Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The fact that this number includes all credible accusations, not just those that have involved insurance companies, and still is less than the number of cases in Protestant churches reported by just three insurance companies, should be making front page of The New York Times and the network evening news. It’s not.

The Catholic Church reported all credible accusations not just those that involved insurance companies. Also, there would be no reporting of any kind for the plethora of "storefront" churches without the requisite insurance. The point being that the abuse in Protestant churches has never received the same scrutiny, public outrage or abundance of news coverage received by the Catholic Church. No doubt this is due in part to the actions of the Church itself, but I think there is a large issue at play. Thre is a general hatred of the Church for its conservative teachings and the idea of celibacy (by choice) is unfathomable in a society embracing few social or moral restrictions on sexuality. The point I was trying to make and which seemed to be lost on you, is that there is a constant barrage of "child rapist" comments thrown about on this forum without recognition that child abuse crosses denominational lines and indeed is prevalent in our society generally. I think it is dangerous to ignore the incidences of abuse in the Protestant churches (and indeed elsewhere) giving the impression that children are only unsafe in a Catholic setting.

There was a story on NPR about three years ago discussing the prevalence of child abuse and pedophilia among Hasidic sects in New York. I remember it distinctly because I was driving and listening to the radio and was so shocked and horrified that I pulled over for a couple of minutes to regain my composure. Apparently there the problem is held under wraps in a wide conspiracy by most people in the know, as parents who are aware of it dare not say anything for fear that they'll be ostracized by their own community (which sounded akin to losing everything). I'm not religious, but my DH is Jewish, so in a sense I guess I felt prior to that we were "immune" from Catholic-style institutionalized pedophilia.

I was discussing the story a few weeks later with a Muslim friend, and he said softly that the same is known to happen with some Mullahs.

The moral of this is that you should serously question the motives of people who wish to become religious authority figures and pass on divine wisdom or intercede with God on your behalf.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The fact that this number includes all credible accusations, not just those that have involved insurance companies, and still is less than the number of cases in Protestant churches reported by just three insurance companies, should be making front page of The New York Times and the network evening news. It’s not.

The Catholic Church reported all credible accusations not just those that involved insurance companies. Also, there would be no reporting of any kind for the plethora of "storefront" churches without the requisite insurance. The point being that the abuse in Protestant churches has never received the same scrutiny, public outrage or abundance of news coverage received by the Catholic Church. No doubt this is due in part to the actions of the Church itself, but I think there is a large issue at play. Thre is a general hatred of the Church for its conservative teachings and the idea of celibacy (by choice) is unfathomable in a society embracing few social or moral restrictions on sexuality. The point I was trying to make and which seemed to be lost on you, is that there is a constant barrage of "child rapist" comments thrown about on this forum without recognition that child abuse crosses denominational lines and indeed is prevalent in our society generally. I think it is dangerous to ignore the incidences of abuse in the Protestant churches (and indeed elsewhere) giving the impression that children are only unsafe in a Catholic setting.

Read 1438. No one is saying that pedophiles do not exist everywhere. Witness PennState. What is relatively unique about the Catholic Church is the fact that the Cardinals and Bishops themselves covered up much of the abuse. It is the cover up that fundamentally distinquishes what the Catholic Church did.

Anonymous wrote:Why do we fund private schools that are made up of über wealthy families that could afford full rate if the schools paid taxes. Or organizations that only cater to a single race? Or why is the government forcing people to take contraceptives and forcing us to pay for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do we fund private schools that are made up of über wealthy families that could afford full rate if the schools paid taxes. Or organizations that only cater to a single race? Or why is the government forcing people to take contraceptives and forcing us to pay for it.

Wow, really? The governemnt is FORCING people to take contraceptives? What cave do you live in?

The government wants to make sure woman have a choice and access to control their fertility if they choose to do so. That's all. It just has to be available as an option. When you pay for insurance you pay for medication YOU may not take. I don't take Viagra, but I'm paying for it? GET IT??? You are paying for smokers lung cancer treatment also.

Do you realize that birth control helps some woman with medical conditions, it's not only for prevention of pregnancy? There are woman that have extremely heavy bleeding, that makes them anemic, birth control helps that. It also helps woman with hormonal inbalance as well. Just to name a few more common reason birth control is taken that is not related to pregnancy prevention. Do deny women this coverage is nothing short of discrimination. If you don't want to pay for my birth control, I don't want to pay for you Viagra, heart medication, insulin because I don't take those meds for my health.

Please, Please educate yourself before you make such a ridiculous statement.

You seem like a woman with hormonal imbalance. Pay for your own damn pills.

Anonymous wrote:All religious organziations get tax preferences, accepting gay marriage is not christian, you must be some lib cult bullshit

Anonymous wrote:All religious organziations get tax preferences, accepting gay marriage is not christian, you must be some lib cult bullshit

As is so often the case I feel the need to make a rather obvious point here, but the only possible reasons for religious people to really want the government to get more involved in religion are either a) you really really really want theocracy, which doesn't really have anything to do with religious freedom (let's call this the evil reason) or b) you really don't understand that "religion" does not actually precisely equal "your religion" (let's call this the stupid reason). I'm sure there are people in column a) and column b), but I find the latter to be fairly fascinating. Is their exposure to the world really so limited? Has it not occurred to them, driving around, that all of the names given to the various Christian denominations might suggest that there are genuine differences in belief and practice? There are obvious important questions religious people should be asking about some of our dumber perennial controversies, such as when we're discussing organized prayer in schools, the question for religious people should probably be,"which prayers?"

Anonymous wrote:

That is why we should keep our young children away from the churches. They are operated by a bunch of sex crazed freaks. First they take the parents monetary donations and when that is not enough they take away the sexual innocence of the children.

