on 22/6/02 2:18 am, Robert Seeberger at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chad Cooper" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Friday, June 21, 2002 11:35 AM
> Subject: RE: humour etc
>
>
>>> OK....here we go........this is where I tell things one
>>> normally doesnt talk
>>> about in a public forum.
>>>
>>> I was raised in the Catholic church and went to a Catholic school for
>>> several years.
>>> When I was 7 or 8 a new priest came to our parish. One day he
>>> stopped a
>>> group of us between classes. He sat me down on his knee and
>>> put his arm
>>> around me while he told everyone some story or another. Right
>>> in front of
>>> everyone he had his hand on my crotch, but I dont know if
>>> anyone noticed he
>>> was fondling me. What no one else could see was that I could feel his
>>> (enormous to my young mind) boner throbbing against my hip.
>>>
>>> Even though I was pretty naiive at that age I knew that this
>>> was wierd and I
>>> felt very uncomfortable. This went on 5 or 10 minutes and
>>> then he sent us
>>> back to our class. Being the naiive child I was and possessing no
>>> understanding of what had occured, I promptly forgot about
>>> the incident.
>>
>>
>> Let me add my own twist on this. I was molested as well, although not by a
>> priest - but by a typical pedophile. My thoughts at the time (11 years
> old)
>> being raised in a strong religious family was that I could not let anyone
>> know that it had happened, because I had been taught that is was the next
>> biggest sin next to murder. I hid it, quite well for over a decade. For
> many
>> years I felt strongly that I was going to hell. Since I had 'consented' to
>> the acts (for months), this made me just as sinful as the pedophile. I
> lived
>> a double life, where peers, and religious leaders put trust in me in
>> important positions, meanwhile knowing that I had committed this terrible
>> sin. Every thing I did for the church only made the thought worse. Talk
>> about a dicotomy. Having been taught as well, that when people die, they
> can
>> then know your history. I was terrified as I spoke to my grandfather for
> the
>> last time as he was dying of cancer, that as I lied to him about how much
> I
>> loved the church, that in weeks, if not days, he would know of the sin I
> had
>> committed.
>>
>> Do I really need to describe the real crime here?
>
> No you dont. And I can only imagine how that would make you feel with the
> current controversy.
>
> I'm curious as to how you have dealt with this as an adult.
>
>>
>> Nerd going to Hell (now you know why)
>>
> I doubt it. Hell is for *bad* people.
Someone who believes the pernicious nonsense of religion is capable of *any*
evil act.
This follows from basic logic. If you insert a false axiom into a system
("There is a God" for example) you can then prove *anything at all* to be
true, and thereby justify any act.
--
William T Goodall
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
