More religious scandals than days in the year

[Forever Sophist]

In my last video I simply looked over some of the top stories posted over the last 24 hours.

• A sting operation leading to a 30 year old Christian youth leader exposed for trying to have rape a 14-year-old
  
  
• $3.6M committed in fraud by former Bush/Obama spiritual advisor welcomed "forgiven" back into his church
  
  
• a Baptist ministry trying to evangelize a Brazilian indigenous tribe with Jesus, solar-powered radio.
  

While the solar powered radio story is from last week, the fraud and child sex abuse case are from the last 24 hours at time of posting. There are more incidents than there are days in the year.

You hear often from religious people that "people are flawed but God is not" and that bad apples are not indicative of the religion itself, but if you can't start a car 100 times each time you try to turn the engine on, maybe it's not a good car that sometimes doesn't start, but a broken car. Maybe religion is a broken system.

Philosophically, I have come to understand deeper and deeper gripes with the implication of having this ultimate "truth" you are obligated to not just subscribe to but force upon others, and the hubris it provides its leaders leading them to think they are above the law. There is no secular equivalent to any style of thinking like this. Sure, there is narcissism and psychopathy, but this is not unique to any ideology.

As a secular person, even things as fundamental as my worldview, I am open to adjusting as evidence presents itself. Quite recently, even, I saw some science communicators talk about the big bang, and I have been led to understand/reanalyze many of my misconceptions of the big bang and how the universe came from it.

Religious people do not have this level of imagination, creativity, or flexibility. And when someone is strangled into an unmoving position, they throw the baby out with the bathwater. Like how Mormons and Muslims forgive the pedophilia and criminal works of their leaders, and Christians as a whole forgive the tenants of their religion, religious leaders today take stride with the same disgusting motivations.

We need to be even more vocal, I believe, and talk about all of these tragedies as and when they unfold constantly. People calling atheist communities online cringe or saying it's just a bunch of neckbeards are part of the problem. The more I see the evidence around me the more I am convicted of an antitheist position.

--Forever Sophist

[brewerb]

Religion(s) does a lot of that rebuking stuff but not when it's within their ranks. Got to keep them pews filled and them dollars flowing.

There's no hypocrisy here, move along people, move along.

[Dānu]

Frequency of news stories is not a reliable indicator. People with certain group identities are a lot more likely to be featured in news stories and have their group identity noted than others. Thus you will read stories about pastors, senators, and lesbians more often than you will stories about philatelists and heterosexuals.

[Minimalist]

Frequency of news stories is not a reliable indicator.  People with certain group identities are a lot more likely to be featured in news stories and have their group identity noted than others.  Thus you will read stories about pastors, senators, and lesbians more often than you will stories about philatelists and heterosexuals.

There are relatively few religitards in the population but they do seem over-represented in the pervert/thief  division of the news.  Good post, Sophist.

[Forever Sophist]

Danu does raise a good point, however. I would be interested in seeing a proper, longitudinal study on people in certain positions of power, and how religious folk rank among them.

[Rhythmcs]

I wouldn't call it a proper study, but john marshal and ken burnside have spent time analyzing news stories over long periods and at least with respect to sex with minors and child porn, you can safely bet it's about christians and, specifically, politically christian republicans. A pretty convenient answer to the question of why they're always going on about pedo rings. It's what they'd do..or, way to often, are doing.

There's also a very fun little idea called pedocon - which is the belief that the current incarnation of politically active christianity is at it's root a pedophilic endeavor. It's not just that there happen to be alot of pedos in that demo, or that it attracts them - not that these things aren't true...but that this is exactly what the whole thing is about. It's the actual goal.

Go ahead, try to raise the age of marriage, see who pipes up to stop you.

[SYZ]

This study provided a comprehensive description of the
types of employment settings within which sexual abuse
occurs, as well as the different variables associated with
the various types of employment.

Sexual Abuse Within Employment Settings: A Comparison
of Work-Related, Intra- and Extra-Familial Child Molesters.

All offenders (N = 3,194) were incarcerated and served time
in either a prison-based sex offender treatment facility or the
general prison population.  

For a case to be included in the workplace child sexual abuse
grouping, the offender had to have established contact with
their victim(s) through the institution or setting in which they
worked in a paid or voluntary capacity (IE; if not by means of
the work position, the abuse would have not occurred).



    –Diana M. Falkenbach et al, Sage Journals, 20 June 2017.

[mordant]

There are relatively few religitards in the population but they do seem over-represented in the pervert/thief  division of the news.

It's also notable to me that there's so MUCH of sexual misconduct up to and very often including child-diddling. Since sexuality is such a fulcrum of control for authoritarian Christians, you'd think they'd mostly be squeaky-clean on that issue, especially the leadership. But the only thing I can figure is that they are so sexually repressed that they can't help but act out in these ways.

[SYZ]

In Australia, Type 1 diabetic, 8-year-old Elizabeth Struhs
died after members of a cult called the Saints, and her
parents, withdrew her insulin medication. They prayed
and sang around her until she perished.

They then prayed to God for her resurrection!!!

According to the Saint's pastor Brendan, you couldn't be
a Christian without the physical manifestation of speaking
in tongues. Without that, he argued, you were not imbued
with the Holy Spirit. He taught followers that doctors and
medications were "evil" and that "only God could heal".

