homosexuality, not celibacy, as the cause for the priest pedophilia
cases. I guess I have two comments.
1. Homosexuality is the cause of priests raping young boys? By that
logic, we cannot let the rest of the heterosexual priesthood anywhere
near young girls.
2. Personally, I really feel like the Catholic Church should not be
wading into the realm of the psychological sciences, and it especially
shouldn't be making controversial claims that aren't substantiated by
data.
The thing about science is there are things that might make sense to
some people, and perhaps given political orientations it would be
convenient if those things were true, but they still may not be true.
A while back I criticized the Pope, who said that using condoms
increases HIV transmission in Africa. Yes, I can sort of see the flow
of logic that would bring someone to that conjecture; and it would be
really convenient for Catholics if it was true, since Catholics don't
want people to use birth control. But the problem is that there
really isn't any scientific evidence that would support the Pope's
condom assertion. Furthermore, that assertion might very well be
wrong. And if it is wrong, then many people might become infected
with AIDs as a direct result of what the Pope said. So I mean, when
the stakes are so high, why not just err on the side of caution until
we know more? Why not leave moral leadership to the church, and leave
public health leadership to the thousands of scientists who have spent
years on top of years studying disease transmission, epidemiology,
patient compliance, barrier effectiveness, et cetera?
The recent proclamation about homosexuality causing pedophilia by the
Pope's deputy is another good example. There is really very little
data that would support this assertion made by the deputy Pope,
however convenient of a scapegoat homosexuals might be for the church
at this time. And it is a very damning assertion that shouldn't be
taken lightly, because it is trying to blur the line between
homosexuality and pedophilia, which will lead to even further hatred
of homosexuals in this country, maybe more executions of homosexuals
in Uganda, et cetera. I guess I'm just sort of thinking that a group
of spiritual leaders should stick to spiritual leadership, and leave
the psychological sciences for someone else to sort through.
Ultimately, I really don't care why priests were raping children. I
just want priests to stop molesting children and I want there to be
accountability. The Catholic Church needs to stop the reactionary
scapegoating of homosexuals or lashing out at the liberal media -
because that is not what Jesus Christ would do. The church needs to
focus on reforming the church in a transparent, inclusive, and honest
way.
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