The writing which took me on this journey to receive the above communication from my 22nd century child follows.
Which is the real terrorism?
Modern terrorism is sometimes said to have started with September 11.
SinceSept 11 more Australians (American or Canadian children) have died as aresult of being sexually abused than have been killed by all forms ofterrorism.
Since Sept 11 more Australian (American or Canadianchildren) children have been assaulted into silence through beingsexually abused than have been killed by all forms of terrorism.
SinceSept 11 more Australian (Americans or Canadians) have had their rightto justice denied through statute of limitations laws than have beenkilled by all forms of terrorism.
Since Sept 11 more words andargument have been expressed in regards the sexual abuse of Children byCatholic priests than ever before in history. Since Sept 11 more peoplehave been identified and have reported having been sexually abused byCatholic priests than ever before in history.
Since Sept 11 inthe United States alone more than $4 billion has been expended by theCatholic Church in either defending sexual abusers or paying for thecrimes of sexual abusive priests.
It took the Catholic Church500 years to acknowledge that the world is round. Perhaps a couple ofhundred years of acting with ignorance, then a hundred years or soacting in absolute defiance of the facts, more than a hundred years orso followed before it was able to publicly acknowledge the facts. Now Iam only talking about the earth being round - an incredibly safe topic.Yes it is true that the Church with its belief believed it wasjustified to punish and kill those who disagreed with it during itstime of ignorance or blindness.
It took a single life-time (infact considerably less) for the leader of the Catholic Church toacknowledge that the sexual abuse of children by some of its priestscould have been handled better. The sexual abuse of our children is avery different topic that the issue of the shape of a planet. TheChurch was successfully able to argue for hundreds of years that thiswas not so. Generations of Church leaders, for hundreds of years thebest skilled and educated people on our planet simply had it wrong buthad the connections and power to enforce that error onto the entirepopulation of the planet at the time - Catholic or not Catholic theEarth was flat - that was upheld for generations, it became argumentsfor philosophers, governments educators and throughout the entirecivilization. The entire population of the sphere shaped planet we callEarth was bound to the belief of the Catholic Church and who of us cancount the lives which were harmed through those individuals at the timehad an understanding that differed with that of the Church. They infact had a different opinion and were mercilessly crushed simply forhaving it. For having a different opinion, one that throughout theentire period was in line with the facts - the truth of the matter. Anendless stream of victims was created throughout this period simplybecause people chose to question the Catholic Church. Just like todaywhen people are streamline crushed because of their knowledge andunderstanding of the cause and effects of sexual abuse do not fitinline with the current thinking in the Catholic Church. Just like inthe time of Galileo who was forced by the Church to recant his owntruth victims today are silenced and forced to recant their own truth,just like in the times of Galileo and other times in our history theChurch like it was then was able to use its high level governmentconnection, its high level business connections while at the same timeit sooled its parishioners to simply keep up the good name of thechurch whilst unspeakable crimes were committed against those whosimply had the unfortunate experience of knowing the truth. While thisstate existed for the planet the entire field of science and all thatit could have produced was delayed for the entire global population -the course of history was changed for the worse and countless crimesagainst millions of innocent people were committed by the followers ofthe Church
The inquisition of religion basedthinking over the facts of the planet are still being argued despitethe facts the best our scientific world can show.
Now theyargued over the shape for 500 years and eventually had to admit thatthey had got it wrong. Galileo simply being one of the first to feelthe wrath of a church which felt it had been wronged. That admissioncame many many years after it was universally known. So universallyknown in fact that it was the source of a great deal of social derisionand jokes in with the same universality of truth found in the globalspread of the jokes in regards the sexual abuse of children by Catholicpriests is found today. Undeterred by that small mis-judgement, amis-understanding and just as in those times it said it was terriblysorry but this is the way of the Lord. Undeterred by the outcry and thepain inflicted on all about them they simply continued "in the way ofthe Lord" and continued that for generations. It was only through theeventual deaths of those in positions of power that gradually theChurch came to a position whereby it was able to admit this oversight.No mention of the harm caused to humanity through the enforcement of anentirely irrational belief and they simply went on and continue todayto go on with the work of the Lord - rightly or wrongly.
