Would you believe I still get lots of mail from devout Catholics? I still even get these nice heartfelt letters via regular mail from little old Catholic ladies who think their flowery stationery will finally bring me around to the faith. But mainly I get something out of the blue where I can tell someone has stumbled onto one article that has offended them deeply, and they write to berate me for it. They usually don’t even bother to tell me what it is that has annoyed them so, not that it really matters.

Article

I am always amazed when I read an article such as yours and have a chance to witness the stupidity and ignorance of many of todays so-called professors. Before I point out your complete ignorance I will say this. A Catholic hater is the most easiest of all arogant people to recognize. I will also say this. You were either once a catholic or never had any strong affiliation with a church. The biggest haters of the church are catholics, who for various reasons no longer feel that it fits their lifestyle. They are usually divorced or have a deep personal resentment for the church that has “let them down.” They almost always find a church that “understands” their needs.

Ooh, ouch. Making predictions is a bad idea when you suck at it. I’m not a Catholic, and never have been, and never will be. I was brought up in the Lutheran church, but I left it in my teens. I am not divorced, and am in a happy relationship that has lasted for over 30 years; in fact, I don’t feel resentment about much of anything, since I think I’ve had a remarkably good and fortunate life.

Perhaps Mr Moore here was confused because he saw only one article and didn’t read very far. I’m not a Catholic hater; I think all religions are lies.

Now, your statement about priest. What you and others like you avoid saying is that the priests that do these type of things are gay. Priests that maintain the male orientation do not do these things. Bur if you spoke the truth you would offend your gay friends, and we can’t have that now can we. The other issue is that most of the crimes against young boys have happened over 30 years ago or longer. The rate of new cases is far under what happens with teachers in public schools and other denominations. Yes, it is even higher now among jewish rabbis. But no one is saying that so as not to offend. The catholic church will continue to be attacked by the likes of you because Christ predicted it. If you spent have the time that you spend on reaserching ways to attack the church and spend it on learning the truth, you would find peace. But you will never find peace. I will bet you that you are very unhappy and actually a miserable person inside.

Two flaws in Mr Moore’s reasoning:

1. Raping children is not the same thing as consensual sex between two adults; these are not “gay” crimes, and equating abuse with consensual behavior is rather revolting. It is also not the case that only young boys are victimized; girls are mistreated, too.

2. The “they do it, too!” excuse simply does not work. That some teachers are pedophiles does not mean it is unfair to pick on the poor child-raping priests. Catholics claim a greater virtue, so they don’t get to shuck all their guilt when they’re caught red-handed, and in fact ought to be held to a higher standard, according to their own views; and there’s also a significant difference between a priest and a secular professional. When a teacher gets caught diddling children, he will be arrested, fired, and banned from the profession. What we’ve learned is that when a Catholic priest fondles children, he’ll get sheltered, paid off, and transferred to a new parish and a fresh collection of kids.

I really do have a lot of Catholic mail that claims the real problem isn’t abuse of power by amoral abusers in the Catholic hierarchy…it’s those damned gays. And they accuse me of hate.

It is not too late for a change of heart but I will remind you that if you continue in this fashion you will have much to answer for in the next world. Your few years of study will have been for nothing. To many of us, it already has been for nothing. To come where you are now in life, with a heart full of hate, is very sad. If years of study can bring a person to this much lack of knowledge, it is easy to see why our colleges a places of complete ignorance of truth.

And now we get to it. I must note that Mr Moore is the one who says years of study are for nothing, who belittles institutions of higher learning, and then whines about how we are ignorant of the truth. Perhaps if he’d paid a little more attention to the minor niceties of spelling and grammar, as well as the more significant skills of logic and reasoning, it wouldn’t be quite so obvious who is the ignorant one in this argument.

I don’t have a heart full of hate, either. Although I begin to feel a good bit of anger at people who try to rationalize and trivialize child rape.