You say that, but look across the pond. They are throwing gays off a buildings and Allah is totally cool with that. SO in some sense, yea, people need to be taught these things and the Bible, and other great books, are a very good way to reach the masses.
Religion is 100% man made. So they obviously all have flaws. Some have clearly gotten better over time and some have been stuck in the stone age. The concept, however, is to be commended for teaching a group of people a just and moral way of life. I dont get to bent over one religion moving a little one way or another so long as it isn't too extreme and they dont force it on others. For example, Muslims would sure as shit enforce their religious laws upon you. The worst things Christians seem to want to do is "stop" abortions. Not worth comparing IMO.
In my opinion religion goes hand-in-hand with being raised up to learn the difference tween right and wrong. We first learn to honor our parents (Commandment #5). Hopefully mom or dad don't fuck around (#7) so they can stay together so Jr has a chance at a more stable childhood. Further, hopefully mom & dad do not steal (#8) or kill anyone (#6) so they're not in jail and around for Jr. Get the picture? All about having a good moral compass.
I know you are and I mean no personal insult. I've read a few of those "studies". They are not based on fact and several have been paid for by the Church. What is true is that of some 2.5 billion people in the world who identify as Christian, almost 1.3 billion of those are Catholic. The next largest are Protestants at some 900 million. Protestants can marry, have sex, have families. Catholic priests cannot. The Church systematically moved offender priests from parish to parish rather than remove them completely. Each level within the Church, including the Pope, participated in the lies. I disagree. It isn't about the tracking, it's about the access, the power, the money, the cover-up. By far, the Church has more money and power than any other religious institution. And they have layers of leadership willing to sacrifice the most innocent....they tried to claim an "internal process" for dealing with pedophile priests but there was no process other than to expose them to other victims. And let's face it, Catholic guilt is paramount in extracting behavior. The victims who were raised in the faith are FAR more likely to not report it, than other denominations. You know what else the Church has that other denominations don't? A bank. You are correct there. Pedophiles go to where there are victims. They pick those who are the easiest to abuse and the most likely to keep it quiet. Teachers, coaches, youth groups, etc. And yet nothing equals the size, scope, and proliferation of child sex abuse that occurred within the Church. In February of this year..... "Pope Francis received a victim's letter in 2015 that graphically detailed sexual abuse at the hands of a priest and a cover-up by Chilean church authorities, contradicting the pope's recent insistence that no victims had come forward, the letter's author and members of Francis' own sex- abuse commission have told The Associated Press. The fact that Francis received the eight-page letter, obtained by the AP, challenges his insistence that he has "zero tolerance" for sex abuse and cover-ups. It also calls into question his stated empathy with abuse survivors, compounding the most serious crisis of his five-year papacy." Sorry, but the man in the big white hat is a liar and morally corrupt. Tithing by good Catholics should stop until the abuse stops.
It is common IMO. If there are a million churches, guaranteed there a million victims. Abusers seek jobs with access to victims. Abusers seek victims who they can manipulate, over whom they have control, and amongst a community where they have power and receive the benefit of the doubt. They know how to extract silence from victims. It isn't prudent in this day and age IMO, to give people the benefit of the doubt when children are involved. People should EARN your trust, not be given benefit for no good reason.
