Tuesday, September 14, 2010

New Atheists Abusing Truth

The old fashioned atheist Brendan O’Neill at Spiked has a post entitled How the New Atheists are abusing the truth. In which he asks, "Did Catholic priests really rape 10,000 children over the past 50 years, as respectable media outlets claim?" His answer, "No, they didn't."
Dare I ask why an atheist has to present this information and why the Catholic Media Office doesn't?

5 comments:

pelerin said...

Yes that is a very fair article - the writer has obviously done his homework.

Fr Ray asks why the Catholic media Office has not presented us with this information. Perhaps it is because they fear that the general public will not believe them. The public have made up their minds following all the wild exaggerations in the media.

Actually this article coming from an atheist will hopefully carry more weight as it could be seen as not coming from inside the Church. It is independant and deserves publicity.

The media in general continues its onslaught of criticism of Pope Benedict. In today's Daily Mail he is criticised for not attending a banquet as is the norm for a State Visit. This is described as 'weird.' If he were to attend one then I can just imagine what the outcry would be with probable headlines of 'Pope attends banquet while poor starve!' He just can't win!

The Mail has devoted two pages today entitled 'Paragon or Liability'. At least they are balanced against each other. One is by Johann Hari a name unknown to me until recently. The writer suggests that if 'we turn out to celebrate him we will be endorsing his crimes.' (No quotation marks around the word 'crimes')

The accompanying article by Leo McKinstry, who is converting to Catholicism, is well worth reading. I could not help noticing that this is put first which some people may think is a good thing but actually (and I may be being cynical here) this means that most people will probably retain more from the second article as it will be read after the one by Leo McKinstry.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this Father. I noticed that, in the 10 o'clock news last night on BBC 1, that, in reporting the inquiry into child qbuse in Belgium, that the recommendations of the inquiry were NOT referred to. This included a recommendation that other organisations - including religious groups - should also be investigated. This sad problem has to do with society as a whole and not just the Church. It would be good if the media could do justice to all the victims - and get the
facts right.
Fr. A.

Just a thought said...

It would be useful to know who is at the CATHOLIC Media Office and what their background is. Were they recruited from the Tablet?

Secondly, Perhaps because I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist, I wonder if they are silent because they do not care for this Pope, and what he stands for, and are happy for him to take all the flak. I don't believe that anyone could be that incompetent without good reason. Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Old atheists were abusers themselves - of both self and truth, as this idiot's remarks on the inquisition show.

+ Wolsey

shane said...

The following letter was published in the Irish Times, May 25th, 2009:

Madam, – From the age of seven (1930) to 17 (1940) I was a boarder in a Christian Brothers-run Dublin orphanage after the death of my father in 1930. My mother died in 1938, having been left in poor circumstances after the death of my father.

During the years I was a boarder I was not abused in any way by the Christian Brothers and knew of no abuse of the approximately 100 other boarders.

I was given free board and lodgings; a good education to Leaving Cert standard. Facilities were made available for all who wished to avail of them to engage in Gaelic football and hurling; handball, outdoor parallel bars; outdoor tennis during summer months; table-tennis for indoor amusement, and every effort was made to occupy us during summer holidays (for those without a home to go to) including occasional day excursions in CIÉ buses to places of interest within reasonable distance of Dublin. As anyone will tell you, looking after 100 lively boys required discipline but, in my experience, any discipline (eg slaps with a leather) was administered without excessive severity. I speak from personal experience.

The education given so generously was first class and some Brothers gave special classes in their own free time to bright children to help them sit for scholarships.

When schooldays were over, the Brothers worked might-and-main to secure employment for school leavers. They even provided a hostel in the grounds of the orphanage where low-paid ex-boarders were accommodated until they found their feet.

I will always be grateful to them for the help they gave me and my brother at an extremely difficult time, and the peace of mind they gave my mother in the last few years of her life. So please don’t tar all these fine men with the same brush. – Yours, etc,

DONAL KAVANAGH, Dublin 12.

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