat out denial. Pretty much a political answer given the audience at the time without giving his own belief.

Of course, if Rick doesn't believe in evolution and suggests that the Church rejects it, he's obviously wrong. But what TJ says above this post is also true.