[catalogia]

It may well be magical thinking, but magical thinking isn't synonymous with cargo cults. Cargo cults seem like a particular sort of magical thinking; a subset of magical thinking. As I understand the concept, a cargo cult is specifically characterized by one group of people superficially emulating another without understanding the underlying mechanisms in play.

If the Protestant approach to forgiveness is relating to cargo cults, perhaps it's because they witnessed Catholics talk about forgiveness and decided to adopt that aspect of the Catholic philosophy without also appreciating the importance of the Catholic concept of penance (Catholics talk about forgiveness a lot, but don't give so freely as Protestants.) So perhaps Protestants are cargo culting Catholics.

I know a few Catholics who'd probably smirk in agreement with the above, but I'm not convinced of it myself. I'm neither a Protestant nor a Catholic and although I was raised as one and grew up surrounded by the other, I never felt I understood either particularly well. So it's possible I've gotten it all wrong.