The Catholic church has been spreading lies about Homosexuals and Child Molestation

If it's not some Bishop blaming gay men in the church for their current problems, it's some "well meaning" columnist spreading lies and innuendo about solving the church's pedophile problem by letting married men join the priesthood as men without women are naturally deviant.

Today I googled "Homosexual, pedophile" because once again Mauren Dowd of the NYT had another thinly veiled attack. Up popped hundreds of christian web sites full of unsubstantiated or completely unscientific data blaming gay men for 75% to 90% of instances of child molestation.

If you care to dig a bit further it turns out that according to sources as reliable as the FBI and UC Davis, the exact opposite is true.

Here is Prof. Herek's findings on Homosexuals and Pedophilia and the invalid surveys that christian groups are using to blame a church problem on gay priests.

<http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/HTML/facts_molestation.html>

I am heartbroken to see these criminals and child abusers try to do this hateful thing.

I don't know whether to post :eyes: or :cry:.

The concern is that men who are already wrestling with negative sexual impulses, such as pedophilia, might be drawn to a vocation that requires the "discipline" of celibacy.

Whereas men with healthy sexual impulses who want to form healthy bonds with others would not.

because it has historically given them unfettered access to children and complete protection from prosecution and a lifetime of respect despite their crimes.

Why would they be drawn to celibacy? Many pedophiles who rape little boys have wives and girlfriends?

As well, I do not believe Homosexuality is a "negative sexual impulse"

I don't think pedophiles were historically drawn to the Church because they knew they'd have special access to children and protection from their crimes. There are many other jobs which give access to children and no one outside the hierarchy knew that the hierarchy WAS protecting pedophiles until victims started to come out publicly, whenever that was.

But surely some pedophiles were drawn to the requirement of celibacy because they felt conflicted about their impulses and hoped (consciously or unconsciously) that an environment structured around denying all sexual impulses would save them from themselves.

to remember exactly what it originally said. It may have been the line that is qualified with the words "such as pedophilia" was changed to include those words. I really didn't memorize it or I could definitely say.

I will take your word that you originally meant to say that it was pedophiles only that were a "negative sexual impulse".

As far as the church having a history of protecting pedophiles, it has been going on for hundreds of years and victims have been coning forward for that long. That is the point. They have been protecting these priests for centuries. Victims have been threatened with excommunication and imprisonment.

In Europe it's pretty much common knowledge that the church has always been full of child molesters.

the same.

Victims have NOT been going public for all those years or, at least, the media has not been covering it until several decades ago. Perhaps people in Europe knew more, but not here.

And I know this because up until about 10 years ago I did, too. :blush:

Problem is, if people don't think about it too much -- and most don't, as we know -- that seems to be the prevailing "thought." I still remember my conversation where I got straightened out: I was talking to my sister about homosexuals teaching in schools, and I said something about being worried about them preying on children, and she proceeded to give me the statistics that showed that so-called heterosexuals were more apt to prey on children than homosexuals, and pointed out that pedophiles were more interested in the youthful age of their partner rather than their sex. I was appalled that I had so simply fallen for the prevalent falsehoods.

Haven't looked at your statistics yet, but from what I recall of that long ago conversation, pedophilia was committed by 75-90% of self-identifying heterosexuals.

Maybe they meant to say that 75% to 90% of homosexual pedophiles are Catholic....that I would believe.

Meanwhile, a post about any organized religion being the source of lies is like posting that water is wet.

n/t

that debunks the homosexuals as child molesters charge? I'm trying to find as much as possible to present to a Catholic who is spreading this crap.

They also spread lies about going to hell, witches and menstruating women and shellfish, so mythology always seems to excuse bad behavior towards other humans.