On Blaming the Protestants

It is common for Roman Catholics (and the Eastern Orthodox) to blame Protestantism for "individualism" (in its negative, community-corroding sense) and secularism. But those making these charges against Protestantism fail to recognize that it was the will-worship [ideas and forms of worship originating in human opinions rather than divine revelation] present in Medieval Catholicism, which gave rise to Protestantism, along with its illegitimate siblings. The solution to impulses toward secularism and self-centered individualism is not a "return" to Roman Catholicism (or Eastern Orthodoxy). Rather, we should heed the Reformation teaching; we should find our source of authority not in ourselves, nor in a man (or men) wearing bizarre clothes and a pointy hat. Our source of authority must be God's self-revelation in Holy Scripture, and we must worship Him in the ways that He has revealed.