Comments

  1. doubtthat says

    At the cathedral in Venice (I think that’s right, went to roughtly 25,476 cathedrals when I was in Italy), they had this gaudy gold leafed wall – like 8′ by 12′ – with priceless gems just kind of randomply stuck around it. There’s obviously a lot of incredible art in those buildings, this was not that.
    They charged a sum of money to see this big gold wall of gems and they called it “charity.”

  2. robro says

    All of Christianity is a scam, promoted and run by lying, scam artists practically from the moment it became a thing to put themselves in power, line their pockets, and assure their comforts. All of it…Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and the various offshoots…should be taken apart brick by brick. As far as I can tell, the other religions have the same problem, including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.

  3. PaulBC says

    There was actually a time when I might have attempted to rebut this idea. There are leftwing Catholic movements (notably Catholic Worker and the activism of the Berrigan brothers) that I grew up admiring deeply.

    But whatever is going on within the Vatican seems as fully corrupt as any state in existence, and they really have gone well out of their way to suppress reports of abuse and reward those who toe the line in their organization. I give up. And that’s not even mentioning human rights atrocities like the Magdalene laundries in Ireland.

    Note that I think a lot of organizations are just as bad, and not all are religious. But I would not want to be in a position of trying to defend the Catholic church in any capacity.

  4. says

    As a fallen Catholic, I can’t quite get behind this. Only because there’s about 1% of the Catholic church that should be maintained for historical purposes. So that we have something to point to to educate future generations about how thoroughly wealth and power can corrupt. Sort of like how Civil War re-enactors recreate battles. Or how Colonial Williamsberg shows you how shitty laundry day was in the 18th century.

  5. PaulBC says

    As someone brought up Catholic, I never did understand why there was such a big controversy over Sinead O’Connor’s tearing up a picture of Pope John Paul II on SNL in 1992. See e.g. Do we owe Sinéad O’Connor an apology for speaking the truth about church child abuse?. I mean (a) I don’t see why any non-Catholic should get themselves in a tizzy over it and (b) I’m not sure it even counts as anything sinful in Catholic doctrine; the worst you could say is it’s disrespectful.

    That was at a time when I was significantly more inclined to defend the church than I am now, and I think history should definitely count O’Connor’s act as both brave and appropriate, even if people just wanted to tune into SNL for laughs. Sorry, it’s one of the few chances to get anyone’s attention.

  6. Chuck Washburn says

    Maybe you’re being a little harsh toward the pointy hat guy. Just this morning he told all the catholics to pray the fires in the Amazon would go out. So now that’s sorted.

  7. unclefrogy says

    I was made to go to catholic schools all the way through high school but it did not take and what “faith” I had has changed considerably since then .
    there appears that there is a some kind of contradiction that leads to this kind of corruption in religion. As a belief maybe not so corrupting but the organization is replete with corrupting tendencies world wide that run counter some of the basic messages, and tenants of the religion. For me it was always puzzling over the contradictions that kept noticing that helped free my thinking. As a creation of human society what ever society decides to do about this particular societal creation (the church) is ok. You can change the pitcher or change the batter you can even change the umpire but it will still be baseball. Until we figure out how to counter all the inherent contradiction there will always be the same kind of corrupting tendencies delivering similar results.
    uncle frogy

  8. unclefrogy says

    It is also not limited to the catholic church nor I fear to religion alone corrupting tendencies are found all to easily almost any where you look, just start turning over the rocks and looking in the closets.
    uncle frogy

  9. nowamfound says

    as long as they refer to child rape as “sex abuse” it will remain the same. people will send their kids to catholic schools, allow the to be altar servers. but it is rape of a child. an adult sized penis is inserted in the rectum of a child. that is rape. these priests are rapists. it is not just molestation. it is rape. it is a crime

  10. vucodlak says

    @ nowamfound, #10

    I agree with you that it should always be called rape/molestation, but I do want to point out that the scenario you outline isn’t the only kind of abuse that’s occurring in these situations.

  11. unclefrogy says

    @11
    I doubt there is any kind of crime or corruption that religious institutions are exempt from sodomy rape being but one that is currently being highlighted. maybe the worst parts which is shared by all is the covering up the corruption in order to protect the image and reputation.
    uncle frogy

  12. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    I credit the RCC for leading me to an informed state of Atheism, where I can knowledgeably discuss Religious concept and demonstrate their errors. Thank you RCC

  13. wzrd1 says

    @6, yes, I do believe the church owes her and tens of thousands of victims an apology.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalene_Laundries_in_Ireland
    Worse, mass graves in the old septic tank of a woman’s and children’s asylum, which also sold 1000 children to overseas private adoptions. The grave site contained 796 children, ranging from a 35 week gestation age to 2 – 3 year old children.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Secours_Mother_and_Baby_Home

    Oh wait, that was a consecrated shit tank, right?