• God tells Pennsylvania man to burn down family home because of dragons
• Priest groped female worshipper during confession – “I froze” woman testified in court
• Pope Francis has a 75% tolerance policy on child sexual abuse
• Catholic Diocese suspends West Memphis pastor amid charges of animal cruelty
• Utah woman sues polygamous Kingston group, alleges she was coerced into marrying uncle at 16
• Church-funded anti-gay therapist pleads guilty to sexually abusing patients during sessions
• Former youth pastor pleads guilty to sexual battery in Tupelo
• Oregon lawsuit alleges LDS Church failed to intervene in child sex abuse case
• West Memphis priest accused of animal cruelty involving cats
• Ignoring war, floods, and child leukemia, God blesses Philadelphia Eagles
• "Heaven has strict immigration laws," says church, and "hell has open borders"
• Former church teacher pleads guilty to sex abuse of children
• Former pastor convicted of attempted murder over a year after stabbing family, setting home on fire
• Ohio church under investigation for sexual abuse
• Former pastor charged, allegedly found with ‘voluminous’ amount of child sexual abuse material
• Mormon church sued again over how it uses tithing contributions from members
• Former teacher, church volunteer accused of contacting minors online for sex
• This was not on my Catholic Church sex scandal bingo card
Note: When reading news coverage from any corporate-owned source — a newspaper, TV station or network, etc — the facts are generally factual, but the slant favors the rich and powerful.
Yes, not disputing the veracity of these, I have better things to do with my time, but putting them in context would be honest. Divide these cases on the number of congregations and present to me whether faith based groups have a higher or lower number of such abuses as compared to society at large. That would indicate whether there is a correlation or not.
I'm sure we can dig up similar stories from sports and conclude that sports is just as evil. On the other hand millions of children enjoy sports and never experience abuse (thank gods), and likewise, millions of faithful people are encouraged by their faith to do good and don't abuse anyone.
Now there is an element in many faiths of trusting people who wield social power and such human groups are often attractive to abusive personalities, who seek that power, for the sake of their own personal goals and desires.
A final note, your own mental development shapes how you think of God. A child thinks he's a man with a beard in the sky. A philosopher may think of the divine as a personal or unpersonal force of good. I find it very hard to understand how someone who believes in a life after death, where wickedness gets punished for eternity, can commit child abuse. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I just can't fathom why someone who truly believes in judgment can set themselves up like that. They must either not believe and merely use the trappings of religion as said above, or do believe, but be persons suffering from the most cognitive dissonance generating defective programming imagineable.
I dunno, it's Friday and I'm in a mood, but religion (not organized) makes me try to do good to all my fellow humans.
Is it really religion that makes you try to do good for others? I make an effort to be kind, and often succeed, without any religion at all.
It makes me challenge my selfishness. It gives me the strength to care when I'd prefer not to. It lifts compassion as my highest ideal. I strive to forgive those who trespass against me, instead of seeking revenge. I might be an ok person without, or possibly bad. But I'm definitely better with.