Teenager Forced to Apologize to Church After Being Raped
 

Standardman tweeted this, and i think it deserves its own thread. Maybe nobody will care but i do:

Teenager Forced to Apologize to Her Church for Being Raped | Women's Rights | Change.org

I dont understand how pwople get (rightfully) angry when Islam abuses women and humiliates them, but seem forgiving and oblivious when the "Other" religions do it.

How much will things have to be pushed before people realize that all religions should be outlawed or at least treated like vices or cults and not supported.

That is bizarre. Something is wrong with that preacher.
Although at least he did try to turn in the rapist. I wonder if he knew that the guy wouldn't be prosecuted because the church sent the girl out of state though. That would be truly fucked up if he intended the guy to get off scot free.

The guy has been arrested and is awaiting trial. I think that points to the fact that it is not a tolerated behavior, and while I'm no fan of religion, I'd like to see some statistical evidence that this is representative of the religion itself.

I forgot to note I did like that the rapist offered to either A) take her to get an abortion, or B) punch her in the stomach. (You know, her choice, one or the other.) So, it proves he isn't all bad.

It's not a publically tolerated behaiour of course, because the media exposure would be lethal.

But the major christianity derived religions are forcefully mysoginist and rooted in the conept of woman as tempting sexual objects and inherent sinners.

And if you shift the view to Catholicism, it's even worse. In Southern Italy, where church based communities are the norm, and religion works in its most primal way, you hear stories of mother hiding the abuse perpetrated on their daughters, even by the priests themselves, because their families would be "shamed". And that idea of shame and guilt reserved for women and how they're responsible and not victims when a rape occurs, it's a direct consequence of their religious upbringing.

I've heard with my own ears, i swear i'm not making this up, a priest a in a small town church saying, during one of the few masses i attended, that "illnesses like AIDS are the finger of god squashing the sinners like sodomites and promiscuous women". And the townsfolk were agreeing for the majority.

Of course the fuel goes both ways. Religion feeds on the natural weakness of people and their need to keep women in the lowest part of the ladder. It feeds and exploits the common litigious nature of people and gives it a mythologic form. But it also fuels to fire. Where would most of religions be without hatred, lack of reason and backwards ignorance.

I'm all for freedom of beliuef and supporting the need of reassurancew and spirituality of the majority. But when a giant corporation uses this to hide their crimes behind a wall of silence, it's time for an intervention.

Using the Western world as a representation of actions compelled by adherence to Christian beliefs would be remarkably inaccurate. That's sort of like testing the lethality of a shotgun after someone already had the prudence to load it with blanks. The United States, the largest predominantly Christian nation, was founded in and reveres the Age of Reason. The behavior of Christians in the western world should be viewed as a testament to the good of secularism, not to Christianity being less shitty than Islam.

You obviously know this is true, if you are willing to accept that the Middle Eastern countries are representative of Islamic beliefs. A nation that more purely adheres to a religion is a better representation of what that religion causes. Now suppose I take a look at Islamic Americans? Would we say they are representative of the influence of Islam? Or would we see the disparity between their actions and the actions of Middle Eastern Muslims as evidence of the good of American ideas of secularism and reason? Christians behave as they do in Western society more because of Enlightenment thinkers than Christianity itself.

Exactly. And i dont think it's a coincidence that both Islam and Christianity have their most violent, backwards and angry branches int the zones of the world where reason, secularism and separation of church and state are more feeble. Where the control of the State ceases to be perceived, misery and ignorance are exploited by the main religions in order to have control of people. Even if that means using prejudice, hatred and mysoginy as tools to keep the hierarchy aligned.

I'm not saying that atheism should be forced on people. I'm saying that crimes backed by religion, on any level or degreee of gravity should be treated the same. Doiesnt matter what religion is concerned in 'em.

And i think society is being a little biased on that, lately.

Damn right. The biggest atrocities of the 20th Century were perpetrated by religious nuts like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin, and Pol Pot.

The fact that people who commited atrocities without religion doesnt make religion innocent. Those fellas commited their crimes using politics and usually idealistic fervor as a tool. Which are both a form of fundamentalist religion, if you approach them by bare bones.

You're dumping two completely different arguments together.

You guys just need some Jesus in your lives.