Gay-Marraige = Anarchy - The Pope

[Ben Kenobi]

I suggest that you provide some proof of this casual assertion.

I also suggest that anyone who habitually links or conflates homosexuality with paedophilia should expect to be treated with a great deal of contempt.

Why? As opposed to those who habitually link the Catholic church with all sorts of crimes, just because they do not like the Catholic church?

My point is rather simple. If the rape and abuse of these children were simply about power, why so many more boys abused than girls? Given that there are so many more with heterosexual attractions, and assuming that this same percentage also applies to the number of priests, as in the general population, than it makes no sense, that the percentage of boys abused to be so much more than the number of girls.

One would expected a preponderance of girls, given these assumptions. Yet that is not what we see, so another explanation needs to be found that better fits the facts.

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
Given that there are so many more with heterosexual attractions, and assuming that this same percentage also applies to the number of priests, as in the general population,

That's a daft assumption right there.

[Ben Kenobi]

Why, are you saying that there are far more gay priests than gay people among the general population?

If so, what percentages are you coming up with?

The only studies that I have seen have come up with figures of about 2.5 for the general population, and perhaps double for the priests.

So that's still only 5 percent of the priests who are gay, yet so many boys are abused than girls. The only way to explain that is to count the number of boys abused by each priest, and then it becomes clear, that the majority of the abuse cases are committed by a very few individuals.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


Why? As opposed to those who habitually link the Catholic church with all sorts of crimes, just because they do not like the Catholic church?

Because molly provided reliable FACTS as to REAL offenses that the Catholic Church has committed.

Can you grasp the idea of using facts?

[Ben Kenobi]

And it is a reliable fact that the vast majority of the abuse cases involve boys.

I did not accuse molly of bias until he accused me of bias, so don't give me that bull, Mr. Fun. After all, you are his biggest cheerleader, are you not?

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
And it is a reliable fact that the vast majority of the abuse cases involve boys.

I did not accuse molly of bias until he accused me of bias, so don't give me that bull, Mr. Fun. After all, you are his biggest cheerleader, are you not?

I do not deny the fact that the majority of victims are boys in this instance.


But you're deliberately avoiding confronting the other serious problems that molly has brought up.

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
Why, are you saying that there are far more gay priests than gay people among the general population?

If so, what percentages are you coming up with?

I don't know what proportion of Catholic priests are gay (tho 50% has been reported in the media for newly ordinated Catholic priests in America), but my point was that you can't just assume the gay rate is the same for Catholics priests as for the population in general. It's pretty obvious why the career may seem more attractive to gays than straights.

[Jon Miller]

especially considering how Priests are suppose to be celibate

and I at least assume that many homosexuals might, upon being told that to act on their sexuality is a sin, might look to do something where they have encouragement to be celibate...

so there being a large number of homosexual priests makes a lot of sense to me

JM

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
As for Molly's critiques of the priorities of the pope, I thought he railed on the church to deal with their pedophile abuses, the majority of the cases commited by priests whom have homosexual inclinations.

If by "he" you mean Ratzinger, that's categorically wrong. Ratzi blamed the victims and said it was all a conspiracy against the Church.

As for gay priests, the last priest I spoke with on the matter (who is not gay) estimated that probably around 40-50% of Catholic priests are homosexuals.

The higher abuse rate of boys is also easily explicable in that boys are much more accessible to priests than girls are. You don't hear much about "altar girls," after all. At any rate, there are also many cited instances of abuse against girls.

[Jon Miller]

at 50% I must say I am a bit surprised at the unchangedness of church doctrine..

JM

[Boris Godunov]

Healthy dose of the 50% are guilt-ridden and self-loathing. That's why they're priests in the first place. Many of those are probably the most intolerant in terms of changing policy.

[Jon Miller]

I have desires to be a preacher of some type, not because of any guilt or self-loathing...

I dont' because I would be really bad at it..

(of course, I am not catholic)

Jon Miller

[Boris Godunov]

I wasn't saying people only become priests out of guilt or self-loathing, but rather that catholic homosexuals who become priests do so out of guilt and self-loathing.

[Elok]

I don't believe Ratzinger said it was a conspiracy, just that the media were blowing it out of proportion to the number of actual cases, percentage-wise.

Anyway, it's silly to associate homosexuality with pedophilia. People who are sexually attracted to children (predominantly pedophiles are men, and most of them prefer boys though neither is universal) will frequently have no interest in adults of whatever sex the children they molest are. Nor are they typically attracted to the actual sexual characteristics of their targeted gender; I haven't done much research, but I've heard that most pedophiles find developed genitals, and especially pubic hair, unappealing. That's why they go after kids, it's a fetish thing. Preference for a certain gender is, afaik, just a matter of what specific fantasies the pervert in question entertains. Reading a more conventional sexual orientation into it makes about as much sense as assuming that a furry is big on animal rights.

[Last Conformist]

Paedophiles are per definitionem preferentially attracted to prepubescents.