TV's Frink said:
darth_ender said:
TV's Frink said:
I do not agree that what the church did was understandable in any way. You can't cover that up and claim to be a moral authority at the same time.
Have you ever lied to your kids about something because you thought the truth would do more harm than good?
Covering something up ultimately does more harm to a cause anyway.
If you have lied to your kids, you probably realized then that this statement is absolutely true once they discovered the truth. Yes, it ultimately does more harm than good. Covering up just kicks the can down the road. The Boy Scouts of America, an agency very devoted to the teaching of moral values, has done the same thing. I still respect the good it does in spite of covering up abuse cases.
Of course I've lied to my kids for their greater good. I can't believe you would equate the two. Care to explain what good it ultimately did the church? If you were molested by a priest who had been transferred instead of exposed, what good would you see in it?
I understand the desire to protect religion and the institutions that use religion, but don't be so blinded by loyalty. No good could have possibly come from protecting child molesters. To compare it to telling white lies to your own children is just plain ridiculous.
I don't want to start splitting up your quote, so I'll try to answer in one paragraph. First, I didn't equate the two. I drew an analogy. That is not at all equating, and in fact that is the point. It is a situation that draws on similar justification, but often the scale and nature are very different.
Second, I took the liberty to bold your statement and underline my own in the above quote. You will see that I am agreeing with you. It was wrong. Horribly wrong. But I can see why it was a difficult decision, and why they chose what they did, even though they were wrong to do so.
Third, now that you know what I was doing (drawing an analogy) and that I was agreeing with you (lying was bad in this case), you can see that I was simply making the point that sometimes people lie because they think (even if they are wrong) that protecting the lie might do less harm than exposing the truth. I hope you get it.
Now, while you're still in the mood to point out the flaws in my logic, I'd love to see a response to other people's rude statements in a thread devoted to teaching about Catholic doctrine and not bashing the whole Church based on the actions of a minority of priests. Be fair-minded and don't just criticize those who defend the Church in spite of those actions. I have criticized Republicans and Mormons for when they were wrong.