Usingthe words of Cardinell Pell by saying "hypothetically theoreticallyspeaking" they are mumbling across the planet over the age of it aswell as how it and us came into being. Now if it is going to take agroup of Bishops who with all the fervor and all the righteousness thatcomes with having God on your side 500 hundred years to stop urgingtheir followers to "protect the good name of the Church" "in thesetroubled times". These truly are troubled times as we all know. This,just like in the time of Gallileo can be taken to any length. It can beapplied at any level of Government or society and wherever and wheneverit is applied before the facts it must, just as in Galilleos timeenforce a state of social dysfunction (we have no concept of how anentire population can be effected when such a degree of socialmanipulation can be and is applied - the best example we have is ourvery own back-yard - if this thinking is applied to any understandingwhich is in conflict with the hierarchy of the church regardless of thefacts, regardless of the teaching of God himself will be crushed by thefront-line trooper who only has to in his everyday life keep up thegood name of the church in these troubled times and they will havesuccessfully committed the worst possible terror crime humanity mayever experience.) and turmoil causing the loss of many innocent lives
Whenthe men in power are men who have never experienced an openrelationship with a member of the opposite sex it is truly difficultand even ill-logical to have men with no actual experience apply theGod is right principal first and then put down their views and opinionson how a healthy sexual relationship should be conducted for those whowish to follow its teaching - resistence is simply not permitted,knowledge and facts can simply be denied or ignored and the harder theyare pushed against the more they implore their followers to keep up thegood name of the catholic church in these troubled times [to hell(literally) with any who stand in their way or disagree with them].When this type of process is embedded into the thinking of populationsnew individuals no matter how they are introduced will simplyunderstand that this is the way it is and that the only thing you cando to make things better or right is to uphold the good name of thechurch regardless of the facts, regardless of the hundreds of thousandsand the millions who may be efffected.
Now how do these menget their instructions or thoughts - God does not come down and whisperin their ear or does he? They like ordinary men think about it in thevery same way each and everyone of us does, they just like you and Iform an opinion. They just like you and I are able to make a mistake -this is particularly so if your mind is elsewhere and focused on othermysteries and miracles of life. No experience is simply not an issue -yet with the ability to sway an entire planets direction and theability to affect its health and the health of its population theChurch will apply its conclusion with all at its disposal - the fact ofits being right for society or not is not a matter of concern to itonce it has decreed - it simply goes about the task of enforcing itsposition or belief until the planet accedes. Just like Galileounderstanding of the shape of the planet was suppressed in its time sothe knowledge and the subsequent understanding the our society needs inorder to repair itself from the harm of sexual abuse is denied to thisour current society and we are left with the prospect that Governmentswill not act on the knowledge, information and understanding of theissue (sometimes it is sabotaged by some well meaning good catholic orgood Christian protecting the good name of the church. A law abidingfine individual with a desire and want to help society has simply beenunthinkingly manipulated or deceived through whatever means intothinking that his act of courage is in fact an act against the good ofhumanity and it is simply done through the protection of the good nameof the catholic church.
When the good of humanity can bepermitted to come before the good name of the church genuinely goodthings can come to communities and Nations. This will simply not causethe world to collapse despite the all out denial and all out attemptsby the leaders of the church to have it otherwise. In fact it willpermit the entire society to move forward and to logically address theissues surrounding the sexual abuse of children, it will permit theissue unlike it is today to be openly discussed and to be effectivelyand humanely addressed in the light of the knowledge and experience ofthose who like Galileo were to find themselves in conflict with thechurch and unable to have the issue addressed even in the broadercommunity and at Government level because the facts show the Church tobe in error in regards the sexual abuse of children and it unthinkinglybelieves that all the pressure being applied to it is in regards theirbelief in God - it simply is not the case. The issue attempting to beaddressed globally is the sexual abuse of children no matter theirreligion, their color, their belief. Whilst the Church clings to thisnotion then all attempts to bring the reality of a situation to theirattention must fail as it must firstly be filtered by the need toprotect the good name of the church - what is left at the end of thatprocess is what we have today. 2.7 million of us are survivors ofsexual abuse. No count is made of how many of us have died as a result.No count is made of how many of us turn to drugs as ameans of dealingwith the socially accepted, ill-logical and harmful non-application ofscientific research in the area of the sexual abuse
of children.Any scientifically based fact, knowledge or understanding can beattacked and effectively crushed for generations with this method. Onethat is totally unplanned and in effect permits a system wherebyignorance is enforced onto a society unthinkingly and unknowingly bymen who have an unmovable belief in God and believe that they have notonly the right, they have a duty and an obligation to do so and thatthat right and obligation extends to promoting their system onto allwho exist on the planet.
