I was reading the L.A. Times today, as I do nearly every day, when I found a remarkable connection between several stories. First of all, the Times has been running A LOT of breaking stories about catholic priests and the fact that the church has not only known that they rape and molest children, but that the church has been helping the priests by paying hush-money and moving the priests from one parish to the next to hide the perversion and keep the molesters with a fresh supply of nubile, young boys. But then, on page A5, there was a story about the fact that Afghanistan's harsh "Taliban" regime has caused an increase in homosexuality among men. Here is the quote that nearly floored me....
It might seem odd to a Westerner that such a sexually repressive society is marked by heightened homosexual activity. But Justin Richardson, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, says such thinking is backward -- it is precisely the extreme restrictions on sexual relations with women that lead to greater prevalence of the behavior.
Wow! There you are, someone finally came out and said what I've suspected for some time now. Humans (men and women) are sexual creatures. If you deny them access to members of the opposite sex, they'll make do with members of their OWN SEX. Of course, we've known about this behavior in prison for many years. But in prison, there is no secret status associated with the practice.
In the Taliban, as in the priesthood, open homosexuality (even between consenting adults) is supposedly forbidden. The way around the inconsistency enforced prohibition is to take a child as your victim. Children are easier to coerce, easier to physically control and it's easier for the molester to get away with it. They tell the child that it was "their fault" or that god doesn't want them to tell. Or even, that the child will be punished too if anyone finds out, so they better keep quiet.
What can we learn from this? Should we force the catholics to end their rules against nuns and priests taking a spouse (as we have forced Afghani's to allow women to come out of their virtual prisons)? Probably not. It's standard procedure to teach the "natives" better whenever we "liberate" them. That works great overseas. Just look at Japan after Mac gave women equal rights! But, here in the homeland, we have to tread more lightly with our religious fanatics. If they want to flirt with behavior that is proven to result in homosexuality, well, that's their right under our Constitution. Of course, as soon as they start raping children their religious freedom must be restrained and the offenders denied their young victims.
What's more, I think that the priests should be placed in another institution. One in which they can continue to follow their religious beliefs while still having as much homosexual intercourse as they can handle. Yup, put the molesters in PRISON! They may end-up "catching" more than "pitching" but then, turnabout is fair play...
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