Why do people think only Catholic priests molest children?

Question

I was raised in a different religion and I personally know people who were molested, the church knew about it, covered it up within the organisation and interfered with police investigation for the cases that were eventually reported. They also told the children who came forward that since the person who molested them repented, they needed to forgive them for it or God would be angry at them. In one case the molester was a family member and they left the child living with him. There were also other children in the household and it was never investigated whether the other children were being abused.
But this wasn't all over the news. The only cases that have been are the Catholic ones. People sound so shocked and disgusted by what's gone wrong in the Catholic church but they don't realise that this happens in every religion.

Why is it so hard to understand that when you put people in a position of power, where their motives and morals are unquestionable, some will abuse that power and some will make decisions that allow others to abuse their power?

Answer 1

peopl believe what the news and the papers and magazines say, not reality

Answer 2

Because many people have an axe to grind with the Catholic church for having views on birth control and celibacy but their priests molest boys and girls and pay huge money to keep things quiet. The other churches are not as powerful as the Catholic church (well, unless your leader is Ted Haggard and you're pretty much up there with the political establishment).

There is separation of church and state in the USA. A priest MUST be prosecuted for improper contact with a child AND sanctioned under his own laws. A lot of priests have gone to jail only to beg their lawyers to get them out of jail because they could no longer tolerate the abuse heaped upon them by other inmates. If only that priest had put himself in that child's shoes....

Christianity DOES NOT CONDONE child sex abuse. Unfortunately, the Devil has infected the hearts and minds of ANY priest and ANY denomination accused of child sex abuse.

Answer 3

I don't think that at all and never did. However if the clergy in another denomination molested children to the extent that the clergy in the Catholic Church did, it certainly would get as much press play. I have never heard of another Christian denomination having to file bankruptcy due to law suits filed on the basis of child molestation.

Answer 4

Because the Catholic Church as an institution is HUGE and the media tends to gravitate to stories which are more sensational and interesting to read. There seems to be sort of a morbid fascination with people in the fact they seem to enjoy seeing such a large institution falling from grace.

Answer 5

Publicity - there is more information currently about the priests because the catholic church has the funds to due something about it - when that plays out another group will be targeted like preschools in the 80's.

Answer 6

Other "men of the cloth" have been caught doing it, but the news media gives it a low profile because they want people to continue to believe that there is a man living in a cloud. Remember that the religions told us that all men of the cloth were there because they received a calling from God. Either God is a sicko or non-existent. I believe the latter.

Answer 7

I think there are alot of sickos that molest children when put into positions of trust over them Boy Scout Leaders, Sports Coaches, Religious mentors, Social Workers, Psychologists and the list goes on.

Answer 8

People are people. They hear what we want to hear, see what we want to see and drown the rest out.

Besides a child molesting priest is a pretty damn good story for any reporter.

Answer 9

nobody believes only the catholic priests molest children , there faith has been destroyed because they looked up to a man of god . the sad part here is there is over 78,000 children around the world { and those are there ones we know about } who have been molested by the priests and the catholic church has done nothing to curtail it

Answer 10

So the fact that other people besides priests molest boys that makes it ok that the priests do it to? What you think their profession gives them the right to abuse children?

Answer 11

It happens in every religion, but any religion that insists its clergy be asexual is going to be over represented. For every protestant clergy child molester, there are probably about a thousand Catholic priests.