I don't see what there is to be confused about.
SA's play-style and general attitude reminds me of medieval Catholicism. I adore medieval history and come from a heavily-Christian family so I've been heavily exposed to all the typical truths and half-truths regarding the subject. I feel that SA reminds me of medieval Catholicism in its power-mongering religious monopoly, fractured city-states, internal conflict, and inability to band together for a military cause unless the entirety of SA is threatened.
The first real-world religion that comes to mind when I think of SA is medieval-era Catholicism. I'm not trying to make any assumptions or assertions about SA - I'm simply stating my opinion on behalf of the vague connotations my mind connected betwixt the two.
Not trying to start a discussion (or argument) here
There's nothing to defend on either part, either my opinion or the perceived integrity (or lack) of an SA-Catholicism ideal.
SA =/= Catholicism. They're as far apart as one can possibly imagine. Their doctrines, dogma, internal structure are nothing like one another. In order to avoid someone drumming up an excuse to start an argument I will once again state that the sole point of my comment was to state SA reminds me of medieval Catholicism due to the whole Crusade talk, how ridiculously dense it is at times, how its going through similar internal issues as the HRE/Cath did pre-Crusade era, and I find it altogether comedic how my mind drew this parallel. I've spoken to another of others who giggled upon making the same connections but again, its only an opinion.
Please don't use this as an excuse to declare holy war on me ;-)