Child abuse...

According to an article in today’s Guardian, children are vulnerable to sexual abuse in a variety of religious settings, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baptists, Methodists, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism and nonconformist Christian denominations. The Catholic Church and the Church of England had already been investigated - and damned - in a previous report. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has highlighted the hypocrisy of religions which purport to teach right from wrong, but fail to protect children.

Transgressive priests - and their superiors in the church hierarchy - should read their Bibles more often. Jesus said “Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:1-6). How can a man preach continence from the pulpit on Sunday morning, and then abuse a child? A true believer knows there’s no escape from divine supervision (according to Job 28:24, God “looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens”). So how is it possible for a man of the cloth to be so careless about the posthumous destination of his immortal soul, unless he knows, cynically, hypocritically, that heaven, hell - and the judgements of God himself - are the sheerest of pretences? 

Always good to wear your heart on your sleeve. Your neighbours really do need to be reminded of your beliefs every time they walk past your house. Aldbrough, yesterday...