The moral of this is that you should serously question the motives of people who wish to become religious authority figures and pass on divine wisdom or intercede with God on your behalf.

This is what you take away from these discussions? Perhaps we should go one step further and keep our children away for schools. I seems as if barely a week goes by that we don't hear about some abuse situation in schools. No daycares either or babysitters ever because abuse happens there, too. No sports because there are abusive coaches and this list goes on and on. What this signals to me is not that religion or religious leaders are inherently evil, or that daycares/babysitters are inherently evil or that coaches are inherently evil. What this tells me is that there are evil people in this world and we as a society have become so morally bankrupt that this evil is flourishing. When we no longer have social values or norms and everything is deemed acceptable ("if it feels good do it") we will have a subset of society who will take it to the worst possible limit.

That is why we should keep our young children away from the churches. They are operated by a bunch of sex crazed freaks. First they take the parents monetary donations and when that is not enough they take away the sexual innocence of the children.

The moral of this is that you should serously question the motives of people who wish to become religious authority figures and pass on divine wisdom or intercede with God on your behalf.

Anonymous wrote:

The fact that this number includes all credible accusations, not just those that have involved insurance companies, and still is less than the number of cases in Protestant churches reported by just three insurance companies, should be making front page of The New York Times and the network evening news. It’s not.

The Catholic Church reported all credible accusations not just those that involved insurance companies. Also, there would be no reporting of any kind for the plethora of "storefront" churches without the requisite insurance. The point being that the abuse in Protestant churches has never received the same scrutiny, public outrage or abundance of news coverage received by the Catholic Church. No doubt this is due in part to the actions of the Church itself, but I think there is a large issue at play. Thre is a general hatred of the Church for its conservative teachings and the idea of celibacy (by choice) is unfathomable in a society embracing few social or moral restrictions on sexuality. The point I was trying to make and which seemed to be lost on you, is that there is a constant barrage of "child rapist" comments thrown about on this forum without recognition that child abuse crosses denominational lines and indeed is prevalent in our society generally. I think it is dangerous to ignore the incidences of abuse in the Protestant churches (and indeed elsewhere) giving the impression that children are only unsafe in a Catholic setting.

Anonymous wrote:

The fact that this number includes all credible accusations, not just those that have involved insurance companies, and still is less than the number of cases in Protestant churches reported by just three insurance companies, should be making front page of The New York Times and the network evening news. It’s not.

The Catholic Church reported all credible accusations not just those that involved insurance companies. Also, there would be no reporting of any kind for the plethora of "storefront" churches without the requisite insurance. The point being that the abuse in Protestant churches has never received the same scrutiny, public outrage or abundance of news coverage received by the Catholic Church. No doubt this is due in part to the actions of the Church itself, but I think there is a large issue at play. Thre is a general hatred of the Church for its conservative teachings and the idea of celibacy (by choice) is unfathomable in a society embracing few social or moral restrictions on sexuality. The point I was trying to make and which seemed to be lost on you, is that there is a constant barrage of "child rapist" comments thrown about on this forum without recognition that child abuse crosses denominational lines and indeed is prevalent in our society generally. I think it is dangerous to ignore the incidences of abuse in the Protestant churches (and indeed elsewhere) giving the impression that children are only unsafe in a Catholic setting.

Anonymous wrote:

The fact that this number includes all credible accusations, not just those that have involved insurance companies, and still is less than the number of cases in Protestant churches reported by just three insurance companies, should be making front page of The New York Times and the network evening news. It’s not.

The Catholic Church reported all credible accusations not just those that involved insurance companies. Also, there would be no reporting of any kind for the plethora of "storefront" churches without the requisite insurance. The point being that the abuse in Protestant churches has never received the same scrutiny, public outrage or abundance of news coverage received by the Catholic Church. No doubt this is due in part to the actions of the Church itself, but I think there is a large issue at play. Thre is a general hatred of the Church for its conservative teachings and the idea of celibacy (by choice) is unfathomable in a society embracing few social or moral restrictions on sexuality. The point I was trying to make and which seemed to be lost on you, is that there is a constant barrage of "child rapist" comments thrown about on this forum without recognition that child abuse crosses denominational lines and indeed is prevalent in our society generally. I think it is dangerous to ignore the incidences of abuse in the Protestant churches (and indeed elsewhere) giving the impression that children are only unsafe in a Catholic setting.

Anonymous wrote:

The fact that this number includes all credible accusations, not just those that have involved insurance companies, and still is less than the number of cases in Protestant churches reported by just three insurance companies, should be making front page of The New York Times and the network evening news. It’s not.

The Catholic Church reported all credible accusations not just those that involved insurance companies. Also, there would be no reporting of any kind for the plethora of "storefront" churches without the requisite insurance. The point being that the abuse in Protestant churches has never received the same scrutiny, public outrage or abundance of news coverage received by the Catholic Church. No doubt this is due in part to the actions of the Church itself, but I think there is a large issue at play. Thre is a general hatred of the Church for its conservative teachings and the idea of celibacy (by choice) is unfathomable in a society embracing few social or moral restrictions on sexuality. The point I was trying to make and which seemed to be lost on you, is that there is a constant barrage of "child rapist" comments thrown about on this forum without recognition that child abuse crosses denominational lines and indeed is prevalent in our society generally. I think it is dangerous to ignore the incidences of abuse in the Protestant churches (and indeed elsewhere) giving the impression that children are only unsafe in a Catholic setting.

Anonymous wrote:Of course, Catholics are outraged. I am Catholic and I am outraged. However, I am also outraged at the overall hatred and Catholic bashing that goes on because of this issue and the pass that is given to Protestant Churches for the same issue. The public should be outraged over child sexual abuse without a doubt. My point is that the public should be outraged by all child sexual abuse and not reserve that outrage solely for the Catholic Church.