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273 Comments
- Hillsfar, on 05/20/2009, -4/+151"It cited numerous examples where school managers told police about child abusers who were not church officials - but never did this when one of their own had committed the crime."
Even today, the Catholic Church is more interested in keeping its reputation as intact as possible, and the names of its members (some of whom are still alive and still in positions of authority) private. Someone who may have been an abusive priest in 1975 may easily be an elder parish priest or bishop in 2009.
Makes you wonder, if this is what has been happening for decades in the U.S. and in Ireland, what's been going on in Italy, in Eastern Europe, and in areas of South America even today, where the influence of the Church over government, society, and childrens' institutions is still strong.
The Vatican and its "doctrinally infallible popes" still have a lot to answer for. - papastout, on 05/21/2009, -1/+67Catholic church sex scandal? I would have never thought...
- MyMainMan, on 05/20/2009, -15/+77Let's stop this ancient thing of religion.
The only thing it seems to do these days are child abuse, trying to stop the use of condoms in Africa leading to more aids deaths and promoting creationism as opposed to evolution, among other things.
It may have worked as a motivational factor for the people when the first civilisations were formed but now it is unnecessary!
It's not good for anything these days and only leads to prejudice and narrow minded people based upon the authoritarian thinking that most religions leads to. - protoopus, on 05/21/2009, -1/+51i don't think that's what jesus meant by "suffer the little children...."
- Finsternis, on 05/21/2009, -5/+51Turns out all those wonderful priests and nuns were abusing the kids in their care for decades.
This was not a small handful of people. This was INSTITUTIONALIZED. On a national scale.
"But religion is GOOD! It makes people behave BETTER!"
Yeah. Just keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.
Having religion and having morality do not intersect IN ANY WAY beyond random chance.
"Men tend to have the beliefs that suit their passions. Cruel men believe in a cruel God and use their belief to excuse their cruelty. Only kindly men believe in a kindly God, and they would be kindly in any case."
— Bertrand Russell - redcolumbine, on 05/20/2009, -1/+43The combination of absence of oversight and perceived Divine sanction is poisonous.
- mediablitz, on 05/21/2009, -4/+45Are you suggesting the Catholic church should be applauded for this, or that we should all just ignore it, because it might offend some religious people?
- inactive, on 05/21/2009, -3/+43Daughter of Satin, she sounds hot.
- digg4peace, on 05/20/2009, -6/+44I can not imagine why anyone who knows the history of this horrific Catholic church would continue to hold membership in it.
- carbonetc, on 05/21/2009, -0/+38I always figured the moral high ground would be, I don't know, a little less... rapey.
- JoeParanoid, on 05/20/2009, -2/+38Recall the Magdalen Sisters film that came out a few years back chronicling the criminalization and permanent detention of young girls cast out by their families. This is what you get when church and government are intermingled.
- keloyd, on 05/20/2009, -0/+30The Devle wears satin.
- detales, on 05/21/2009, -0/+25Your move, Vatican.
- uisignorant, on 05/20/2009, -12/+35Yep the Catholic church. The Daughter of Satin himself.
- mrfunktastic, on 05/21/2009, -8/+31There's plenty of non-religious charities as well, that don't get all rapey on the kids.
- Finsternis, on 05/21/2009, -4/+25Maybe it's because THEY ABUSED THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN FOR DECADES. Among two thousand years of other crimes against humanity too long to list here.
I mean, just MAYBE. - ThaMunsta, on 05/21/2009, -0/+16"Christine Buckley, 62, who spent the first 18 years of her life in a Dublin orphanage where children were forced to manufacture rosaries — and were humiliated, beaten and raped whether they achieved their quota or not."
This kills me. I mean you really have to either go through it yourself or get very close with someone who has been through horrible things like this to fully understand but honestly...
"Girls were struck with implements designed to maximize pain and were struck on all parts of the body,"
... Just kills me... - christoast, on 05/21/2009, -5/+21There should be a mass arrest on the catholic church. Everyone ever suspected. Priests, Cardinals, Bishops ***** everyone. I hope they expose this crime against humanity and let it be known these are examples of the darkest sides of the human condition. Think of all the children all over the world who suffered and were abused, imagine the children of history in boarding schools, young minds being exposed to this strict hellish environment. What we could have accomplished as a species if it hadn't been for the clergy boggles the mind. We as a western culture have been traumatized not just by pedophiles and child abusers, thats just the tip of the iceberg - the dogma itself is a form of child abuse, the institution itself caused so much harm in the minds of people. The psychological damage that has been done by the church is unthinkable.
- smemily, on 05/21/2009, -2/+16Are you ***** kidding me? Raping kids is fine as long as you feed people?
