I just saw a documentary about how the Catholic Church have dealt with pedophiles in their priesthood for the last 30 years. I was just dumbstruck of how this matter was addressed. Then It hit me. How can they cover up and defend these "men" but call homosexual people abominations?! It does not make any sense...
Covering up for someone and defending them is different than condoning their actions.
Plus, it's a group / club mentality thing. You protect your own, even if what they've done might be just as bad or worse than those who you reject.
It's funny how human nature suddenly becomes an abomination when religious institutions show a bit of it. If someone you cared about and respected were accused of that horrible of a crime would you immediately jump on board with the accusers? Or would you be a bit hesitant, even to the point of being slow to accept evidence?
Oh, and you might be interested to know that Catholics in general tend to support gay rights much more strongly than Protestants. The clergy less so than the laity, but let me ask you this: When was the last time you saw a Catholic protesting at a funeral?
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispa … gay_rights
"When asked if sexual activity between people of the same sex is sinful, 56 percent said no. That compares to 46 percent of the general population."
I wrote this because of an interview of a priest that CONFESSED IN CAMERA, AND IN COURT, that he had molested and raped maybe hundreds of minors in his 40 + years as a priest in the church. And he provides documents that his bishop knew, even all the way to Rome.
And the only thing they did was give him a two week seminar and "counseling" in a Seminary facility. And kept moving him around, that is what facilitated him to reach more kids.
I am a little shocked here for your interpretation of the matter ,and of your statement;
"human nature suddenly becomes an abomination when religious institutions show a bit of it. "
Please tell me you are not referring to pedophilia????
I don't care if they support gay marriage or gay rights, a grown person has every right to have sex with ANOTHER CONSENTING partner.
A Child molesting, mask wearing, pious hypocrite is another. IS ALWAYS AN ABOMINATION....
I am hurt and sadden to the point of tears for your statement.
I am referring to the human tendency to hesitate to take action when an accusation is made against a person in authority, who is supposedly worthy of trust.
I'm not saying it's ok that decisive action was so slow in coming, I'm just saying it's far from a uniquely Catholic problem.
The statistics imply that the offense rate of priests is comparable to the offense rate of the general public; about 3%. I'm not saying that's good, but a lot of Catholic detractors have turned 3% into the stereotype that virtually all priests are child molesters, which is a blatant and shameless lie.
I don't think the big issue is the 3%. I think the big issue is that they cover up the 3% and even relocate the 3% so that they can re-offend. But as you indicate this is not an uniquely Catholic problem. Other organizations have the same accountability.
The Catholic Church does not condone this behavior. They are actually very much against it, but it's something that happens. Homosexuality may also happen in the church, we just don't know to what extent. It's human nature unattached to the religion. Priests don't molest kids because they're Catholic. People molest kids because they are child molesters.
I am so weary of religion in general. Seems it's always accompanied by a huge dose of judgment. Live and let live, I say. I think the statistics would imply that the number of priests who molest children is a bit more than just a "stuff happens' sort of thing or just "human nature."
I have come to identify a certain group of people -- not all religious people, mind you -- who use their religion as a way to feel superior and look down on the rest of us unenlightened ones. When the issue of "gayness" comes up, they get a certain expression on their faces, mouth fixed as though they've eaten a persimmmon. I avoid them like the plague.
When I was a child, it was all about integration and the civil rights movement. This is the time of gay rights. In another 50 years, gay right will be accomplished and another issue will be the focus. This is all to say that you can't stop progress. You can pontificate, prostheletize, purse your mouth, and be outraged. There will still be progress.
I don't feel the Catholic church condones pedophilia in the sense that they have a policy that it is OK to do so. The church knows it wrong, and there official policy is that it is wrong.
But covering up the actions of pedophiles, even relocating them to serve another congregation so they can victimize more innocent children is deplorable and in a sense can be viewed as condoning.
The issue isn't that you have the odd bad apple. If you know someone is a pedophile, you excommunicate them and you cooperate with the legal authorities so that justice can be done. The problem is when you know that certain priest are pedophiles and you turn a blind eye. At that point you now have community responsibility. Of course this just doesn't apply to the Catholic church. This could apply to any religious organization that has been guilty of covering up the actions of known pedophiles.
Not simply religious organizations. Football teams do it, too. But, it seems more heinous when done by people who claim to work for God
I agree any organization that protects child molesters and even facilitates the carrying out of their action is deplorable and should be held accountable for their actions.
But when you claim to represent God there is a higher degree of hypocrisy. When you condemn certain conduct by your words, but condone by your actions there is also a higher degree of hypocrisy (but the same degree of accountability).
I don't think you can say the Catholic church was pro-child abuse, no matter how reluctant they were to actually do something about it. So it isn't really a fair comparison.
Also the Catholic church does not call gay people abominations. They very clearly oppose the behavior but have explicit doctrine that the person is not to be shunned just because of their orientation.
I say this as a very left wing atheist with no particular love for the Catholic church. But they should be criticized for their actual positions and actions, not exaggerations.
by Justin Earick 11 years ago
Sodom wasn't smited for homosexuality (false-idol worship, poor treatment of strangers and the poor, gang rape). Leviticus doesn't matter (old covenant, pork, lobster, tattoos, mixed fibers, period sex, swearing). Paul was talking about vastly different subjects (lust, guilt, boy...
by India Arnold 12 years ago
Why Should the Catholic Church consider ordaining Women as Priests?Throughout history, only men have been allowed to become ordained (Catholic) priests, leaving the women-folk to remain on the "nun" side of Catholicism. Many Christian, Jewish, and other religions have little problem with...
by Ashutosh Joshi 7 years ago
Have the guiding principles of major religions in the world been hijacked or they got it all wrong?Scriptures of some of the major religions in the world have all sorts of opinions on the sexual act. They even outrightly condemn 'Homosexuality' but strangely have no opinion on 'Paedophilia'. To my...
by DennisBarker 13 years ago
I havn't found anything in the bible which says yes, so has the catholic church got a well documented history of covering up child abuse?
by ngureco 7 years ago
If You Were Made The Pope, The Most Immediate Change You Would Make Is To Allow Priests Get Married?
by Diane Inside 14 years ago
Do you think that if Catholic Priests where now allowed to have a Relationship with another person, that would stop the pedophilia that is taking place in Catholic churches all over the country?
Copyright © 2024 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2024 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |