- Joined
- 18 September 2008
- Posts
- 4,041
- Reactions
- 1,185
Probably the best post I've ever read on this subject. Thank you, lindsay, for so appropriately saying everything I was struggling to express.to those seeking to equate clergy abuse with abuse by other parties;
Of course any sexual, emotional, psychological, physical abuse (you cant have the first without the next 2 and probably the third) that occurs between one powerful figure and one vulnerable figure is abhorrent and the results devastating.
But this ignores the additional layers of abuse and impact that occur when clergy is the perpetrator and the church engaged in the covering up.
The things that set the clergy abuse apart is the role they have in society. They are by virtue ( sad to use that word here) of thier (clerical) role in community and society, seen to be moral and spiritual guides, supporters of the vulnerable and the downtrodden and trustworthy beyond question. In this capacity they are able to easily groom and abuse in a way that betrays not only the child, but the family and the community at large. If the child speaks out they will ( at least historically) be met with denials at least ( and threat and intimidation as followups from the abuser) because it is too outrageous to be true and too difficult to face. As the truth comes out then the family members that were unable to protect/did not believe their children are faced with the horror and guilt of the disgusting betrayal that has occurred almost under their noses.
The part religion plays here is that it wrongly and effectively provided the individual with a cloak of respectability - and this enables the abuse in a way that it could not have otherwise. Another way that religion enables this is that due to a distorted moral framework courtesy of the silly text book they use, the abuse has been able to rationalised, justified and repented for-so now they can carry on. Another part ( and I know this is controversial to some) is the stupid culture of sexual repression such as in the catholic clerical system. There is little hope that an individual will develop healthily emotionally, psychologically or sexually as a cleric within this system. I have no evidence to suggest causation here (and there are no doubt other factors at play) but I suggest there is a correlation between the incidence of child abuse and the culture of sexual repression that young clerics must exist in with unlimited access to, and power over, the flock.
This is so silly. People in every group do horrendous and stupid things. Ironic thing is that those Christians acting in that way are acting the opposite of what the profess to believe. It's not Christianity's fault it's the fault of the individual or the church leader. Christianity itself actually DISAGREES with their actions.
Unfortunately the double standards are prevalent. Christian bashing is fine but disagreeing with homosexuality or pointing out idiots from other groups is seen as intolerant.
It's the double standards of those who call themselves Christians then act in many ways very unchristian like. I'd be just as abhorred if the poor boy I posted about had been bullied by officials in a Government school.
Of course those people are hypocrites. Of course. But I'm saying it's the same with every single group. And those people within each group are a poor reflection on themselves now the group that they belong to (unless the fundamental teachings of that group condone the action).
A shame everyone is always just pointing out the Christian ones and believing that because those people call themselves Christians that they reflect the actual Christian principles. But that is the media for you. They want to sell papers and advertising.
Every group has people with double standards in it. If there are any that don't let me know and I'll join!
Nobody on ASF as far as I am aware.
Pager said:About time people woke up to the fact Religion is pure evil,
The Muslim community want to build a mosque at Currumbin on the Gold Coast and the locals are up in arms protesting and I don't blame them.
I was in Latoka Fiji back in 1993 and there was a mosque there and the Muslims would start wailing out over loud speakers at 5 am in the morning and this what will happen at Currumbin.
The Muslim community are disgusted at the protest by the locals but you don't hear them expressing their disgust at the beheadings in the Islamic state......you do not hear the Muslims in Australia say we will go to the Middle East and try to stop the radicals...but you do hear of the 150 or so Muslim Australians traveling to help the cause of the IS..
Gawd I hate to think what this country will be like in another 30 years!!!!
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...test-hate-attack/story-fnihsrf2-1227058301127
There is supposed to be over a billion Muslims worldwide, a very small proportion are what we see in the media. Just because a community of people are not actively showing their disgust for something does not mean they support it. I don't actually know any Muslim's personally but I do not have any judgments toward their community in Australia as a whole.
I believe that the proposal was for an industrial area so the noise probably isn't the number 1 issue here. People shouldn't be getting awoken from their homes at least.
They could have chosen better timing for something like this in light of what is going on overseas right now. I live really close to Currumbin and I think it makes us look quite intolerant. I'm not a fan of religion at all and have never been to church of any kind but you won't see so much protest for a place of worship for any other religion to be setup here.
I personally don't want the mosque to go up in Currumbin because of the fact that it's a waste of the limited industrial space we have here on the Gold Coast we require for expansion into the future but that's not the issue we are hearing about in the media.
In General I think the Australian public is fairly racist so I don't think that the Muslim community wants to speak up on most issues. One of My aunty's husband has copped race motivated abuse in recent times because of what is going on overseas (he also received abuse from random Australians around the time of September 11 back in 2001). The stupid thing is he isn't even a muslim, he is just of Turkish decent and has lived in Australia for the last 25 years and is a police officer here. I think that people that are of Middle Eastern appearance just want to keep their heads down right now. The prevailing public opinion of protesting the mosque shows how Australian's in general view the Muslim community right now and how we put them in the same boat as the militants overseas beheading people.
There is supposed to be over a billion Muslims worldwide, a very small proportion are what we see in the media. Just because a community of people are not actively showing their disgust for something does not mean they support it. I don't actually know any Muslim's personally but I do not have any judgments toward their community in Australia as a whole.
No bigotry there eh ?
I know the area well as I worked for the foundry up Currumbin Creek and there are lots of houses across the road from that industrial site.....I am damn sure I would not wish to be woken up every morning at 5 am with loud speakers that one would be able to hear over a 3 km radius....they are in Australia now and they should live the Australian way of life or go back to where they come from.
If your next door neighbor started mowing his lawn at 5 am in the morning would you be happy?......I think not......you would be the first one to run to the police or the council to lay a complaint.
.
Ah, but that came after I wrote that comment. We were talking past tense
This is a great video that shows the discrimination some groups in society have towards atheists, But all shows that atheists are some of the most giving people.
About time people woke up to the fact Religion is pure evil,
No bigotry there eh ?
I guess the bigotry was always there, just unannounced at that stage.
Last week, ABC Radio Evenings had an interview with the local councillor about this. I didn't take too much notice because it's a long way from me, but she listed many concerns, very much including noise for surrounding residents, can't remember most of the others now, but just a dislike of Muslims seemed not to feature much.Fair enough, I wasn't sure of the exact location I just heard it was an industrial area.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?