To me this path of life is not only "strange". It seems just shameful and also encourages indecency. Just let me explain based on observations from my country.

In Poland almost all priests are Catholic since catholicism aggressively eliminated other religions such as the protestant etc. which became marginalized with an almost non-existent number of believers. Therefore, I shall only focus on the path of the Catholic priests.

Well, priests are well known here for having expensive cars and expensive meals. Their source of income is not based on any kind of productive work. It is essentially what one would call taxation. In every neighbourhood there is a church which drains the adjacent households. On Sundays the sheep are supposed to head to the house of imaginary God to receive their weekly brainwash. Apart from the steady flow of small amounts from the Sunday mass there are also significant amounts for special service such as wedding or funeral. A wedding costs a couple of typical monthly salaries, a funeral is like half of it or one third. Additional source is the so called education or shall I say de-education. In Poland religion is taught by priests at schools just like an ordinary subject with grades which are ironically equally important as maths etc.

The immoral aspect is twofold. Firstly, the priests do not do anything productive other than messing with people's minds and private lives. Still, they posess the goods many honest workers cannot afford. Secondly, they are not officially allowed to have intercourse with women although they are allowed to preach about the proper manner of such intercourse But more importantly, they do engage in intercourse with women when going to discos without their "uniform" or even rape underage girls or boys. The first results in occasional scandals of pregnancies which are often aborted, the second is usually promptly covered up.

A thief and a sex offender - what a path indeed...

It's only shameful if they start fucking children up the ass.... as far too many of them do. Or, if they cover it up. As most of the rest of them do.

For the one in a thousand who is not some sort of slimebag as noted above it is merely the waste of a life.

I knew a priest when i was living in Hong Kong. He was a builder for a couple dozen years before deciding to become a Catholic priest. He went to China using some of his savings to go to hidden Christian communities who wanted to have their own priests, not ones named and placed by the Chinese Government. It was dangerous, it meant little sleep, constant travel, constant hiding. But he did it because these people wanted to have a real priest.

When he lived in Hong Kong, he lived in a crappy little appartment half an hour away from the church. He took part in charity drives twice a week, and spent some time helping a Christian care-for-the-elderly association.

Doesn't matter if i disagree with his beliefs, he is an impressive man.

Making big generalizations about groups of people, especially with such strong accusations, is wrong, and irrational, and really kindda stupid.

is it really impossible for some atheists to respect those who don't share their lack of belief ? Damn no wonder they call us condescending and preachy.

(August 9, 2012 at 3:45 am)Rwandrall Wrote: When he lived in Hong Kong, he lived in a crappy little appartment half an hour away from the church. He took part in charity drives twice a week, and spent some time helping a Christian care-for-the-elderly association.

Doesn't matter if i disagree with his beliefs, he is an impressive man.

Making big generalizations about groups of people, especially with such strong accusations, is wrong, and irrational, and really kindda stupid.

is it really impossible for some atheists to respect those who don't share their lack of belief ? Damn no wonder they call us condescending and preachy.

Hi Rwandrall, I was making more of an observation than generalization and it was about priests in Poland and not Hong Kong. Religion may seem attractive and noble when "in hiding" but when its place is secured it shows its true face as a paranoid path of repression, self-destruction and disrespect for women.

Charity etc. is often used as an argument to show that the church in Poland is "good". But we also have a secular initiative called WOSP here which collects millions every year and spends them on critical medical equipment for infants with heart defect etc. Secular charity simply helps people without poisoning their minds.

Could this guy in China be active with charity and the elderly without being a priest? Would he be able to help more people if he didn't waste his time on hiding from the government?

You are trying to show a balanced opinion here because your mind is well developed. But the ones you are trying to defend do not have open minds and balanced opinions as you could recently see in Indonesia with the angry mob beating up an atheist.

HG Wells author of war of the worlds among other things said, I do not now drive in France because I cannot resist the temptation of running over Jesuits.
If you are a priest or know a person suffering in this situation we have a help line
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pGcE7IvCTs

Ideally, a person becomes a priest (and we'll assume catholic priest here) because they want to help people. Sure, sure, reverence for god and all that, but fueling all of that is supposed to be a love for their fellow man and real emotional investment in their well-being. That's how it was taught to me anyway. Priesthood can be a shortcut to familiarity and trust which allows you to be a positive force in other peoples lives...or, as Min has so adeptly pointed out...priesthood can get your pecker buried in a little boys ass just that much more easily..

Yeah...they're all fucking wonderful....

http://mtwytlc.org/component/content/art...abuse.html

Quote:Of more than 500 Native Americans who claimed to be abused between the 1950s and the 1980s by Jesuit clergy members across the Northwest, some 140 of them came from Montana.

Now, a little more than a month after the Portland-based order of Catholic Jesuit priests agreed to pay a $166.1 million settlement, many of those Montana victims are in Great Falls this week as the sweeping agreement gets hashed out.

In 2009, a large group of law firms from across the Northwest accused the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus of using remote reservations and villages in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska as a dumping ground for problem priests. Hundreds of people, mostly Native American and Alaska Native, since have come forward claiming they were abused by clergy at schools run by Jesuits in those states.

I've thought about becoming a Priest. I mean think about it for a sec;
Free accommodation.
Free money.
People automatically respect and listen to you for no good reason.
You can state common sense and people will mistake it for wisdom.
People will confess their deepest, darkest secrets.

But I think the biggest reason? Nuns. Bare with me and think about it for a moment.
Some women become Nuns at the age of what? 18? 20? 22?
Pretty young, very naive and alot of them are pretty easy on the eyes. I mean to the extent it should be a criminal act to make them celibate.
Then you got the fact that they're sexually repressed in a very literal sense. Their made to feel very guilty about a very natural thing. Thats like telling a child from birth not to press a big red button with "do not press" written on it. One little nudge and alittle assurance its ok and that kids going to press that button till his fingers bleed.
A few subtle but flattering comments, a smile here and there, alittle communion wine and afew steamy quoted verses about "forbidden fruit" once shes in a full sense of security and I guarantee you at least one would rip off your priest collar, lift up that habit of hers and ride you like the last donkey heading to Nazareth.
Why paedophilia is a problem is beyond me. If women took the form of alcohol priests would basically have VIP 24/7 access to the top shelf of the finest wines, corked, fresh and ready to be savoured and trust me;
In that position I would not be going sober anytime soon.

Am I evil and a hypocrite for even considering it? Yeah but I'm cool with that.
Besides, I decided against it so put your torches and pitchforks away. :-P

(August 9, 2012 at 4:26 pm)jonb Wrote: HG Wells author of war of the worlds among other things said, I do not now drive in France because I cannot resist the temptation of running over Jesuits.
If you are a priest or know a person suffering in this situation we have a help line

I was going to say that making light of vehicular homocide was sinking pretty low intellectually.

Then I read RaphielDrakes post about using altar wine to first get under-age nuns drunk and then take advantage of them.
(Another atheist justifying why they find the clergy a great place to persue an ulterior motive)

This whole thread is appalling!

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(August 9, 2012 at 2:14 am)Minimalist Wrote: It's only shameful if they start fucking children up the ass.... as far too many of them do. Or, if they cover it up. As most of the rest of them do.

For the one in a thousand who is not some sort of slimebag as noted above it is merely the waste of a life.

Slimebags?
I know who you mean.

I find that you are trying to pretend all of the evil clergymen are atheists frightening. If you aren't a troll, I want to be on the first spaceship off of this fucking planet.