Spiritual Traitors - Catholic Buggery Or Protestant Thievery, Take Your Pick

The sex scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church - sexual abuse of young boys in thousands of parishes everywhere - was a disregard of the the holy sacrament of Ordination, a heinous crime, and a betrayal of the hallowed and respected role of priests as ambassadors of Jesus Christ and caretakers of his mission.

 

Betraying the trust established between Catholic clergy and parishioners, a sacred relationship that has existed since the founding of the Church was bad enough, but relying on this trust to seduce young boys was a heinous, unforgiveable sin; and the Church was slow in realizing both the extent and severity of the problem. 

The Church has always protected its own, and its refusal to subject clergy to secular law was the casus belli of the dispute between Pope Paul III and Henry VIII and the principal cause for the schism within Christianity and the establishment of non-Catholic denomination of which the English king would be regent.  Martin Luther's Reformation finished the job that Henry had begun, and Protestants and Catholics would forever more be at odds. 

 

In any case, the modern Vatican acted no differently than Paul III and told secular authorities to keep their hands off.  If there was a problem - and the Church never admitted there was - the Church itself would handle it.

The Boston Globe under its Spotlight aegis, investigated child abuse by Catholic clergy in the city and found that hundreds of priests had abused thousands of boys, and were simply moved from parish to parish in a gesture of mild censure.  The articles published by the paper were enough to force the resignation of Cardinal Law.  The Church was not above or immune from secular law. 

The Vatican under Pope Benedict understood that it had to act, but realizing that they were facing a worldwide problem, a literal epidemic of child molestation, rape, and abuse, were uncertain as to how to deal with the issue.  If they forced the resignation of each and every priest who had committed or even was accused of child abuse, vestries would be emptied. 

What was behind this betrayal of trust and horrific, unconscionable action by supposed men of God? Celibacy of course was the Church's first target, a policy which had encouraged gay men to join the clergy but ignored their San Francisco, Castro-type promiscuous bathhouse behavior.  While now the gay community has by and large joined the mainstream and rejected its old lifestyle for marriage, only a few decades ago the heady moments of gay liberation were enthusiastically celebrated with unbounded serial sexual encounters.  It was out of this cohort group that the Church selected its priests.  

 

In fact, what could be more ideal? A respected profession if not vocation, and a closed likeminded community protected from prying eyes by the Vatican itself.  

While outside observers were quick to conclude that gay 'celibacy' was at the root of the child abuse problem, the link between homosexuality and such behavior was by no means proven.  One could draw inferences - gay promiscuity knew no restraint, and anyone was fair game - but the very inhumane, arrogantly presumptuous, and profoundly immoral actions could not be simply attributed to uninhibited sexual desire. 

What was it, then, which encouraged thousands of priests to commit such horrible, dastardly sins? How could such absolute immorality exist within the supposed fount of goodness and righteousness?  No one has answered this question. 

The Church so far has made no move to vet for a straight clergy.  Its emerging market is Africa where homosexuality is condemned, so selection from that demographic pool might solve the problem; but what about America where particularly under liberal governments every combination and permutation of sexual variety have been ambitiously promoted? Or America's cultural lapdog, Europe, sure to follow suit?

The Protestant churches have had their own scandals none of them sexual.  Although individual preachers have been found guilty of adultery and have even assumed this as a birthright, there has been nothing like the Catholic Church's shameful and unpardonable behavior. Protestants prefer financial fraud, money laundering, and bilking the credulous faithful out of millions.  

And why is this? Perhaps because the evangelical churches are under no strict hierarchal authority.  Pastors can do whatever they please, and since there are no higher level corporate treasuries like the Vatican whose wealth is in the trillions, the incentive to cadge, wheedle, and downright cheat congregants out of their money is obvious. 

The large evangelical churches are no different from their secular counterparts - Enron, Bernie Madoff, and the Wall Street investment banks which devised incredibly complex financial instruments to illegally and unethically generate millions from unsuspecting rubes. The big megachurches take in millions through canny marketing and widescale exposure and pay no taxes on their revenue.  What better environment to steal millions?

And perhaps since both evangelicals and financiers are both quintessentially American, capitalist and entrepreneurial to the core, that they share the same penchant for elaborate trickery.  America is not that far removed from the era of snake oil salesmen and barnstorming revivalist frauds. 

Judaism seems to be immune from both types of scandals.  While Jews like Bernie Madoff and a hundred others have been just as guilty of financial misdeeds, and the sex pervert of all sex perverts, Jeffrey Epstein was Jewish, the institution has remained morally intact. Why is that, observers ask? 

Perhaps because there is enough secular chicanery among Jews to go around; or because there is something to the People of the Book, a particularly centered, observant group; or because of a thousand years of discrimination and abuse, Jews have circled the wagons and policed Judaism with an iron hand, keeping it unshaken. 

Islam has had no scandals to speak of because a) it is a radical, hegemonic, politically aggressive religion with little time for tomfoolery; and b) decapitation for the most minor sins is common.  Say what you will, absolute monarchical authority - religious dictatorship - keeps Muslims chaste and their hands out of the till.  Mostly chaste and honest. Remember, the discussion is about institutional waywardness, not individual indiscretions. Istanbul Turks have their afternoon assignations like any other European, and why should imams be men of complete moral purity?

There have been no Buddhist or Hindu scandals, although sex and improper financial dealings are just as common on an individual basis; so that leaves the Catholic Church as the worst offender, the most indifferently immoral, callously and seditiously evil of all.  Protestant thievery, shell game trickery, and Megatron deceit cannot hold a candle to Rome.