(April 17, 2011 at 4:12 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Again, John, if the church had dealt swiftly and harshly with these priests we would not be having this conversation. When a school district out here gets an allegation against a teacher they call the police. When the church gets an allegation they pray to their fucking god....who always seems to tell them to protect the church's money and reputation.
Do you see the difference?
Minimalist, I think you're not seeing the point: the priests are protecting "the church" (i.e. their church's reputation) by hiding the crimes! The big difference between "school" and "church" is that no school has global power, and the schools do not have a 'close circle' (i.e. as the religions have clergy). A "teacher" is just a teacher, while a "priest" is regarded as a "saint" (that people are afraid to accuse or mistrust) AND with political power in the church - the bishops are higher than priests, archbishops higher than bishops, an entire hierarchy, just like in politics. They just run for titles (which means, glory, money, power) and for money, and bribe those with higher titles to obtain titles, conform to everything for higher titles, etc. "God" is used only to convince their adepts. I doubt that "God" exists for them in other sense. Well, there must be people in this hierarchy that take things seriously as well (there is always a minority, which is different).