- Memnochxx, on 05/21/2009, -1/+15So what? People can support other charities that don't rape people.
- Frankyfan3, on 05/21/2009, -1/+14When Sex of any kind (masturbation or within marriage for priests) then ALL sex becomes EQUALLY taboo.
A priest can't have sex with a woman he marries in the same exact way he can't have sex with a child.
I could argue that there is scientific data showing children are not psychologically or physically ready for intimate sexual practices, and that any abuse of that kind results in brain alterations normally detrimental to the health & wellbeing of the child up into later life.
Doesn't change the fact that the Catholic church regards both fundamentally different sexually activities as nearly identical in sinfulness.
I'm all for letting priests marry. Forced celibacy is an archaic institution that was mostly aimed at remanding any wealth of property or land to the church upon the death of a clergyman. - Finsternis, on 05/21/2009, -11/+24Yes, let's - please.
You think charitable work excuses things like this?
"It's OK, don't worry about the child abuse - we were feeding some other people, so it doesn't count!" Puh-LEASE.
This wasn't a few random pedophiles. This wasn't a small group at one facility. This was INSTITUTIONLALIZED, NATIONAL-SCALE abuse. With THOUSANDS of people involved in both the abuse and the cover-up.
Don't give me that "but we have soup kitchens!" *****. - inactive, on 05/21/2009, -3/+15RATSLINGER THAT COWARD KNEW. Same like the abuse in the USA it was on his watch.. he was the Vatican liaison and he covered it up. Now he's pope Slimy creep.
- sugarazor, on 05/21/2009, -5/+17Religion, by its very nature, must be promoted. You can't have a religious structure without followers, you can't have followers without someone recruiting. Belief is benign, religion is the problem.
- yerdaddy, on 05/21/2009, -0/+11It takes an idiot to play off the uselessness of one religion with that of another.
- draculthemad, on 05/21/2009, -2/+13No. They didnt.
Because if they were caught doing it in secular prisons, they ended up on the *other side of the bars*.
You know, since they lacked that whole international organization of secrecy that would shuffle them around smear accusers. - Frankyfan3, on 05/21/2009, -0/+11Many cruel & vicious people have used religion as an excuse for their behavior.
Nathan Phelps, estranged son of Fred Phelps relates a very compelling tale of his father's pious indoctrination of violence and hate into his understanding of Christianity
If you haven't seen it already, check it out:
http://greensboring.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=9 ... - Urrelles, on 05/21/2009, -4/+15This is less of an issue with religion and more of an issue with tight communities of people covering each others asses. Once you get to know these horrible people personally for years, you tend to not want to see them go down in flames.
A good example has been happening recently in the US. We can't seem to get Bush and his administration cronies behind bars. why? Because every damn person in Congress, Senate, Treasury, Military know each other by first name basis. They all do favors for each other and feel obligated to not rat each other out.
Even Obama has been hit by this cricle jerk of cover ups. He won't pursue procecution of Bush, probably because of how nice Bush was when giving them a tour of the White house and handing over the presidential keys. - YoctoYotta, on 05/21/2009, -1/+11I could be misinterpreting, but I think she was just making a general statement about how predictably people here on digg might respond (which may or may not be accurate), not necessarily a comment on the behavior of the church being justified or worthy of protection from criticism.
- keloyd, on 05/21/2009, -2/+12I love history. If you like the Sopranos' 6 seasons, you would love the other 5000 of various royal families or the Church.
The Borgia popes are particularly amusing.
My question to you is who is better? Is any equivalent institution less tainted? I can think of only a few, and they're smaller, weaker, less capable of evil rather than inherently less evil.
Human Nature just has some bad lines of code in it. If any culture, at any time, has a group of powerless, friendless, vulnerable children, the same thing happens, every time, and always will.
That said, the Catholics deserve all the bad press they get this time. - MaximusIGN, on 05/21/2009, -0/+10Why is it that a daycare that molests a single child is shutdown right
away but a Church that has been doing it for decades to
thousands of kids still gets to keep on operating? - sugarazor, on 05/21/2009, -1/+11Oh puh-lease. There are far more disagreements among the left than the right, hence why the left can never rally behind a central issue. The right only welcomes those who subscribe to a strict set of rules.
- Cheezian, on 05/21/2009, -2/+12Can you support your claim in any capacity?
No, you can't, because society isn't breaking down. Society changes all the time. - gowebsolution, on 05/21/2009, -1/+10I went to catholic school in a African country. Good school academically, but I believe in today's standard they should shut them down.
- UNCsucks, on 05/21/2009, -0/+9The pope doesn't deny evolution. No pope has since the '50s.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,151 ... - HisNoodly, on 05/21/2009, -0/+9If they won't name the people involved, let's just publish a list of all the past members of the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy.
