All Evolutionists, go see the movie "Expelled"

[dewolf]

Originally Posted by Nathans_Dad

Look wolf, no one is saying that there isn't a problem with some clergy with regards to child abuse. No one is excusing that either. You cannot, however, say that ALL religious clergy are child molesters and that every religious person condones child abuse. Yes, there are instances of child abuse by religious people. There are instances of child abuse by non-religious people too. Australia's child abuse website lists thousands of cases of child abuse each year. Can I then say that all Australian's a child abusers? Of course not.

My point is these people believe in God, yet hide behind the church to their dirty deeds. I am fully aware of child abuse throughout other parts of society, but they aren't hiding behind something that is supposed to be all caring, all loving. If a congregation knows this is happening it's their responsibility as a whole to preserve the nature of the bible and stand up for it, not let those in power control the punishment.

[IROC]

As an interesting aside to the tangent this thread has taken, it is interesting how many Christians view themselves are morally superior to others.

I overheard a conversation in the office next to mine the other day. One guy was talking about some robbery that had occurred in his neighborhood and the convseration turned to crime in general. The other guy then made the statement, "Well, it's a good thing we live in the Bible Belt. Can you imagine how bad crime must be in parts of the country where there aren't as many Christians!". The other guy agreed with him wholeheartedly and went to describe how bad people were in Ohio.

I kid you not.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

over 60% of all porn is purchased in the Bible Belt.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

over 60% of all porn is purchased in the Bible Belt.

I also believe that born-again Christians sport the highest divorce rates. I wonder if the two statistics are related?

[stuartj]

Originally Posted by Nathans_Dad

So child abuse is worldwide and present in all religions? Really? Have any evidence for that stereotype? Seriously, any articles, blogs, video....anything?

Dewolf is correct. The catholic church has had an intuitional problem with pedophilia. This cant be denied and its been acknowledged by the Church. Didn’t the P admit as much in the US recently? Isn’t the CC paying out millions in the US in compensation?

That said, the Catholic Church is big, easy, global target, All churches have the problem- anywhere access to children is available- schools, churches-there’s been a problem. Ive seen it myself- move these rockspiders away. Things have changed.

All that said- these were the mores of a generation ago. All sorts of institutions swept pedophilia away.

It just goes to this- the moral superiority the church(es) and people of faith- is by and large, laughable.

[kang]

Despite the fact that humans have been known to be eaten by bears, sharks and assorted other carnivores, we love to place ourselves at the top of the food chain. And, despite our unwavering conviction that we are smarter than the computers we invented, members of our species still rob banks with their faces wrapped in duct tape and leave copies of their resumes at the scene of the crime. Six percent of sky-diving fatalities occur due to a failure to remember to pull the ripcord, hundreds of millions of dollars are sent abroad in response to shockingly unbelievable e-mails from displaced African royalty and nobody knows what Eliot Spitzer was thinking.

This quote is from an article I just came across about a book called "Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind."

To me, all the flaws in human beings, animals and the rest of the universe are evidence against ID.

Here’s the article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/136061

The book discusses how evolution led to brains “that allow us to be smart enough to invent quantum physics but not clever enough to remember where we put our wallet from one day to the next or to change our minds in the face of overwhelming evidence that our beliefs are wrong.”

Think about it. How do you explain these two questions from the article: "Why do half of all Americans believe in ghosts?" and "How can 4 million people believe they were once abducted by aliens?"

Here’s another quote that confirms what I’ve been saying all along:

Why are humans so prone to believe absolutely anything from the existence of the Loch Ness monster to Atlantis? Marcus explains that "evolution has left us distinctly gullible … the systems that underlie our capacity for belief are powerful, they are also subject to superstition, manipulation and fallacy. Beliefs, and the imperfect neural tools we use to evaluate them, can lead to family conflicts, religious disputes and even war." Again, he argues our brains didn't evolve in a way that allowed us to thoroughly evaluate how well our beliefs represent reality.

[Nathans_Dad]

Originally Posted by dewolf

My point is these people believe in God, yet hide behind the church to their dirty deeds.

That's not God's fault. If you want to be angry at the organized religions that have covered this up, then more power to you. My in-laws are dyed in the wool Catholics and even they don't agree with what the church did in this instance.

It's a mistake to take something that man does wrongly and ascribe that to God.

[RPKESQ]

Originally Posted by Nathans_Dad

That's not God's fault. If you want to be angry at the organized religions that have covered this up, then more power to you. My in-laws are dyed in the wool Catholics and even they don't agree with what the church did in this instance.

It's a mistake to take something that man does wrongly and ascribe that to God.

It is not a mistake if god is a man-made construct. Which of the over 4800 gods in the world are not man-made constructs?

[m21sniper]

They could all just be flawed representations of the same god.

IF there is a god, i am sure that in reality, that is most likely the case anyway.

[RPKESQ]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

They could all just be flawed representations of the same god.

IF there is a god, i am sure that in reality, that is most likely the case anyway.

Why, what evidence exists for that assumption?