Why Do So Many Different Religious Orders Produce Child Molesting Clergymen?

Question

Is it possible they have a culture that cultivates this somehow? If not.....what could possible be the answer? Especially puzzling since they are suppose to be the strongest at upholding the moral standards of their particular faith.

http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/outreach.htm

For those talking about 'teachers' & the no. of child molesters overall-that has nothing to do with the fact 'religious' men are commiting these heinous acts. I thought they were suppose to be stronger? And find statistics on every single religious sect is almost impossible. But you have been paying attention to current events then you know the numbers continue to pile up, even with all the negative press. So how come this doesn't discourage more of them? I starting to think its a sub-culture that has been thriving for centuries.

Answer 1

that's a good question, reminds me of the south park episode when the catholic church had a big meeting on how to keep boys quiet

Answer 2

1. Some religious faiths prevent marriage of the pastor (minister, priest, etc.), so he is probably oversexed at the best of times. Imagine years in a seminary without a woman! Many priests were 'solicited' from students of private religious boarding schools. Many of these students were subject to homosexual activity by their 'religious' teachers and carers. Most abusers have been abused themselves. Culture....cultivation......

2. In past decades homosexuality was stigmatic, and therefore a choice of celibacy within the church probably seemed a sensible choice for a homosexual. Unfortunately this actually put them in the very proximity of close and nurturing relationships with minors. Temptation......

3. Some peodophiles probably saw the church as an answer to their prayers. Deviates.......

4. Power equals corruption.........

5. Human nature to abuse positions of trust. Even judges break the law, and lie to the court when charged.

Answer 3

We are living in the final hour's. I think that many men who are normally attracted to children are choosing to become Priests because they will have close contact with young boys. It has nothing at all to do with not being allowed to marry. They aren't molesting the Sisters (Nun's) nor are they molesting little girls. It is sad what people are doing in the name of the Lord these days. Many Churches are teaching that it is alright to live together without marriage,they are even gambling to raise money. Some pastors will not preach against sin.
As far as the clergy harming children, Jesus said that whoever harms one of these little ones it would be better for that man that he had a millstone tied around his neck and be cast into the sea.

Answer 4

You need to provide proof that "SO MANY" different religious orders produce child-molesting clergymen.

We hear about the bad guys. I don't think that there is such a huge percentage of clergymen who molest children.

Support your "question," please.

Apart from direct family connections, many Catholic families sent their children to Catholic schools, where priests taught as teachers or visited regularly as the local parish priest or curate. Participation in the Catholic faith involved a close association with, and proximity to, priests. While the vast majority of priests are thought never to have abused any children (99.8%),[7] the small minority of priests who are known to have committed offenses had easy access to children.



99.8% of priests are thought NEVER to have abused children.

Answer 5

There's going to be child molesters in a group of six BILLION people, Unfortunately the press is all to ready to let everybody know about the religious ones but not the others. I can go on-line right now and find 120 registered offenders in my area but i have never heard about one of them on the news. If I wouldn't have gone on-line to find this information I wouldn't even know they existed in my area.

Answer 6

The incidence of such crimes among clergy is no more common than among any other group of men. Only the press coverage is greater. When a scout leader or a guidance counselor or a teacher (by far the largest group of molestors) molests a child, people in the next state don't even hear about it. Why would they? They have plenty of cases of their own to deal with. But when a clergyman commits such a crime, it is on the front page of every newspaper in the country.

Obviously the rule of celibacy has nothing to do with it since:
- the other 99% of priests are also celibate and have no such problems.
- the incidence is identical among Protestant clergy and they are not celibate.
- by far the largest group of child molestors are married men.
- lack of opportunity for sex doesn't turn a man into a pedophile

Besides, virtually no priests have been accused of actual pedophilia. A man who makes sexual advances toward adolescent boys is not a pedophile, but simply a homosexual.

Answer 7

They seem to be about tied with Scoutmasters and sports coaches.Oddly enough it is actually more common statistically in the Southern Fundamentalist style sects than among the Catholic Clergy but it is not reported in the press nearly as much. The same with other professions.
When I read the stats on who the paedophiles are it makes me quite worried. They are everywhere and in large numbers, even if you do not credit the estimates of unreported incidents.

Answer 8

I don't think it is religions that produce it, but it is sin in humans that produces it and clergy are humans. Do you think only clergy do that? or do all humans do it? The only reason it seems like it, is because when it happens the media let the whole world know, but when a non religious person does it very few people find out.

Answer 9

Man is not infallible... even those who are supposed to uphold the moral standards.
I am in no way defending these perpetrators because that's exactly what they are traitors to their own faith and flocks.
No one knows what really causes one to act on those disgusting feelings but they do tend to gravitate to religion (be it christian or otherwise) where they have access to young children. and are overlooked because as they like to say to forgive is Divine.

Answer 10

IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO HOW THE WORLD IS THEN YOU WOULD SEE THAT ALMOST EVERY TOWN IN AMERICA HAS A SEX OFFENDERS LIST. ITS NOT JUST IN RELIGIONS THAT CHILD MOLESTATION OCCURS, ITS EVERY CULTURE, EVERY RACE. IF THE PEOPLE COULD HELP THEMSELVES AND NOT DO IT, I THINK THEY WOULD, BUT ITS LIKE HOLDING OUT CRACK TO A CRACKHEAD!!! THEY CANT HELP THEMSELVES!
IM CATHOLIC AND NOW EVERYONE THINKS THAT ALL PRIESTS ARE LIKE THAT, NO. SO SINCE SOME TEACHERS OR DAYCARE WORKERS HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE ARE YOU NOT GOING TO TAKE YOUR KIDS TO THESE FACILITIES? WHAT IM TRYING TO SAY IS NOTHING BREEDS THIS INTO PEOPLE(ONLY SOME FROM MOLESTATION OCCURING TO THEM IN CHILDHOOD) IT HAPPENS IN EVERY CONTINENT, AND SO ON AND SO FORTH.

Answer 11

AP reporters in every state and the District of Columbia identified 2,570 teachers who were punished for sexual misconduct from 2001 to 2005 alone, for actions that ranged from fondling to viewing child pornography to rape.

The teacher, Robert Sperlik Jr., pleaded guilty last year to sexual abuse and kidnapping of more than 20 girls, some as young as 9. Among other things, he told prosecutors that he put rags in the girls' mouths, taped them shut and also bound their hands and feet with duct tape and rope for his own sexual stimulation. According to court documents, he rubbed their inner thighs and shoulders and forced them to sit, while bound, in closets and school storage rooms. At least one girl told prosecutors that when Sperlik stood behind her, she could feel his erect penis on her back.

He pretended it was a game, gave the girls candy and told them not to tell.

And for a long time, none of them did.

So, enlighten us. Why do so many colleges and teacher screening procedures allow pediphiles into the ranks of teachers.