Religious Abuse

[Blackrook]

It's a one-sided story and frankly, I'd like to hear the other side before rushing to judgment.

In Irish society, there was no coming back from having a baby out of wedlock. That used to be true in most Western countries. Women might have no other option but starvation if they were "ruined" outside of marriage.

Watch old movies from the 1940's and 1950's and you will see that women who had babies out of wedlock were desperate and would do anything to get out of the situation, even trapping men who were not the father into marriage. And that was considered something that a woman had to do, for the sake of herself and her baby, and no one would blame her, even the tricked husband.

You could blame the Catholic Church for creating that situation, but it was true in Protestant countries as well. The shame and stigma of having a child out of wedlock didn't end until abortion became legal. Now Christians see women who give birth out of wedlock as heroes, because they did not have an abortion.

Just yesterday, I went to a banquet raising money for a home for unwed mothers. This is what Christians are doing TODAY to help mothers with an unplanned pregnancy. Christians are no longer persecuting unwed mothers, they are giving them a safe and loving refuge until they can get back on their feet and take care of themselves.

So you can piss and moan and hate because of things that are decades in the past. Or you can realize that mistakes have been made, but people have moved on.

 

[Coyote]

Abuse by religion and religious authorities happen, but it's disengenius to think it's some how unique to religion. People who are going to abuse others will do so, religion merely gives them an excuse - not a reason.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

Abuse by religion and religious authorities happen, but it's disengenius to think it's some how unique to religion. People who are going to abuse others will do so, religion merely gives them an excuse - not a reason.

I actually agree with that

 

[Blackrook]

Christians are held to a higher standard, and I don't complain about that, because we're supposed to be better than people who are outside the Christian world.

But we must not lose sight of the fact that Christian influence is far more good than bad.

Christians built hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages, insane asylums hundreds of years before government got involved in providing social services.

Atheists who claim that Christianity has never done anything good in this world are simply lying, counting on people to be ignorant of what's really going on.