How Religion Creates Sexual Predators

[_Mephitus]

http://heatherannastasia.blogspot.com/2 ... -part.html

Life, death, sex and rebirth are all part of the natural order.

For human beings, the idea of death is so unbearable that we turn to the supernatural for comfort.

In most theologies, the natural and the supernatural coexist and counterbalance one another in harmony.

But in western theologies, Christianity in particular, the natural and the supernatural worlds are at war.

The most tragic casualty of this war on the natural world is sex. Sex, and everything associated with sex, is dirty and sinful.

But sex is an essential part of our selves. Without sex, we would literally cease to exist. Aside from being an essential component of our being, sex is wonderful. Sex is the direct or indirect motivation behind most of what we do. Sex is the reason we get up in the morning, and the reason we go to bed at night.

To pretend that sex is not an essential part of who we are is futile at best. To demonize sex, as Christianity has done; to make it shameful and villainous and dirty, is downright dangerous. No Christian church can compete with Catholicism when it comes to the demonization of sex, which is why no Christian church is as guilty of the level of sexual crimes against the innocent as the Catholic church.

When we take one of the most enjoyable pleasures in nature, as well as one of our most primal drives, and shroud it in a cloak of sin and shame, we are alienating a vital piece of our selves from our existence. We create a powerful kernel of self-loathing deep within our own psyche because we desperately want to enjoy that vile sinful act which God has forbidden us to have (except in the most practical of circumstances, and not for the sheer joy of it).

Of all the people who participate in this cycle of hating themselves for being human beings, the most dangerous are those in power. The laws of biology and physics have dictated that those in power shall be male, and the laws of the church have cemented this hierarchy into place. But it's difficult to have confidence in your own moral authority when you have that kernel of self-loathing gnawing at you from the inside; to chastise another human being for doing what you so desperately want to do yourself (or what you do, but have to hide because your trying to convince everyone that it's a terrible thing to do). Moreover, you can't be honest with yourself about your desires, after all, God can see right through to your soul!

Enter the scapegoat: Women.

The object of your own desire?

No!

Evil, lustful, temptresses! Pluckers of the forbidden fruit, beguilers of the faithful Adam. Witches: consorting in the moonlight with the vile serpent. They must be controlled because they are evil by nature.

So now, in a vain attempt to gain the favor of our supernatural god, we have twisted and suppressed our most powerful drive (without diminishing our desire to pursue that drive), and we have villainized half of our species (our mothers, our daughters, our wives, our sisters).

There's no way to come out of this without psychological damage. This is sexual predator psychology 101: self-loathing, women hating men in positions of moral authority. Of course children are going to get hurt! Children are easy to intimidate and manipulate, especially when their tormentor is a vessel of the almighty God.

Thankfully in America, we have a rule of law that is just secular enough that the church will not escape from these crimes unscathed. It is because of victims seeking justice in American courts against the Catholic church that we can all see the true spiritual sickness that western religion perpetuates in the form of systematic and institutionalized sexual assaults on innocent children.

But the San Diego Diocese may have found a way to slink out of the public spotlight by filing bankruptcy. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070228/news_7n28diocese.html Not to keep from compensating their victims, but to keep their victims from having their day in court; to keep all of us from witnessing the gruesome details of their crimes.

Because, let's face it, the surest way to end this sick and twisted cycle of sexual abuse is honesty; and that's the last thing the Catholic church wants.

[_Fortigurn]

But in western theologies, Christianity in particular, the natural and the supernatural worlds are at war.

Where do you get this idea?

The most tragic casualty of this war on the natural world is sex. Sex, and everything associated with sex, is dirty and sinful.

Where is this in the Christian Bible?

To demonize sex, as Christianity has done...

I think you mean 'as some Christians have done'.