No Sex Please,

[Shawnee123]

I was raised Catholic. 1st grade to 6th grade, Catholic Elementary school. 7th and 8th grade, CCD. 9th grade, rents say it's now up to me. Buh-bye church. I don't trust you. I laid awake at night convinced I would writhe in eternal hell-fire because I looked up an answer on my homework or something. Who needs subjugation by fear?

[classicman]

If a pedophile owns a Ford and molests children in the vehicle, is it Fords fault?
Would you not buy a Ford because of it?

If the man worked at Sony and molested children there, would you not buy anything from Sony?

For the record, I do not donate to any church.

[Shawnee123]

So not the same thing, and you know it.

If you worked at Sony, and there was a daycare center there, and there was a known pedophile working there, actively molesting children, would your children attend there? Hell no, you'd raise bloody hell and have that person thrown out on their ass.

But not priests. After all, they're priests.

[spudcon]

I went through nine years of Catholic school, and like SG I almost became an athiest. Sadistic and perverted nuns and priests were only part of the problem. Sitting in a shithole overseas, I started reading the Bible, and couldn't believe anyone who read the Bible could possibly continue to believe what the church was teaching.
Thank God for putting me in a position to learn the truth.
Don't equate belief in God with any denomination. Jesus didn't, and I don't.
If I've offended any Catholics or athiests, or any other group, sorry.

[Undertoad]

IMHO. The reason I feel they are stupid is that he is acting. The whole point of it is that you are portraying a situation, not actually in a situation. It is drama. Many Catholics and family men have portrayed sexual situations.

I'm not gay, but I would kiss a guy on stage. One is not playing one's self. It's acting.

[DanaC]

Turn up every week and 'go through the rituals' ? If you're a devout catholic those rituals are your access to God. They're not empty, they're not interchangeable with any other rituals; they're the same rituals which lay behind hundreds of years of religious contention and outright war n Europe.

There are two or three major distinctions between Catholicism and protestantism; one of which relates to the need for priestly intercession, and another to transubstantiation. If you believe in these things, then there isn't an option to go elsewhere. If you leave the Catholic Church, you leave God's Church. Everything else that has happened, from priests buggering the choirboys, to nuns beating the shit out of orphans, is human sin, which has crept into God's Church. Terribly sad and upsetting that such sin has made it to the higher echelons, and now it seems even the very top; but human sin nonetheless.

I wasn't raised a catholic; but my Grandad on my Mum's side was catholic and my Dad's parents also. I met some fascinating and lovely people in the Church, whilst accompanying Gran to various things when she needed assistance; and I also met some outstanding hypocrites and sharks. It was those experiences, most particularly a pilgramage to Lourdes, that turned me into a confirmed atheist.

I have no love of catholicism, I see it as a dirty trick. It's a closed system. It isn't like any other form of Christianity (imo) and if you are inside it there is no way out without a near total and traumatic loss of faith. The function of guilt, sin and absolution within that system make it (again imo) less likely than in other denominations of Christianity, that people will react against the presence of sin by leaving the church. The role of priests is essential and incontrovertable to most practising catholics. Leaving the Church means leaving the priests, means losing the path to God. Leaving the Church means leaving behind the body and the blood of Christ (transubstantiation).

Catholicism is something which underlies identity. Catholic first. Everything else after.

[jinx]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Turn up every week and 'go through the rituals' ? If you're a devout catholic those rituals are your access to God....
Catholicism is something which underlies identity. Catholic first. Everything else after.

Look, I don't care if they believe they're reverse vampires and god has a space ship waiting for them on the moon. There's a right way and a wrong way to deal with sex crimes, catholics are not exempt. I understand they want to save their eternal ass at any cost, I think they're in the wrong.

[tw]

Originally Posted by jinx

There's a right way and a wrong way to deal with sex crimes,

You are giving the church too much credit. As Lynn Abraham DA for Philadelphia proved, the church was aware of pedophilia by the hundreds. They did not do the right or wrong way. They did nothing. They knew of hundreds of pedophile priests only in in one diocese. Their records show it. And they did virtually nothing.

That was only one Philadelphia area diocese. How many more just in the Philly area did nothing? The attitude so pervasive as to exist in Germany, Ireland, Australia, and where will it be ‘discovered’ next? When do priests in Vatican City get discovered? Or is pedophilia legal in that nation.

You give then too much credit for dealing with it the wrong way. They literally did nothing to solve the problem.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I'm not gay, but I would kiss a guy on stage. One is not playing one's self. It's acting.

But you do have a line somewhere, surely. Would you make out with a guy on stage for upwards of 30 minutes, including copious groping of your genitalia? Would you do so completely naked? Would you give him a blow job? At some point, you'd become uncomfortable with the proceedings--or Jacquelita would.

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

But you do have a line somewhere, surely. Would you make out with a guy on stage for upwards of 30 minutes, including copious groping of your genitalia? Would you do so completely naked? Would you give him a blow job? At some point, you'd become uncomfortable with the proceedings--or Jacquelita would.

:: stabs himself in his mind's eye ::

thanks, clobble, for pulling up short of the vigorous anal part.

[Shawnee123]

Hehheh

She was saving the vigorous anal part for the description of the priests.

[Gravdigr]

You save the 'vigorous anal' for the encore.

[lumberjim]

In my admittedly uninformed opinion, the Catholic Church exists to perpetuate itself. it does this by placing itself in the path between the flock and salvation. It is a power play and nothing else. The Priests have the power over the congregation. Who would be attracted to the life of a Catholic Priest? Someone who wants power over others. I'm sure not ALL Priests are attracted for that reason, but like anything else.....

It's just like the way that bully in your high school ended up being a cop.

The FACT that the church routinely ignores/condones/sanctions/facilitates pedophilia should be enough to wake up anyone with a strong moral compass. It would HAVE to be a deal breaker.

If you continue to support a group that does shit like this, you're culpable.

[Undertoad]

I draw the line at actual arousal.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I draw the line at actual arousal.

I was gonna put up a picture of his co-star with a smart comment but it turns out Virginia Madsen isn't actually attractive so even a non-pro could do a pretty serious scene without crossing your line.

We'd have to ask Sheldon for confirmation but my gaydar goes off when I see Neal.