Gay Priests

[Guest Frank Zappa Mask]

"When Jesus was on Earth, he spent most of his time with those that society deemed inappropriate."

 

-Exactly, and this is the exact thing that most "practicing Christians" seem to forget.....

[Guest converge241]

I dont think the issue is a homosexual/hetereosexual one at all

since girls are coming forward as well as boys. I think its involved with repression somehow of always being under "their god" and in acertain light and the whole celibacy but allowing marriage wont cure an imbedded deviation if thats what it is.

And i know two things:

It is very wrong if something like this ever came up and it it was my son i would be in a murderous rage (which isnt "right " either, its just how i would feel).

And I am not religious , i have my own beliefs cause i think there is something out there but dont believe or practice any organized religion, but I hope that no one takes advantage of this for their own gain (i.e. making up a story about themselves or their child to collect). the people who do that are almost as bad of the priest perpretrating the heinous crimes on fragile kids.

[Guest Flyin' Squirrel]

An interesting theory that I heard recently on I think CBC television, but I could be wrong on that, explains how the vow of celibacy may be a contributing factor to child molestation in more or different ways than previously thought. If someone is raised in a staunchly Catholic environment, their sexuality is repressed basically before they're even able to fully understand what it is. Coupled with entering education/training for the priesthood at a young age, with the heavy promotion/mandating of celibacy, this, it is theorized, leads to the complete arresting of sexual development. So,  the person in question sees people at the age at which their sexual development stopped as sexual objects - like, for example, a "crush" involving eleven-year-olds, except one participant is physically ten or more years older. So you end up with a priest with a very young "sexual age", dealing with people of that ACTUAL age, and that's where the problem surfaces. Additionally, outright restriction on any and all expressions of sexuality is far from a suitable way to form concepts of what is and isn't appropriate, so the issue of unwanted advances surfaces as a related concept. Basically, the point of this segment was that the whole celibacy thingn may be doing harm on levels above and beyond simply denying someone's sexuality entirely, causing them to lash out.

Having known more than my share of psychology students, and seeing the rate at which psychological theories are discredited, I dig that psychology is quite probably based as much in factless hoodoo as organized religion is, and I'm not about to outright believe a theory based on one news story, but it is interesting.

[Guest Loss4Words]

I went to church for the first time in ages this morning and remembered why I stopped going so long ago. Not only was I told that I was going to hell on *at least* 10 occasions, but I noticed the hypocrisy level even more, not just of the members of the congregation, but of the Bible itself.

 

Christians are taught not to be self-righteous, right? Yet they are also taught to try to be an image of God and be God-like. So you have this God that wants constant worship and sends people to burn in hell for all eternity because they don't love him and thinks that his faith should be earned and just brags on and on about himself to no end. Does that mean that's how we should be? I mean, it sure seems like God is awfully self-absorbed sometimes.

 

Also, yes Jesus died for us. It was 2000 freakin' years ago. So many people have died for so many causes in the years since, yet they aren't lauded and celebrated over the course of two milleniums. What makes him so special? And while I'm at it, and being as how my knowledge of the Bible is sometimes limited, what exactly would have happened to us all had Jesus *not* died? Just curious.

[Guest DrTom]

"If someone is raised in a staunchly Catholic environment, their sexuality is repressed basically before they're even able to fully understand what it is. Coupled with entering education/training for the priesthood at a young age, with the heavy promotion/mandating of celibacy, this, it is theorized, leads to the complete arresting of sexual development."

 

That sounds very interesting, and it could certainly have some validity.  I've maintained for years that priests should be allowed to marry, just like men of other professions, and that allowing them to do that would probably reduce the number of molestations and sexual abuse.  I'd like to see more about that study, even though the Church will blithely dismiss it and change nothing as a result.

[Guest DrTom]

"And while I'm at it, and being as how my knowledge of the Bible is sometimes limited, what exactly would have happened to us all had Jesus *not* died? Just curious."

 

If you believe Christian dogma, Jesus' death fulfilled the Covenant and opened the gates of Heaven so that people could enter it.  

 

While an atheist is giving you this information, I did go to Catholic school for a dozen years, so the information was tossed at me early and often before I cast it all aside.

[Guest The Metal Maniac]

"Also, yes Jesus died for us. It was 2000 freakin' years ago. So many people have died for so many causes in the years since, yet they aren't lauded and celebrated over the course of two milleniums. What makes him so special?"

 

He was the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, sent to Earth specifically to cleanse mankind of it's sins.

 

All those other martyrs were just people who followed the word of God so closely that they were willing to die for their beliefs.

 

There's a BIG difference between strongly believing in God, and being his human son.

 

(Note: If you don't believe in that, don't freak out at it. Fact of the matter is, that's why he's worshipped more. He's believed to be God's son.)

[Guest Laizen]

That part in the Bible about gays also condemns many including adulteres.  I also think Catholic priests should marry.  Being Catholic and knowing a lot of priests, you always think..... is this priest just really nice (probably true 99 out of 100 times), or is this priest gay?  Off topic, I think that its funny how some people take the different branches of Christianity so far that they think other Christians aren't Christian.  I have had people tell me that being a Catholic has been proven wrong and that I am not a true Christian.

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

Yeah. I'm not a practising Catholic any more (I prefer to have fun with my life) but I have been told that Catholics aren't proper christians. Which I just find...weird.

 

Also, Loss4Words, I couldn't agree more.

[Guest Ripper]

Alot of you guys are baseing your religious views on the views of idiots that happen to get publicity.

 

There are the idiot "Christians" (and I use that term loosely) that hop on television and say that Christians are officially against this, they are officially against that, this is wrong and that and these are all non-negotiable stances.

 

At the same time, the REAL Christains are sitting at home shaking thier fucking heads at those morons.  The sad thing, alot of peoples only knowledge of the Christian religion is these retards that get on camera.  Those type of "Chrisitians" nit-pick through the bible and chose what they want to believe and convieniantly pass the parts that wouldn't support thier jaded and judgemental views.  These people are NOT Christians...

 

Christians are suppose to be Christ-like...you know, non-judgemental and all.  Take me for example.  Does the bible say that homosexuality is a sin...yeah...but so is alot of shit that I do so who am I to judge someone else.  As a matter of fact, if you stack up sin to sin, I probably have most people on the planet beat.  These fuckers on television want to say that being gay is worst than other sins because they are full of hate and homophobia and don't want to see them selves as equals with those that hate.  Supremist groups do the exact same thing...warping verses and stories in the Bible to fit their twist agenda.  Yet, this is the stigma that people attach to all Christians.  We are called judgemental morons because of the dickheads.  

 

It is almost like judgeing all white people on a bunch of Klans-men, or judging all blacks on a bunch of gangbangers.  Alot of people stop and chose the worst of the lot and say that it applies to all Christians.  

 

I personally find it alot more naive to believe that everything happened by chance than to believe what is written in the Bible(BTW, its not as vauge as people make it out to be, it is pretty much a black and white meaning when broken down too.) and if you disagree...fine, I won't blast you for your beliefs.   That is the difference between a true Christian on those assholes that are on television.  Understanding, tolorance and non-judgement.  Please don't lump us all in with ass holes like that Jerry Farwell guy and other morons.

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

Good point. I think it's just the people with more extreme views tend to be more vociferous, so at times the perception of christianity is not good.

 

To me, if God is all loving, then we shouldn't hate anyone.

[Guest GatesFTW]

whats the difference between a pimple and a priest?

A pimple waits until you are a teenager to come on yuor face!