BF2S Forums Pope apologises for sex abuse in Aus

the only true crooks in this world.

In the past religions have protected the clergy, however I dont think its possible to do that anymore. Mainly because of media coverage, and peoples changing attitude to religions. People should be accountable no matter who they are.

He apologized for the abuse which has happened in Aus, not over the world. Which imo is a shame. And an apology doesn't help the victims. With the money the Church makes I believe they could provide better support for the victims of these sick bastards.

I understand that the Church does do charity, but you don't often read about them providing any financial support , if any. They would rather pretend it is only a few priests and there have been cover ups. (one is still under investigation here atm that was covered up by the Church)

They were largely protected in the US.  The Catholic leadership felt that is was THEIR place to forgive the child Molester instead of the victim.  So in many cases they gave the Priests counseling within the church and shuffled them off to a new location to repeat their crimes.  Infact there are cases where the cycle repeated over and over.

Everyone was a victim according to the Catholic Church, what morons.  My mother stopped giving money to the church for a couple years and wrote letters demanding they come clean and work with law enforcement in countries to bring the offenders to justice.  IMO it just exposed what a fraud the religion is.  They expect men to go without sex to be closer to god, yet look at what happened.  Why?  because there is no god.

How the fuck do kids end up getting molested by priests anyway

faggots

the lot of 'em

What i am interested to hear is people opinions on whether they think that religions as a whole protect there clergy or are they becoming more transparent about abuse. This is not religion bashing exercise so if you wish to bash the bishops please go else where.

Organisations tend to protect their own, if they think they can get away with it.
I despise church based religion.

smuder201 wrote:

Come on guys i would like to know your opinions on whether you think that all religions hide abuse. I understand that some people don't like religions full stop but i would like to know if you think that abuse is endemic in the worlds religions.

Abuse is endemic whenever people place a large amount of faith in authority.  Any institution where a high amount of trust is placed usually allows for abuse to occur.

Think about the level of trust people put in religion.  People are willing to do and accept many ridiculous things if they are able to justify them as being part of "God's plan."  In the case of priests abusing children, many adults in the past simply did not want to think about such things.  They couldn't bring themselves to believe the men supposedly trusted as being agents of God could be abusing their children.  I'm sure there were plenty of signs of abuse for centuries, but until the last few decades, no one really talked much about it.

You see the same sort of thing with politics.  Look at the rather disturbing relationships certain Congressmen have had with their pages.  In politics, less trust is involved, but there is still a massive amount of power there.  With both religion and politics, there's plenty of power to abuse others with.

smuder201 wrote:

Turquoise wrote:

Abuse is endemic whenever people place a large amount of faith in authority.  Any institution where a high amount of trust is placed usually allows for abuse to occur.

Think about the level of trust people put in religion.  People are willing to do and accept many ridiculous things if they are able to justify them as being part of "God's plan."  In the case of priests abusing children, many adults in the past simply did not want to think about such things.  They couldn't bring themselves to believe the men supposedly trusted as being agents of God could be abusing their children.  I'm sure there were plenty of signs of abuse for centuries, but until the last few decades, no one really talked much about it.

You see the same sort of thing with politics.  Look at the rather disturbing relationships certain Congressmen have had with their pages.  In politics, less trust is involved, but there is still a massive amount of power there.  With both religion and politics, there's plenty of power to abuse others with.

Do you think that as was posted earlier by Retox that that in the case of some religions the priest should be allowed to marry or is that a case of to little to late as the abuse is now conditioned in the psyche of the populous especially in the way we think of the catholic church. Also should the punishments be harder against those bishops etc that protect the priests that abuse. if yes what kind of punishment do you propose, I personally would like to see the protector of an abuser get exactly the same sentence as the abuser.

Allowing priests to marry would probably solve the problem almost completely.  People tend to go psycho when they're deprived of normal sexual relations.

Punishments should definitely be harsher, but since I'm not a lawyer, I don't think I really have the frame of reference necessary for determining exact punishments.  In general, I'd say that protectors of abusers should receive the same sentencing as an accomplice normally receives.

smuder201 wrote:

Ok just found this source

religion & child abuse news  wrote:

The comments are believed to be the first time the pope, who was elected in 2005, has specifically apologised for sexual abuse by clergy in his Church and states clearly that abusers should be brought to justice.

The pope confronted the issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in the United States during a visit to Washington in April, meeting victims and vowing to keep paedophiles out of the priesthood.

But the pope's words in Australia were stronger than those he used in the United States, where the biggest of the scandals broke in 2002 and where Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law resigned in disgrace that year.

Bishops in the United States and elsewhere were discovered to have moved clergy who had sexually abused minors from parish to parish instead of defrocking them or handing them to authorities.

In the United States alone, dioceses have paid more than $2 billion in settlements  of suits with victims, forcing some dioceses to sell off properties and declare bankruptcy..

Do you take the pay outs as a step forward or as a sad tell on how money grabbing today's society is.

Both, actually.  Any progress is good on this issue.  Yet, the fact that money has played a bigger part in this than actual prosecutions is rather sad.

Still, as topthrill pointed out in another thread, there will still be plenty of Catholics because of tradition.  Personally, I'd be too ashamed to be a Catholic with all this negative publicity.

smuder201 wrote:

Turquoise wrote:

Still, as topthrill pointed out in another thread, there will still be plenty of Catholics because of tradition.  Personally, I'd be too ashamed to be a Catholic with all this negative publicity.

But it seems there is a renaissance in the worlds religions especially in the more fundamentalist sects, why is this, is it because we feel let down by our governments or are we losing faith in humankind and feel we must find answers for the worlds ills else where. Or does it just seem like there is a renaissance in religious fundamentalism because we are being told so by a warmongering press.

Well, it's hard to say.  See, there might be growth in evangelical Christianity and extremist Islam, but there's also growth in Atheism as well.  The fastest growing religious orientation in America is actually not having a religion.  Atheists and agnostics are growing faster as a group than any actual religion in America.

I would argue the growth in fundamentalism here is more a revival than a true long term trend.  These things come and go.  Atheism has seen faster and steadier growth here over a longer period of time.

Extremist Islam's growth is mostly just a result of ignorance and war.  The desperation of many people in Islamic countries and areas (especially like Palestine) encourages extremism.

Granted, the growth in extremist Judaism in Israel is much like extremist Islam's growth.

Dilbert_X wrote:

I would say a forcing pay out is the only way of causing suffering to an organisation - thereby forcing it to rethink its activities.

But the Catholic church has a near bottomless pot a money. As i said earlier maybe we should look at punishing the people that cover up for paedophiles with equal sentences as the paedophile themselves and the person that covers up for the abuser should also go on the sex offenders register as well, then maybe they would think again about covering up for abusers.

But the Catholic church has a near bottomless pot a money. As i said earlier maybe we should look at punishing the people that cover up for paedophiles with equal sentences as the paedophile themselves and the person that covers up for the abuser should also go on the sex offenders register as well, then maybe they would think again about covering up for abusers.

The pot is not bottomless, the Catholics in the US are pretty screwed I think.
The people involved should be prosecuted for whatever is currently on the books, protecting an offender, perverting the course of justice, concealing a crime.
The best way to punish an organisation is to fine them or restrict their activities - no child may be left alone with a priest for example.