Child sexual abusers commonly turn to religion to rationalize their behavior

[Ian David]

Child sexual abusers commonly turn to religion to rationalize their behaviour

In a previous article archived on this site religion writer Don Lattin pointed out the similarities between Phillip Garrido and the self-proclaimed prophets Joseph Smith and David Berg. The article posted below reveals a few more details of Garrido's religious development. The following quotation really drives home just how similar they are since it aptly applies to both Joseph Smith and David Berg:

Garrido's religion had morphed from traditional Christian beliefs to a nearly indecipherable dogma that placed Garrido as a prophet who held the keys to a deep secret.

This is precisely the process that led David Berg to form the cult Children of God, now known as The Family International. He started as a traditional evangelical Christian, but created a personal mythology wherein he claimed that he was the subject of various prophecies and scriptures foretelling that he was God's final endtime prophet before the return of Jesus (in 1993 according to Berg's teachings). Even though Jesus never returned (and never will) and Berg died in 1994, The Family cult members still believe he was a prophet of God.

Furthermore, both Joseph Smith and David Berg claimed divine inspiration for the various sexual doctrines they inculcated their followers with. In reality, both men were covering up their own sexual immoralities by claiming religious justification. In David Berg's case, he admitted in his writings to molesting one of his daughters, and his other daughter wrote in her book about the cult that Berg attempted incest with her. He also committed adultery shortly after forming his cult and committed various other sexual improprieties. Then to justify his sexual abuses, he began to claim that God no longer prohibited any kind of sexual activity, including adultery, incest, pedophilia, prostitution, etc. His writings, which are still required reading for all members, are responsible for wide-spread sexual abuse.

At a recent conference of cult apologists in Utah, the current leaders of The Family International addressed the conference in an attempt to gain mainstream acceptance or tolerance for their manipulative, abusive cult. They referred to the various sexual doctrines I mentioned above, as well as to other abusive doctrines, as unique and unconventional.

More:
http://www.anatheist.net/go/news/?x=55f


Hat-tip to: http://twitter.com/LoveVickyx/status/3977393177

[Deep13]

1. No surprise here.

All of my child molesters were professed devout Christians and one of them was even a Protestant priest.

[timtom]

2. NT

NT

[RetiredTrotskyite]

4. K&R Every Pedophile I Have Ever Known...

was either a priest or a monk or wanted to be.

[timtom]

10. What are you responding to?

NT means "no text"

[Lerkfish]

14. therefore all priests, monks or wannabes are pedophiles.

this is faulty reasoning.

[PDJane]

3. The three most common indicators of child abuse

are alcohol, obsessive control or religion...and combinations thereof.

Since my grandmother Tudor gave me that bit of information a long time ago, I suspect it always has been true.

[Lerkfish]

5. actually, the best indicator of child abuse is abusing children.

the other things you list are unrelated behaviors.

are all people who drink alcohol child abusers?

are all those with obsessive control pedophiles? (although I'll admit, they do have other problems)

are all religious people pedophiles?


according to your logic, over two thirds of our population are pedophiles.

but hey, whatever allows you to castigate religion and still feel good about yourself, go for it. There are no consequences for doing so here.

[izquierdista]

7. Castigating religion

As long as you mentioned it, let me put in a link to "Religion is Bullshit": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNy6ziOyxoA

[Lerkfish]

8. LOL!

well, anyways, you get my point.

[PDJane]

9. The behaviours are not unrelated.

They are the kind of disturbances which do indicate the kind of personality who will go over the edge into abuse. Are all alcoholics abusive? No. Are all religious people pedocphiles? No.

But abuse is not only sexual either. If you get a religious control freak, he or she can do to their children some incredible things in the interests of having them conform. Yes, I do know this first hand. A man or woman who is controlling will often have a low tolerance for frustration....and his or her children will be the target, because they can't fight back and are in the control of the abuser.

It's the same as asking if an abused child will become an abuser. The answer is, not always...but there's a higher than average probability that this will be the case.

[Sal Minella]

11. Alcohol abuse, tendency to obsessively control others, and public display

of religious "specialness" ARE red flags alerting to possibility of sexual abuse, whether you like it or not. eom.

[Deep13]

13. No, an indicator is not necessarily a prefect predictor.

"are all people who drink alcohol child abusers?"

No, but most people who are violent to children do have a drinking problem.

"are all those with obsessive control pedophiles? (although I'll admit, they do have other problems)"

No, but many are.

"are all religious people pedophiles?"

No, but almost all pedophiles are religious.

[moggie]

12. Here you go

Quoted from "Sexual Abuse in Christian Homes and Churches" by Carolyn Holderread Heggen:

A disturbing fact continues to surface in sex abuse research. The first best predictor of abuse is alcohol or drug addiction in the father. But the second best predictor is conservative religiosity, accompanied by parental belief in traditional male-female roles. This means that if you want to know which children are most likely to be sexually abused by their father, the second most significant clue is whether or not the parents belong to a conservative religious group with traditional role beliefs and rigid sexual attitudes. (Brown and Bohn, 1989; Finkelhor, 1986; Fortune, 1983; Goldstein et al, 1973; Van Leeuwen, 1990)

Note that it's conservative religious belief which is implicated... which I suspect would not come as a surprise to any of us.

[Lerkfish]

15. do you have a link to that?

I found this link:

http://whatcomcounty.us/sheriff/sexoffenders/pedophile.jsp

which does not list those as the top three indicators.

to be fair, this link:

http://parentingmethods.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_profile_of_a_pedophile

DOES list "regular church going" as an indicator, but its number 7.

I will agree that organized religion affords pedophiles unfettered access to children (like altarboys) but so does coaching sports, teaching, and any activity that involves children.

[Ian David]

16. Here

http://www.amazon.com/reader/0836136241?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

[rocktivity]

6. You can rationalize just about anything by claiming you're doing God's work

Just ask the members of the Bush Empire.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Silent3]

17. I think the most important thing to take away from this...

...is not so much that religion causes people to do bad things (I personally think religion tends to do that more than a lack of religion) but that religion clearly is not a necessary, or even very helpful, guide to moral behavior.

Of course, many of those who highly recommend religion as necessary to the "moral foundation" of society will argue that it's their own particular flavor of religion that's required, and will play the "no true Scotsman" game when you point out the moral failings of those who claim the same religion as the one they promote.

[Odin2005]

18. Muhammad married and raped a little girl.

Religion sucks.