Not For Strict Fundamentalists....August 8, 1999

Not For Strict Fundamentalists....August 8, 1999

I became inbroiled in a rather heated debate this evening on, you guessed it, Diary-L. The topic was a rather sensitive one: organized religion. Indeed, when people start hashing out their spiritual beliefs, and are place in a position where they have to defend them, all hell breaks loose, so to speak.

It started with a post debating the appropriateness of teaching creationist theory in schools, given the fact that the secular among us are a majority. Being a radical left-wing socialist, of course I have a firm opinion about this; religion has absolutely no place in the public school system. This is what I posted, verbatum:

I would like to think that parents would feel that the onus was on them to expose thier children from an early age to a variety of theologic, spiritual and scientific principles, and let them find their own way as to what they will believe. Given the diversity of cultures in North America, the public school system is not the place, nor is it capable, to be addressing such matters.
There is, and has historically been, a fine line between church and state, and there has always been an underlying, if not sometimes blatant, creationist/contemporary christian message in school curriculum. It disgusted me when I was in school, and that it is allowed to continue I find repulsive. Young children reciting the lord's prayer before the start of a school day are not aware that, historically, organized religion is responsible for the eradication of several ancient cultures (here and abroad) in the name of a socially constructed diety. Contemporarily it is about nothing but hypocracy, business, patriarchy, oppression, and in some religions (Catholicism), offering a safe haven for paedophiles.
While my children would certainly be free to believe what they wanted, I would like to make sure they were well informed. I would encourage them to think critically about whatever philosophies they were considering adopting (including my own). I do not think that any system, such as the public school system, nor anyone, including a parent, should dictate or influence, what another person's spiritual beliefs are.

Of course, instead of focusing on the argument at hand, that being religion in schools, those few mackrel snapping Catholics (thank you Stephen King) who insist on living in abject denial, went haywire over my statement that the Catholic Church offers a safe haven for paedophiles. I responded with:

As it so happens, my opinion is quite a well informed one, through literature (books, newspapers, newsmagazine articles, Royal Commissions) and through knowing a victim personally who was a member of a group of dozens of victims from one Catholic run facility alone. Knowing him led me to want to be more informed. An investigation into that facility was sparked by the infamous Mount Cashol case in Newfoundland, Canada (read "Unholy Orders" by Michael Harris). That investigation opened the door for several Catholic run facilities all across Canada to be accused of abuse and cover up by hundreds of more victims.
Paedophiles will gravitate to places where they can easily find victims with the least risk of being caught. With the widespread Catholic influence in schools, youth residential facilities, foster homes, day cares, summer camps, and let us not forget, the First Nation youth schools (training centres) of the first half of this century, combined with the church's infamy for denial, cover-up, and preservation of it's billions in assets, as well as the removal from typical civilian jurisdiction that priests and nuns enjoy, what you have is indeed a safe haven for paedophiles. These priests and nuns conspired with each other and covered up for each other over decades, and not only sexually abused their victims, but tortured them as well through beatings, being chained, and locked up. And this is only in Canada, not even mentioning the US, UK, Scotland, Ireland, etc. Half a dozen priests? I do not think so.
Furthermore, my fact-based belief is not rooted in tree-hugging hippie rhetoric, it is rooted in the fact that I care. I care about the thousands of victims in this country alone, some of whom committed suicide because the church denies denies denies. I care about the dozens, if not hundreds, of First Nation communities who have been devastated for generations, with little hope of recovery, because their parents and grandparents were forced from their homes to attend catholic and other religiously run schools where they were sexually abused, beaten, and forbidden from speaking their language or observing their customs.
You know, many Catholics are rallying for change with respect to the policy, procedure, and lack of ethic and morality within the archaic structure that has perpetuated victimization for generation upon generation. They can do that without internalizing the actions of several, several priests as a statement of their faith. Then again, just as many continue to live in the land of Peter Pan and the Easter Bunny.

And the debate rages on as we speak.

I know that my opinions are of a minority. I also firmly support people believing what they will spiritually. If I chose to ostracize all persons secular, I would not have very many friends. Indeed, it is differences in spirituality that make some of my closest friendships that much more interesting and rewarding. Nevertheless, I just cannot believe how blinded people can be to the ills of the Catholic Church.

I have reached the same conclusion that The Goddess has; it is not even worth my time debating it. If one wants to educate himself, he will. There is nothing that I can do, and it is a drain of my energy, to even try to speak to someone who chooses to worship so blindly.

What ever happened to the fundamental respect for human beings, and all precious life? Whatever happened to helping our fellow neighbours? What ever happened to feeling sympathy for those in pain? What ever happened to accepting responsibility? Whatever happened to putting faith before profit?

Beyond ghosts and tarot cards, which are merely an expression of my interests, feeling a sense of love for all life, and feeling sorrowful for the ills of a capitalist, industrialist society, and feeling pain when others feel pain, all form the foundation of my spirituality. Is there anything wrong with that? And to think, I am in the minority.

....Blessed Be