Indeed, Brendan viewed himself as the messenger of God
and his followers as chosen ones, superior to normal human
beings. His extreme Pentecostal-type theology led his members
on what's known as a "purity spiral".  

Two days after her death, her father Jason called emergency
services to report Elizabeth's death. The decision to contact
emergency services was, according to one member of the
Saints, in order to make more people see Elizabeth's body so
that more people would be amazed when she rose from the dead.

The mother, Kerrie Struhs, and her husband Jason each received
a 14-year sentence for manslaughter, and pastor Brendan Stevens
was given a 13-year sentence.

[Minimalist]

There are relatively few religitards in the population but they do seem over-represented in the pervert/thief  division of the news.

It's also notable to me that there's so MUCH of sexual misconduct up to and very often including child-diddling. Since sexuality is such a fulcrum of control for authoritarian Christians, you'd think they'd mostly be squeaky-clean on that issue, especially the leadership. But the only thing I can figure is that they are so sexually repressed that they can't help but act out in these ways.

They think they can do whatever the want because, you know, pappy jesus forgives them!

[SYZ]

Laws requiring clergy to report child abuse to authorities,
even if it's heard in the confession box, came into effect in
2020, ending the "special treatment" for Victoria's religious
institutions in Australia.

The Confessional Seal has now been lifted for the suspected
sexual abuse of children, with spiritual and religious leaders
legally required to report child sexual abuse or face up to three
years in prison.  (The Children Legislation Amendment Bill, 2019)

But...

In the United States the secrecy of the confessional in the Roman
Catholic Church is so sacrosanct that any priest who violates it is
automatically excommunicated.  Which, IMHO, is fine if it catches
a paedophile.

New legislation, signed into law by Washington Gov Robert Ferguson,
a Democrat(!), requires members of the clergy to report child abuse
to authorities, even if that knowledge arises during the Sacrament of
Confession. It has outraged(!) many Catholics in the state, and across
the country.  Unfortunately, In July, a federal judge granted a preliminary
injunction temporarily blocking enforcement of the law, ruling that it
"required a disclosure of information priests hear in the confessional
infringes on their First Amendment right to practice religion."

"This law is a clear intrusion into the practice of our Catholic faith",
said Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle. "The state is now intruding
into the practice of religion, and if they’re allowed to get away with
that, where do we draw the line?"  So, may I ask what happened to
the basic democratic principle of the separation of church and state in
the United States?

Paedophile Enabler Paul Etienne (centre)...


The Vatican also, predictably, weighed in, emphasising that the secrecy
of Confession is an "intrinsic requirement" of the Sacrament. Trump had
made "eradicating anti-Christian bias" a priority for the DoJ in April.
   (Which is an obvious sop to the largely Catholic Republican voters.)

Democrat state Senator Ms Noel Frame said, "Calling the legislation
anti-Catholic feels deeply political because it’s false on its face."
The new law defines a clergy member as a "minister, priest, rabbi,
imam, elder, or similarly situated religious or spiritual leader of any
church".

[Minimalist]

What's wrong with anti-catholic?  It's a 1500 year old criminal conspiracy.

[SYZ]

The Australian Catholic Church has attempted to
reopen a highly controversial legal loophole that
stopped it being sued by victims of sexual abuse
for millions of dollars in damages, an ABC News
investigation has revealed.

The "Ellis defence" was a legal loophole that held
the church could not be sued because it did not
exist as a legal entity.

The government closed this loophole in 2018 after it was
condemned by the child sexual abuse royal commission.
Now, the Catholic Church has to nominate a person to
act as its representative when sued, and in Melbourne,
that person is current Archbishop Peter Comensoli.

But Comensoli sought to revive the "Ellis defence" in 2022,
in legal proceedings instigated by himself.

This is paedophile enabler Comensoli...


Comensoli personally vouched for convicted paedophile
Cardinal George Pell [In 2017 Pell was charged with multiple
counts of historical child sexual assault]  by signing a letter
of support in 2015, describing him as a "man of integrity".
Comensoli has also stated that he would not break the
Seal of Confession for confessions which include admissions
of sexual abuse.

In a November 2024 case, the court ruled churches cannot
always be held liable for the actions of priests because they
are not employees.  [So who's their employer and who pays
their stipend then?  A fucking mythical, supernatural entity?]

This new loophole has yet to be closed, despite government
pledges to do so.  Advocates say the delay in bringing in new
legislation to address this decision is further traumatising victims.

[Minimalist]

The victims do not  have the same cash flow that the fucking church has.

[SYZ]

The victims do not  have the same cash flow that the fucking church has.

Exactly.  Cardinal George Pell’s legal defence cost around AU$3 million
with—outrageously—the Victorian Government (IE: the taxpayers!) also
contributing around AU$390,000 toward Pell’s legal costs.

How is it that Victoria's ~2.8m atheist
taxpayers had to open their wallets for
this disgusting arsewipe's defence?    

[Rhythmcs]

Chump change. Pedo preists have cost the catholic church in the us 3bil even as they shielded another 2bil from recovery. 3bil is what they raked in from the PPP alone. 80% of us are not catholics.