Evildoers, not Pope, to blame [Sydney Morning Herald]

[Ockham]

"Just to contemplate the depths of human depravity can make you wonder about the value of life at all. But it also has to be said that if paedophilia seems to be on the increase, it has been enabled by the eroticisation of our culture over decades, and even priests are not immune.

Why, for instance, should the Dutch be surprised by the launch in 2006 of a paedophile party, the Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party, which wanted to cut the age of consent from 16 to 12. Since dissolved, it was just another step in the continuum of social disorder in which the taboos and social norms protecting children break down.

In a similar vein were moves in 2003 by psychiatrists at an American Psychiatric Association conference to stop classifying paedophilia as a mental disorder, thus normalising it as just another sexual preference.

It is the Catholic Church which has been most vocal about the breakdown of moral order, from paedophilia to abortion. And this has made it a target of those who object to moralising they regard as an infringement of their freedoms."

smh.com.au/opinion/politics/evildoers-not-pope-to-blame-20100414-sdyj.html

 

[Santi2]

Finally, an article I can read without resorting to :banghead:. I cannot say that comments opposing the article was unexpected. Does not mean they are right though.

 

[miguel]

The more Dawkins opens his mouth the more he loses credibility. Go for it Richard.

 

[timotheos]

There are those atheists who seem to hate the Church on account of its strict morals. And it is those same people who hate it even more when those morals are not strictly upheld.

On a side note, it does seem contradictory at first glance. In a godless world, who cares what happens to anyone, including children? But it is here that the atheist may be forced to admit to the idea of the sacred – at least in the innocence of the child – that may actually be the key to understanding their own antagonistic relationship to the Almightly and the Church; in the sometimes vicious betrayal and treatment that many of us experienced as children, at the hands of sinners.

One may only pray that the armor some day falls off, and that forgiveness and mercy are received in abundance.

-Tim

 

[TiggerS]

Balanced article from the Australian “National Times” smh.com.au/opinion/politi…0414-sdyj.html and good to read secular media that is striving to take emotionalism and sensationalism out of journalism re these scandals and to report accurately with balanced assessment of the facts.
Thank you, Ockham, for posting it.
I did note however that the vote count was heavily loaded against the article, which does indicate I think how articles that are not so balanced etc. are having an anti Catholic/Catholic Church authority affect on those who are reading general secular media and probably only that. The comments on the same page as the article were also strongly critical of the article and of Miranda Devine who wrote it. Comments are closed, but her email is at the end of the article.

TS