A great article on the joke that is the Pope and the Vatican on this child rape scandal.
Quote:
One by one, as I predicted, the pathetic excuses of Joseph Ratzinger's apologists evaporate before our eyes. It was said until recently that when the Rev. Peter Hullermann was found to be a vicious pederast in 1980, the man who is now pope had no personal involvement in his subsequent transfer to his own diocese or in his later unimpeded career as a rapist and a molester.
But now we find that the psychiatrist to whom the church turned for "therapy" was adamant that Hullermann never be allowed to go near children ever again. We also find that Ratzinger was one of those to whom the memo about Hullermann's transfer was actually addressed. All attempts to place the blame on a loyal subordinate, Ratzinger's vicar general, the Rev. Gerhard Gruber, have predictably failed. According to a recent report, "the transfer of Father Hullermann from Essen would not have been a routine matter, experts said."
Either that—damning enough in itself—or it perhaps would have been a routine matter, which is even worse. Certainly the pattern—of finding another parish with fresh children for the priest to assault—is the one that has become horribly "routine" ever since and became standard practice when Ratzinger became a cardinal and was placed in charge of the church's global response to clerical pederasty.
This whole thing supremely pisses me off to no end. I don't know exactly how the church is ever going to repair this, I don't think they can.
But I doubt your ever going to be able to arrest or prosecute the pope for example if he did cover this up.
I come from a family that was fairly religious but left the church over their handling of my brothers death. But I know that my mother gets so wound up and upset about the church's conduct and these priests molesting kids that we try to keep those stories away from her.
The church really needs another Martin Luther sized reformation movement from the inside. they have to stop protecting these priests and openly air their laundry and find a way to make ammends as they demand that their own members who break the rules of god have to.
But it goes beyond making the pope and the bishops saying 5 million hail mary's and performing acts of contrition.
I think the church really needs to call in an independent party to investigate the conduct of the current pope and his actions in the possible coverup of this scandal. And if its found that he did cover it up, then the Pope needs to lay down the sceptre and cloth of duty and a new younger more in touch Pope needs to be elected.
People tell me to love the sinner and hate the sin, and that forgiveness is next to divinity, but honestly when it comes to kids, I'm just not a big enough person to forgive someone for molesting an innocent, and I can never find it in my heart to forgive someone who molests children.
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Sort of routine bit of journalism from Hitchens; stating the obvious in his own hysterical fashion.
He's if nothing been an interesting intellectual for some time.
If you wanted to enjoy some real debate from him against the church might I recommend this with his dear friend Steven Fry vs Catholics on the question, "is the catholic church a force for good in this world."
Fry is amazing in this debate.
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lol New Atheists is a tag given by the religious, nothing is new about atheism its just now we live in a society where that ideal can freely be spoken about without fear of losing your job, your life.
The internet has become the biggest factor in the recent rise of the secular movement, yet there will always be apologetics who think we should find common ground and reasons to co-operate with those who are religious.
He's if nothing been an interesting intellectual for some time.
If you wanted to enjoy some real debate from him against the church might I recommend this with his dear friend Steven Fry vs Catholics on the question, "is the catholic church a force for good in this world."
I was very surprised to see that about half of the people who we supported the notion (that the catholic churchs is a force of good) actually changed their mind during this debate.
I would've expected very little movement one way or the other.
Of course it was to be expected that the audience on a debate like this would be mostly filled with people who already have a critical attitude towards the church.
The Pope really needs to step down an admit his mistakes and do a Public confession. Then they need to root out all of the Perpetrators and bring them to the courts where evidence exists.
The problem they run into is the Church believes itself to be infallible
Even as an atheist, I really, really can't stand Dawkins or Hitchens.
I'm not an atheist but Dawkins really bugs me. He is evangelical in his attempt to spread atheism. Like the Morman knocking on your door on Sunday morning. In general I don't like activists of any kind. From global warming to religion and he seems to fall into that activism category.
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Either that—damning enough in itself—or it perhaps would have been a routine matter, which is even worse. Certainly the pattern—of finding another parish with fresh children for the priest to assault—is the one that has become horribly "routine" ever since and became standard practice when Ratzinger became a cardinal and was placed in charge of the church's global response to clerical pederasty.
So, I don't get it. I kind of understand why it might be hard to bring about charges on the Pope, but the article seems to suggest that even the abusers that worked outside the Vatican are immune to prosecution as past transgressions have been handled internally... Why? Do they have some sort of diplomatic immunity thing or is it something else?
Last edited by FlamingStuffedTiger; 03-31-2010 at 06:55 AM.
I don't think that my sentiments are original here and have likely been posted in one of the other threads on these topics (in general, not saying this is a fata). I just find it appaling that any organization can house people who allegedly commit these crimes and they never seem to face criminal prosecution.
If this was any other organization the pope (and others) would at least face a criminal trial to see where their involvement was. Its bewildering that these acts are completed under guise and not treated with the same disdain and penalty.
In general I don't like activists of any kind. From global warming to religion and he seems to fall into that activism category.
Apathy FTW!
Activism is a way to bring change. Seems a strange thing to dislike. Unless you like the world exactly the way it is, but then it's full of activists. It would be even stranger to oppose activism. You'd have to be careful not to oppose it too strongly, lest your actions turn into a campaign. "Down with activism!"
I like Religion because it gives people something to believe in, some hope.
I hate Religion because it gives people the wrong idea, false hope.
I hate Popes that molest kids and I think they should be locked in the slammer with the rest of the pedophiles and accidentally placed with the regular inmates for a few nights first.
I myself have always had a hard time taking religion seriously, especially when I consistently see high ranking members of the Christian faith molesting little boys.
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