Faced with an angry nation denied justice, methinks they'll be in rather a hurry to give people a smaller list. And if they don't.... well, they made their choice. - sugarazor, on 05/21/2009, -4/+13If you need an invisible man in the clouds or the threat of eternal damnation to make you be a good person, you are not a good person. We don't all need Santa Jesus to be good little boys and girls so we can get presents, some of us just know that it's wrong to hurt others.
I know plenty of atheists who are just as stubborn and dogmatic as the most fundamentalist Christians, but don't act like they have no sense of morality, that's just absurd. I guarantee there are more religious people in prison than non-religious. - YoctoYotta, on 05/21/2009, -2/+11Who needs religion when you can have this wee touch o' the Irish.
- mikemil828, on 05/21/2009, -3/+12//As bad as the Church acted here, someone should provide context, is this 10x or 1/10 as bad as secular institutions, comparing apples to apples?//
So basically the faithful's counterargument is: "Ok so the Catholic Church has people that beat and rape children, but that isn't as secular institutions right?" Ignoring the bigger issue that the Catholic Church, instead of disowning the guys, protected and still protect these individuals to this very day. - nollaig, on 05/21/2009, -0/+9Firstly, neither the Unionist (mostly Protestant and want Northern Ireland to remain with the UK) nor the Nationalist (mostly Catholic and want a united full island Ireland) EVER used suicide bombers!
Secondly, that all took place in the "troubles" of Northern Ireland and had nothing to do with the Catholic Church run schools in the Republic of Ireland.
How the Catholic Church got away with some much has alot to do with its special privliage that the Irish Government gave them when it was made independent from the British Empire. This was only removed in the recent years. As far as I'm concered the Irish Government is as much to blame as that Bishop in Rome and these victims should be entitled to sue both as much as possibile. - LucifersDad, on 05/21/2009, -0/+8There are Baptist, Methodist, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and politicians who are paedophiles.
The thing is it is only the Catholics who are being investigated today. Most religions when men are given complete power, you will often find men who abuse this power. The more power you give them the more they abuse.
The only thing that shocks me is that no one has gone postal yet. You cannot abuse so many men without some getting together and going after the paedophiles and the people who allowed it.
As for the paedophiles in Ireland there will be a complete cover up as a lot of men who abused and new about the abuse are still alive and in power these include police, judges, media, lawyers and politicians. - TallestSkil, on 05/21/2009, -0/+8Seems like the Irish are touching wee Irish wees...
- arplayer2k, on 05/21/2009, -5/+13Catholic TERRORISTS!
- quaxon, on 05/21/2009, -3/+11Yea like waving food and medicine in front of starving africans and basically telling them "convert or die"
- mithrasinvictus, on 05/21/2009, -0/+8Dugg for the quote.
- shrudheuie, on 05/21/2009, -2/+10Darn. I keep thinking how immoral I must be since I lack the moral foundation provided by religion.
- inactive, on 05/21/2009, -1/+9this has nothing to do with anything
kindly GTFO - belebih, on 05/21/2009, -2/+10Religion does not dictate morality. It's the other way around. The general moral compass of society is what dictates what is religious or not. It's why you're here saying "ooh some people aren't /really/ Christians", because their actions don't jive with what you, nor I as an atheist, consider to be morally right. It's the reason why the Christianity of today is not the same as that of hundreds of years ago, since it's been modified over and over until it fits with the currently accepted social norms.
And atheism is just the lack of belief in god. That's it. It doesn't teach anything. It has no rules. It's not a club. It's not a religion. Stop supposing as such in order to try to back up your weak, ignorant arguments.
If you don't understand how morality exists outside and in spite of religion, and need some supernatural justification to rein you in to acting the way that just comes naturally to most, then I suggest you keep your head in the sand a bit longer lest you just go bat ***** crazy without your crutch and do things you might regret. - sugarazor, on 05/21/2009, -2/+9If there was any way of actually "knowing" the existence of God, then we wouldn't have any need for this debate. I don't know if there is a god or gods, but I do know that I don't need to believe in something I cannot prove in order to be a kind and decent human being.
- museamongmen, on 05/21/2009, -1/+8Ugh. Despicable, and cruel. Really, the idea of the Vatican is quite silly. I am from a Catholic family, but I don't think anyone among us takes the Vatican seriously; I'm pretty confident that the family stays Catholic out of culture and tradition (for the most part, the churches seem to behave quite autonomously, I can't remember the last time the Vatican was mentioned in a sermon).
I wish all those who suffered the best, perhaps they can continue with a modicum of peace. -
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