2nd September 2010
“Nobody should be surprised when we priests, bishops and popes sink into the bottomless abyss of immorality, for the celibacy of the priestcraft is only a cudgel in the hands of Catholic officials to drive us to the haunts of immorality.”
Anon.
September 2nd, 2010 at 1:43
Hey, Anon, Is this another “the devil made me do it” rationale? Have you guys never heard of “just say no”? Nobody can drive you “to the haunts of immorality” without your permission. This stuff is child abuse and nothing you say can change that. This “cudgel in the hands of Catholic officials” may explain it, but it does not excuse it. Don’t you see how stupid this whole religion business is? Sure, children are abused outside of the church, but you guys are the only ones to do it under God’s umbrella. Come on,man up here! If you want to believe in something, believe in the inherent goodness of mankind. You don’t need “priestcraft” for that… you don’t even need a god. Go out and live a life, be nice to people and do good where you can. You don’t need church officials to tell you how to do that.
September 2nd, 2010 at 1:52
The Catholic Church could tomorrow change their entire dogma and doctrine and everything they believe in to just: “The goal of the Catholic Church is to make sure that every 13 year old boy on the entire globe has a rectum more stretched out than the skin on Kirstie Alley’s thighs after eating a wheelbarrow full of Rocky Road ice cream” and no one would believe you that they just changed it. The overwhelming consensus among regular folk would be “I thought that’s what they always believed in.”
September 2nd, 2010 at 1:58
I wonder where that came from “Go out and live a good life,be nice to people and do good where you can”?Seems to me like I learned that somewhere.Oh wait I believe it was in Sunday school, yea thats where it was.Well what do you know,I guess Jesus believed in the goodness of mankind too.
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:51
I think the passage you’re looking for, Tech is “Do not unto others which would cause pain if done to you” (5:15:17) from the Hindu Mahabharata written in the 6th century before some guy named Jesus came along.
September 2nd, 2010 at 9:28
Celibacy is one of the Catholic Church’s sillier doctrines (and that’s saying something). Even in the dim and distant past it must have been apparent that it would attract psycho-sexually dysfunctional people to the priesthood.
Tech. The bible nicked most of its good bits from the Greek philosphers most of which were already good without the need for gods.
September 2nd, 2010 at 9:30
“goodness of mankind”? Perhaps Jesus did believe this if he existed but unfortunately christians haven’t exactly run with this message.
The goodness you refer to always comes with conditions (how good would you be to a Muslim, an abortion doctor or a gay person?).
Forced celibacy is unnatural and disgusting but is Anon really using it as an excuse? If preists are serious about their jobs then why aren’t they neutered?
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:46
Tech. The bible nicked most of its good bits from the Greek philosphers most of which were already good without the need for gods.
Any Proof?
September 2nd, 2010 at 11:36
Are catholic priest allowed to masturbate
September 2nd, 2010 at 14:27
Yeah, the Curch robs people of their own will power, by delineating instructions for every action. Mohammed made those instructions even more definite and demanding. I’ve seen that atheists are THE most ethical people, they understad the engineering terms of accountability and reciprocity.
September 2nd, 2010 at 14:41
Well to be fair it’s moot. Depending on which side of the theological fence you sit Pauline doctorine in particular either borrowed heavily from Plato and the Stoics, or Christian philosophy was particularly unique take of its own.
In reality the NT Bible is not a single coherent document (it does not really pretend to be) and the influences around upto and including the 4th century when it was first codified would have included the ethical systems of the Greeks. Certainly the same themes occur in both traditions, as they also appear in earlier religions than Christianity.
What can be proved is that ethical “do as you would be done by” ideas pre date Christianity and flourished in pagan/secular societies.
September 2nd, 2010 at 15:02
I like PEB’s idea. Heck, he is even in agreement with the Bible. Matthew 18:8 states that if your hand or foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away, and if your eye offends you, pluck it out (Mark 9:47). If the priest’s dangly bits are bothering them, the Bible has the solution. 🙂 And remember what James 2:10 says (New International Version)
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
September 2nd, 2010 at 15:54
AMC, thanks for the input.
September 2nd, 2010 at 16:24
Let’s see. Breathing, Drinking, Eating, Sex. Yep that pretty much sums up the entire human necessities. To form a religious dogma that eliminates any of these leads to dysfunction.
September 2nd, 2010 at 16:54
Can’t quite see the link between clerical celibacy and paedophilia. Meaning to say that I doubt many people would rape a prepubescent child or very young teenager just because they’re horny, more likely to go for a vulnerable parishioner. Think there is something deeper here and perhaps even more scary.
September 2nd, 2010 at 17:02
I agree, D. I don’t take the quote as an excuse for pederast priests but rather as a condemnation for the abnormal state they are forced to live in. Sex is a natural part of being human. When you mess with primal drives you end up with morally disfigured people. When I’m on a diet I think about food constantly. Can this really be that much different? A fair few (read: majority) are bound to fall off the wagon.
September 2nd, 2010 at 17:06
Interesting point about Greek philosophy, It’s hard to imagine the purported authors of the bible being classical scholars, however, easy to imagine that those who wrote down the texts were (I think the earliest versions of the new testament are all written in Greek). This would make the New Testament anachronistic in both directions, the evangelists being to early and the scribes to late.
September 3rd, 2010 at 0:43
I know very little about perverts but I think being a priest would be one way of getting into a position of trust. Living a life of celibacy don’t make you a pervert. Example Mother Thersa to name one.They would commit the those perverted acts no matter what their calling in life was.
September 3rd, 2010 at 1:20
Mother Theresa was a monster. Read “The Missionary Position”. She didn’t enjoy helping people half so much as she ‘admired’ poverty. Which is why, despite the tens of millions her ‘charity’ raked in, the Home for the Dying, her main workplace, was still an intolerable slum. Any person with normal human morality would have used the money to actually heal their poor charges, not merely give them a mat on which to die.