Pope Ratz said the following last December in his Christmas address:
"In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children."Seriously? What world did Ratz live in? I grew up in the 70's and you know what? It was criminal to hurt a child.
"It was maintained - even within the realm of Catholic theology - that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a 'better than' and a 'worse than'. Nothing is good or bad in itself."
The abuse revelations in 2010 reached "an unimaginable dimension" which brought "humiliation" on the Church.
How out of touch is this monster? To whine about how the church has been humiliated is reprehensible. Why not be enraged, like normal members of society, that children have been raped and have been scarred for life under his watch?!
Raping a child who is under your protection is abominable. Has it happened throughout history? Yes. Is it more prevalent? There's no evidence that it is. We simply talk about it more now, which is good. Was it ever right? No.
Here's the other thing. Even if, say back in ancient history, having sex with children was considered a good thing, it does not make it right in modern times. Normal people understand this. That's the tu quoque fallacy.
And shouldn't the "holy" church have been the forerunner on healthy morality instead of the insidious machine of chewing up and spitting out damaged children?
For instance, I'm merely a flawed human and an atheist. And somehow I figured out at a very early age that there is no reason to ever intentionally hurt a child (or an animal). I've never done it. I grew up in the 70's and every other basically normal, healthy person I knew also refrained from abusing the weak and innocent.
So here I am, godless and imperfect, and I can figure out all on my own that it doesn't matter what was done long ago, we have to do what is right. No excuses. Just because it's the right thing to do.
Also, if I saw someone abusing a child or an animal, I would - and have - do something about it! And I do that without god or the bible telling me what to do.
Why is the church the last bastion of systematic sexual abuse? Shouldn't it be the forerunner of perfect, ideal morals and concepts (not to mention science?)
If I were god, and somehow I wasn't very good at my job, and created flawed humans, I would not do any of the things that God did in the bible. I would have told people about science, the real workings of nature, and I would have told them about morality, doing good just because it's the right thing to do.
Instead Yahweh spends hundreds of years demanding genocide, murder, misogyny, hate and jealousy.
And his harebrained schemes for dealing with his mistakes are monumentally barbaric and stupid. Two examples:
- I created flawed people so I am going to drown everything, except a drunk and his family.
- The drunk and his family repopulated the earth and they don't worship me correctly, so I am going to impregnate a girl who is betrothed to some poor guy who will actually raise my kid for me. When my kid is old enough, I will have my "chosen" people sacrifice him so that it will wash away all the sins of the world.
- but that won't stop people from being cruel to each other. That's above my pay grade.
And let's not let this whole thing of "evil" and "good" slip by. I agree that most things are on continuums instead of black and white. But somewhere on that sliding scale, you can draw lines that say, anything beyond this, as a general rule, is unacceptable, and anything beyond this end of the scale, as a general rule, is probably a good thing that should be encouraged.
What are the logical fallacies there? One is moving the goalpost. Also, weasel words. He changed the definition of acceptable and unacceptable behavior and changed how far along child rape is, making it acceptable instead of reprehensible.
Also he used appeal to tradition. If it was acceptable in the past, then it's fine and dandy today. This isn't surprising since the bible condones slavery, rape and genocide. It took rational, compassionate people to say, "hey, wait a minute, these things are wrong."
The church is always the last to be dragged kicking and screaming into modernity, civilization and science. It wasn't that long ago that they finally apologized to Galileo. And they backed Hitler, and have never renounced him or spoke against him, even to this day.
I guess it's not surprising if you actually read the bible. It's brutal and barbaric, even most of the new testament, including some of what Jesus said.
Why on earth are people still catholic? That is some serious cognitive dissonance and pathology!
I'm interested to see what hateful poison the pope spews forth this year.
Resources:
- Pharyngula
- SOTT
- Live Science
- Catholic Herald (the full address)
Pædophilia (love of boys) has been an element of militaristic/warrior societies for millenia, from classical Sparta to tribes Papuan in our day. Perhaps Hr Razinger had experiences in the Hitler Jugend he needs to come to terms with. Ernst Rohm of the S.A. was notorious for "liking them young".
ReplyDeleteRight, Ian, but as I said, just because it was done in the past doesn't mean we have any cause to continue.
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right, though. Ratz was in the Hitler Youth. It wouldn't be much of a stretch that he might have been sexually abused during that time, which might lead to him thinking, "if it was good enough for me, stop whining, it's good enough for all those other boys."
Of course, that's just speculation. No one but Ratz himself would know if that were the case.
@Ian: Pedophilia is sexual attraction to prepubescent children, not exclusively male ones. I think you mean pederasty.
ReplyDelete@Neece: Specifically, Ratzinger does not suggest that paedophilia is OK 'd by the Church, but rather tries to blame it on "society". The full text of the address is here: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2010/12/20/full-text-of-benedict-xvis-address-to-the-roman-curia/
Thanks, Anemone. I appreciate the clarification and the link.
ReplyDeleteI was focusing on parts of what he said, instead of the whole thing in context. I will add the full address, via your link, above.
We don't need this religious BS crowding our thoughts anymore.
ReplyDeleteGet rid of it all.
Science has real answers for everything you've been praying for for centuries.
This stuff is distracting, and allows monsters to hide in plain sight.
I agree completely, April!
ReplyDeleteSounds like another example of the pope trying to cover for the sex abuse in the church.Now he's trying to absolve those responsible by blaming society, as Anemone said, instead of holding people accountable for their own actions.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Bert. :\
ReplyDelete