Isn't Protestantism Easier to Get to Heaven?

Alas, that question. There are numerous iterations of this question as I have heard it over some years, and here is a sampling of other ways of asking it: “I feel more fed by the songs and sermons down the road, can’t I just go there?”; “Aren’t other religions easier and more positive than Catholicism, why not leave?”; “What’s the big deal? Everyone finds God in their own way.” In all of these questions, the problem is not the answer, but rather the question. Any Catholic, by asking it, has missed fundamentally the reason for religion.  Religion is not a matter of preference like choosing Subway over Pizza Hut. Religion is not a consumer good, and we are not junkies who choose the place that we like best; as St. Paul says, “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness” (Rom 14:17). Righteousness, or “being right” with God, that is right-relationship with God is the goal of religion. Now, if “being right” with God is the goal, that means there must be some ways of “being wrong” with God. In other words, not all religions make us “right” with God.
 
There are some obvious examples of “being wrong” with God. Some religions of the ancient world thought it pious to sacrifice children, and some extremists (even some Christians) use acts of terror to glorify God. These are   obviously wrong and despicable to God; they use explicit evils. But what of the more subtle cases as in our original question with Protestantism?  Lutherans do not sacrifice children like the pagans, and Baptists have many of the same beliefs as Catholics. So what makes the difference that Catholicism is the way to “be right” with God?  What claim do Catholics have that Protestants do not?
 
People claim to me often that all the Christian religions are essentially the same (which is hilarious because I am a priest who has staked his entire life on Catholicism being the right one). But they are not the same: in fact, they rarely agree on the fundamentals for being “right” with God.    Abortion, for example, is wrong, but somehow many Christian denominations accept it. Is this simply not fundamental? What about Jesus being present in the Eucharist, or sexual morality, or any other differences in religion?  Who gets to decide what is important and “right” to God?  Here we find the greatest difference between Catholics and Protestants, and really the greatest argument for Catholicism being   correct: Authority. Protestants claim authority from the Scriptures, but who interprets the Scriptures?  There are thousands of interpretations of Scriptures each with their own corresponding Protestant church and morals.  There is one Catholic Church, albeit with its sinners, but with an  unchanging authority over what is important to God. The job of the bishops (who carry on the teaching authority of the Apostles) is to safeguard the doctrine and moral teachings that have been handed onto them with an unchanging   doctrine about the Truth. Catholicism has never been about our preference, it is about what is right. Be right before God.