Quote: @pumpf said:
@ KingBash said:
@ pumpf said:
Compared to most world religions, Christianity held women in far higher esteem- at that time. Nowadays, though, it's popular to judge people of the past by the trends of the present.
Sexually assaulting children- however- is always evil. "Wrong" seems to be a matter of taste for a given time and place. But somethings transcend those mores; they are universally right and universally wrong. Sexually assaulting / abusing children is always wrong.
As guilty as the Catholic Church is (unfortunately, they are considered guilty by association- not so much because of the local priests and bishops but because the "higher-ups" were the ones to allow evil to fester), public school teachers have a much higher rate of child sexual abuse / assault. But no one is judging all teachers by the acts of the (relative) few... or boycotting public schools because of it. If you really do "reject" (not sure what term you would prefer) organized religion, shouldn't you also "reject" public schools?
Always gotta tie your team's wrongdoing's to another's...
The common denominator is careers (define as you will) where men are given authority over children. These careers, whether it's the Catholic church or public school teachers, are beacons of light for pedophiles.
And wherever you're getting your statistics, I'd like to see. I don't doubt it, but no well-adjusted man decides, "You know what? I'm gonna be celibate and shroud myself in a guilt-ridden life where people come to me for guidance... including children."
Also: why "public" schools? Did the study not include private? I can't see too many variables between the two that would change things.
I did the research years ago... and I posted the links back then. I'm not real interested in doing all that leg-work again. As for "public" schools- there are 2 reasons for that. One, is that the Teacher's Unions protect these pedophiles- just like the Catholic church protected theirs. Private schools have no such mechanism in place. Second, that private schools have never been surveyed / studied (near as my research can tell). So, I'm not denying that it could- and probably does- happen in private schools, too.
As for why I brought it up, it's certainly not to excuse "holy men" of committing terrible crimes. It's to remind folks that- if they really DO care about the children (and not just about attacking a religious institution), then their outrage ought to include others who are doing it, too- ESPECIALLY if those "others" are doing it at a much higher rate of incidence. PS: I'm not Catholic... so I don't consider them "my team". I think that their theology regarding justification is wrong- and, at times- damnable. So, no: they're not "my team".
And if you look at the porn issues and the human trafficking that goes with it, a much darker picture appears. It isn't just the priests or the teachers. This society is very sick and they are abusing kids to feed that illness. It is a huge issue and growing. But nobody wants to admit it, because secretly or not so secretly, many people love their porn. But it is such an emptiness. Leading to needing more and more "shock" to titillate.
The Catholic Church's scandal of homosexual and minor abuse is just the tip of the iceberg. If the media were willing to look below the surface, oh what they might find.
I think something to keep in mind is using a minority example to generalize to the entire group. This is done by some as it relates to Muslim and others as it relates to Christians. A lot of people think of Muslim overall as having a hatred for the west and a violent underpinning. As I am older, my first experience with the Muslim religion was Muhammad Ali. Few of your probably know that he was a conscientious objector to the Vietnam war based on his Muslim religion. ("“It is in the light of my consciousness as a Muslim minister and my own personal convictions that I take my stand in rejecting the call to be inducted. … I find I cannot be true to my beliefs in my religion by accepting such a call. I am dependent upon Allah as the final judge of those actions brought about by my own conscience.”) His conviction for draft evasion was overturned by the Supreme Court (Ali: “I thank Allah. And I thank the Supreme Court for recognizing the sincerity of the religious teachings that I’ve accepted"). So, you see, the Muslim religion can teach peace.
On the other hand, one can look at certain "Christian" minister and think Christianity is bad. Take preacher Steven Anderson who told his congregation that he prays nightly for the death of then-president Barack Obama and after:49 people were killed at an LGBT-friendly bar in Orlando, Florida, he uploaded a video telling his audience why the 49 people " deserved to die in the shooting." Should non-Christians view Anderson as an example of all Christians?
The fact is all religion is pliable and prone to be abused to support things that are not supported by the truly religious. Violence is not the core of the Muslim religion just as intolerance of sexual orientation is not the core of Christianity. Too often we become too lazy to realize that a few people of a particular religion or political party or color do not represent that entire group.
Yes, there are places Christians are being persecuted but there is not one religion that is not being persecuted somewhere. Unfortunately, that is the nature of man and his desire for power. It is easier to hate "the other" than understand him. And it is easier to use that hate to garner power than to bring people together.
However, research consistently indicates that Christians are “the most widely targeted religious community” 6. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that acts of violence and other intimidation against Christians are becoming more widespread. 7 The reporting period revealed an increase in the severity of anti-Christian persecution. In parts of the Middle East and Africa, the “vast scale” 8 of the violence and its perpetrators’ declared intent to eradicate the Christian community has led to several Parliamentary declarations 9 in recent years that the faith group has suffered genocides according to the definition adopted by the UN. 10
From: http://https//christianpersecutionreview.org.uk/interim-report/
Man has a terrifying history of being told to "hate the people that read the wrong books".
The better examples of religion do not preach hatred...but for every legitimately gentle preacher, rabbi, or imam, there seems to be a snarling podium pounder and/or violent extremist.
It's funny, I thought this would be about persecution performed by christians.
Quote: @"BarrNone55" said:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/freaks...ar-AACMOf9
WWJD?
Jesus would smack those false teachers around. Frankly, I'd like to as well. They are modern-day Judaizers... who preach a gospel- that is no Gospel at all. The only thing that they might have gotten right... is that God doesn't "accept" gays. Of course, he doesn't "accept" anyone else, either (since we are ALL sinners in need forgiveness). So rather than accept us as we are (whoever and whatever we are), through faith in His Son: He adopts us as His children... forgives us our sins... and transforms us from sinners into saints.
These folks are not Christians, because they do not preach Christ. They preach "self". Jesus loves and forgives... and He says that anyone who will not do the same has no part in Him- and will not be forgiven by the Father.
There are some Christians who think that homosexuality isn't a sin. There are some who know that it is. But NO Christian would say that God hates anyone... or that He does not offer forgiveness freely to all. I'm disgusted by the false words of these men who purport to speak for God. They don't. They do speak for other, ignorant and hate-filled people. But they don't speak for God.
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