Amos

Well Eden is East but the church sends us West. Notice how they used to built churches facing East and that would put the doors on the opposite side to send us West. I am not sure, but I think that that is what they had in mind back then.

The East- West metaphor is from the bible. We go West because we were placed East of Eden, and so on. See also Gen.2:14 where we see the Tigris flow back in the East and when we go there we will end up in the Euphrates.

For Eden to be downhill one must be 'right up there', I think, but it is difficult to argue with success because indulgences were very popular in the heyday of Catholicism. That was about when Martin Luther wanted confessionals to be replaced by "hatching boxes" (I once read), and I kind of like that term because it is so descriptive of his idea of salvation.

Must you not be a Catholic before you can be a heretic?

That's where I live, uphill from the Oldman river.