Neither is 'Hebrew'.

Yet it still shifts consistently to the left. Moderates today would have been raging extremist liberals a hundred years ago. The problem with comparing the US to European countries is that the US has to deal with the many different backgrounds of its people, while European countries tend to be homogeneous. Therefore they can pretend that they are liberals who care for their fellow man. When you look at the situation on the ground, though, their self-image crumbles in the face of the experiences of immigrants and refugees. If you doubt this, just do a search for articles on immigrant communities' experiences in France or Germany.

Maybe by God? The actual forgiveness still comes from God. God just says that he will give his forgiveness to those who are forgiven by certain people (ordained priests who are able to validly perform the sacrament). So the only way to be certain in this lifetime that our sins are forgiven is to receive forgiveness from these people. That does not exclude the possibility of forgiveness by God if one doesn't, but you will only find out if you are forgiven after death, when it is too late to change anything.

Uh, no. That quote bears no resemblance to the scenario you described. I am curious how you got from A to B though.

yeah, Protestants seem to have missed the whole "If you forgive them, they shall be forgiven. If you hold them bound, they shall be held bound." thing that Jesus said to Peter.

I believe they tried that before, using indulgences. It didn't end well. In fact, it led to the splintering of Christianity.