Richard Dawkins: I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI
Out of context: Reply #38
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- kingkong0
Just to clarify ukit...
I think where there is wrong doing, then people should be tried and prosecuted. To be fair to the vatican; priests have been dragged through the courts and jailed and clearly some havent. So there hasn't been endemic cover up imo, but clearly there have been inconsistencies in how things are handled.
My overarching point is not to say that the Catholic Church has done no wrong, but more I don't understand why they are singled out. Muslim arranged marriage, Elderly care homes, nursery education, etc etc have all had major abuse problems by the very nature of how they recruit and manage people.
So when the Dawkins thing came out I see it as him using it for his own political ends, whilst I think as a society we struggle to deal with abuse as Baby P etc has shown.
To single out the Pope seems to not address the issue. Also to compare the world in the 70's and 80's where in many countries the Church had carte blanche to act as it wished is far removed from the country I live in now.
Being totally upfront, I am not particularly religious, but I am working with the Vatican as it happens, and many of the players mentioned in these stories I work with. So I see the story from both sides.
It's a bit like when they said the police force was endemically racist in the UK. I find broad brush strokes unpalatable. There is clearly fault and those people should answer to the law of the land, but to say Catholicism is bad is too much for me. You get rid of one Pope, another will come in, and it will still carry on being the worlds largest religion doing a lot of good works. There will always be people within it that are bad people, but....the whole thing? no I dont believe thats the case.
Not to conspirisize (?) but why are these stories all coming out now all in one go when were talking about 40 years worth of news? I can't help thinking it has a lot to do with the Pope actively going for the Anglican church and the fact that he's coming here on the first state visit for 400 years.
Anyway, we can all pull out links from the internet that back our positions. I appreciate it's not an argument i'm going to win here or in fact anywhere.