Richard says: The connection between religion and child abuse

You actually believe that don’t you? Wow, now it seems as though the whole history of the human race is a sad tale of permanently damaged children. I don’t know how you sleep at night.
+++++++++

Actually, I don’t sleep so well at night and I obviously have not researched the entire history of the human race but you have brought up an important point. What historians tell us about the lives of children past takes a strong stomach to digest. It is a tale of almost casual acceptance of infanticide, murder, rape, slavery, sexual abuse and abandonment. Was this a result of religion? Certainly as far as Christianity goes some of it definitely was and remains so today. The proximate cause: the insidious dogma of original sin and the idea that babies are corrupt the moment they leave their mothers womb. Christian apologists skip over the toxic portions of their bible and vigorously try to downplay them, but original sin is a defining feature of most Christian sects.

Why not redact the bible to get rid of this doctrine? Simply because you cannot eliminate this doctrine and still wind up with Christianity, for many sects. You have to have the fall to make any sense of Jesus, not to mention to explain a womans pain in childbirth. As far as the rest of the toxic verses in the bible, it seems the least Christians could do is add marginalia to call attention to the inappropriateness of these verses. For example, the advice to batter and stone children. That would be a good start. I’ll believe Christians are responsible moral people when they stop shuffling their feet and do something about one of the most horrific books in our libraries. I leave you to ponder: redact or add marginalia?

Today progressive forces are working around the world to put an end to child battering. Who opposes this? In the main, Christians. And please don’t shuck this off on “bad” Christians. The reason parents (and teachers in 20 states) batter their children so freely is contained in the bible which is the common source of guidance for all believers in Christianity. Given holy direction means some parents batter their children with absolutely no sense of guilt, indeed some are proud to announce they are following their Lord. Ruthless twisted people like James Dobson must share the blame.

If religion is to be regarded as such a positive force in human lives, and if our holy books offer the best moral guidance humanity can conceive of, and if these holy books have been around for centuries, why was wanton cruelty extensively visited on children in the past? Historically, religion was far more prevalent as a means of social control than it is now. I mean, if you were so incautious as to say you did not believe, the establishment would cook your a**. Priests carefully attended to those who did not show up on Sundays (maybe they still do). Given these facts, why didn’t the holy books exert the beneficial power modern adherents extravagantly claim for them now? Indeed, examine the world around us today and you will see children pressed into military service, abandoned on the streets, sold into slavery, sexually abused, and murdered with impunity. In the midst of golden temples to religion stocked to the rafters with holy books.

Nick Frost, a professor at Leeds University has chronicled the history of child welfare in his seminal anthology, Child Welfare, Historical Perspectives, portions of which are available on line through Google Books (according to Amazon books, this tome is cited by over 100 other works):

http://www.amazon.com/Child-Welfare-Nick-Frost/dp/book-citations/0415250889

I would guess that most modern people are shocked reading this book and find the facts documented by Nick Frost hard to believe. I have no problem believing what his anthology relates and there is ample evidence the scholarship is well substantiated.

Just last month the Ryan Commission in Ireland released their report. Anyone with a heart is horrified by the details provided in this report. How such despicable treatment of vulnerable children could exist for decades in Catholic institutions should make us all stop and demand some answers. The horrors meted out by Irish Catholic institutions bears witness to what happens when a system has power over people and that system is not answerable to those people. Moreover, when that powerful system refuses to hear the cries of children. Bad Christians? No, I say bad systems. There is undeniable evidence the children tried to escape and tried to get help. Their cries were ignored. Why? Will some practicing Christian please tell me why the cries of the children were ignored? What systemic problem in religion allowed this to happen in modern times.

Here is a taped session of a victim responding to the the Ryan Commission:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jHqndf9Kx4

(Read the comments viewers left, this video segment is powerful and some say it may even result in all the Catholic orders in Ireland having their bank accounts frozen.)

Will Kott did the transcript and has this to say:

“A question is asked about the Ryan Commission report on child abuse within institutions run by the religious orders in Ireland. After the panel had spoken the questioner responded and his response…well see for yourself.

Just a note, but my apologies for the ragged nature of the end of the piece. Editing wasn’t very good with the late hour. You can read a transcript here.”

http://willknott.ie/2009/05/26/michael-obrien-transcript/

Posted on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 7:54 am in Child abuse, Children's rights, Christian fascisim, Parenting, Religion, Religion and society, Toxic faith.
Related Posts Scientific literature on religion and child abuse Encouraging news on child abuse front Religion and The age of Consent Hereditary Religion: Cultural Genetics	Share/Save Subscribe via RSS! or Follow EndOfReligion on Twitter!