Another reason why god doesn't exist (1 Viewer)

[katie_tully]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/se...rch-lawyers-say/2007/07/15/1184438148982.html

I hate the Catholic church for many reasons, but I think the gross misconduct of its clergy is the biggest reason. Nobody can tell me these are isolated incidents and only a small number of priests and clerrgymen molest children, I don't buy it. I think it's widespread and the fact the Church tries to cover it up or protects its own disgusts me.

I also think it's totally unnatural for a human being to abstain from any sexual activity for the duration of their lifetime. Is this what compells them to be paedophiles?

 

[Tulipa]

The reason that Catholic priests aren't allowed to get married is because during the Medieval money boom, when priests died their families inherited any of their belongings. So the Church decided to outlaw married priests and presto! They got any inheritance.

 

[bazookajoe]

Compelling argument for why God doesn't exist, I'm totally on board

That aside though, I do find it disgusting and think that the Church has to do something about it. I'm not sure what, but there's gotta be something

 

[katie_tully]

Yes Tulipa but they're so pigheaded about updating their doctrine and with the new Pope I definately don't see the Catholic Church progressing.

The Church does do something about it. They try and buy silence. It's exactly what they tried to do in Boston and Toronto, buy silence so it didnt get out.

 

[Tulipa]

There was a case in the US where a clergyman was found guilty of molestation in a civil case but his bishop said "Oh I don't believe it." and kept him in his post.

I mean what the fuck?

 

[katie_tully]

There is a lot of 'you scratch my back, I scratch yours'. And the whole confession confidentiality, a lot of them tell their fellow clergymen in confession and they somehow think that clears them in the eyes of God. It's such a crock.

 

[Snaykew]

Hey, they believe it clears them. If Hitler repented before he offed himself, he's in Heaven according to Christians.

 

[katie_tully]

But why are so many clergymen paedophiles??? It's almost synonymous with the Church now.

 

[Snaykew]

You'll have to ask a psychologist who has studied them. I'm sure they could come up with some sort of explanation on clergy behaviour. Although in regards to the scratching backs referrence, it does seem an awfully lot like politics.

 

[katie_tully]

Well I'm thinking they've all got dirt on each other which is part of the reason why they're all so hesitant to dob in dirty child molesters.
As much as I think the Church is shit and I couldn't care less if it imploded I don't want to see paedophilia become part of the Church culture. I nearly feel sorry for the die hard Churchies, it'd have to test your faith in the Church for sure.

 

[xeuyrawp]

The reason that Catholic priests aren't allowed to get married is because during the Medieval money boom, when priests died their families inherited any of their belongings. So the Church decided to outlaw married priests and presto! They got any inheritance.

I'd have to call you on that one. Celibacy is far older than that, even with regards to Catholicism.

Similar systems are generally in place in Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy and have been for a long time.

Your reason may be a good reason to keep it in place, but it sounds a bit conspiratorial to be the entire truth. *shrug*

 

[Tulipa]

I'd have to call you on that one. Celibacy is far older than that, even with regards to Catholicism.

Similar systems are generally in place in Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy and have been for a long time.

Your reason may be a good reason to keep it in place, but it sounds a bit conspiratorial to be the entire truth. *shrug*

I was told the story by an ex-priest so it may be slightly biased but at the same time, many of the offshoots of Christianity have allowed their priests to marry so it's interesting that the Catholic Church resists that.

 

[katie_tully]

The Inqusition by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh is really good. It's about the origins of the Inquisition but pretty much chronicles the early days of the Catholic church.
The Church is like, more corrupt than the mafia :s

 

[morganforrest]

I can see what a lot of you are saying, and in fact agree with you. I'm appalled by a the conduct of the Roman Catholic Church and its clergy on a number of issues and agree that there needs to be something done about it. However to the OP, to simply say that because His clergy do the wrong thing, this is automatic proof that God doesn't exist seems a little extreme.

And aren't there more Protestants than Catholics in the world today? I may be wrong but i think i heard that somewhere

 

[Tulipa]

And aren't there more Protestants than Catholics in the world today? I may be wrong but i think i heard that somewhere

Taken from Wikipedia but eh:

"The Catholic Church is the largest Christian church and organized body of any world religion. According to the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, the Catholic Church's worldwide recorded membership at the end of 2005 was 1,114,966,000, approximately one-sixth of the world's population."

"There are 593 million Protestants in the world..."

So no.

 

[katie_tully]

According to our good friends at Wikipedia, Prot numbers are;
- 590 million Protestants worldwide
- Nearly 27% of all Christians (2.1 billion) today are Protestants

 

[katie_tully]

Beat me to it. I thought it sounded strange that Protestant numbers would be larger than Catholic numbers, considering it's basically a sub-branch.

 

[morganforrest]

It's definitely not a sub branch....the Reformation certainly dealt with that. Catholics and Christians have very different beliefs, the Protestant churches and not nearly so indoctrinated and have a much larger focus on God as the head of the Church, rather than confession, works etc that are needed to get into heaven

 

[morganforrest]

I also wonder how they counted that. It seems like such a small percentage of Christians being protestants considering the large number of denominations around the world as well as old orthodox catholics not associated with the Roman Catholic Church

 

[Tulipa]

Not really... The Roman Catholic Church has always had a very strong following and even though there are a large number of denominations, it doesn't detract from the fact that there is a large Catholic following in the world.

I mean, the Pope isn't one of the biggest religious figures for nothing.