The right to act on behalf of God cansimply and easily be denied to women in a society for generations whenany attempt to raise matters such as equality in the ability torepresent and preach the word of God through the use of the power ofgood Catholics protecting the good name of the Church. In this one areait must act like a disease from within and it must re-consume itselfmany times, through many generations before there is enough lesseningof the stranglehold on the good name of the church to where it canpermit such a humanly decent outcome. Women must wait and maintain thestruggle for generations before they will be considered to be eligiblefor equality. They may have to wait generations more before they arepermitted real equality. The lives of many many women will be crushedand shattered and will litter the path of history before that comesabout. The lives of the hundreds and thousands of children sexuallyabused by the Church will need to battle for generations beyond that toget their legitimate cases heard - then perhaps generations more beforethey are afforded compassion and real justice.
Now it seemsunreasonable to have to consider that the lives of millions of innocentchildren will be shattered and destroyed until the process is broughtto a halt. It seems even more ill-logical and unreasonable to simplyaccept that.
By the time the Catholic Church comes tounderstand the sexual abuse crisis in its midst and the need forchange; before it comes to accept the facts we should be living in asociety where if our population remained precisely as it is today weshould have a population where between 50 and 75% of us will besurvivors of sexual abuse.
So convoluted has the situationbecome that we have genuine people burning themselves out working forthe good of humanity and at the same time destroying the good ofhumanity in a futile attempt to protect the good name of the churchwhich because of its unreasoned misuse of the power given to it as therepresentatives of God is in fact the cause of its own problems. Itsimply cannot have it both ways or we as a society will and do pay aterrible price for this and for coming generations until the Churchacknowledges that it has it wrong and that it is ill-logical andunreasonable to ask its parishioners to protect its good name ratherthan to protect the real resource of a society our children.
Littledoes it matter to Bishops ensconced in their residences insulated andembattled whilst at the same time protected by a legion of goodobedient followers. Followers who have yet to rationalise their owncommandment of honour thy father and thy mother. In the same senselessway the good name and the teachings of the Church are invisibly andrelentlessly enforced onto a society through legislative lobbying,legal processes and the social terrorism deployed by the bishops touphold such tenets. Most of us believe that honour and respect arethings we give when we experience kind and appropriate treatment. Acommandment cannot bring that successfully and universally. It isunreasonable to consider that the Church will fight and it will use allthat is within its power to uphold this commandment - no matter thecost to society or humanity. It must, it simply must else there is noreason for their existence. All manner of slaughter and psychologicalharm are pushed aside to protect this standard. Millions of goodCatholics protecting the good name of the church will act in whatevercapacity they can to do that. They believe it is their God given rightto do so.
To obediently follow the 4th commandment is to askand to expect everyday parishioners to act blindly and unthinkinglydespite the facts. The Church is unwilling to permit flexibility and topublicly enshrine that flexibility into its commandments. It isprepared to call upon its followers to uphold it good name once againnot based on the facts of history but based on an unmovablecommandment. A commandment which must immediately fall in the face ofthe reality of the existence of such people as Adolph Hilter, Idi Amin,Osama Bin Laden, the butcher of Baghdad, Robert Mugabe and countlessmillions more parents who fail in some way in society. Each where theyhave children must demand the respect of their children and each childin turn must honour their father and their mother. This is simplypreposterous in the cases of sexual abusers, murderers, despots andothers who quite simply do exist and do commit crimes such as these andto think and act otherwise is seen as being in denial of the facts. Thefourth commandment as it stands and as it is implemented in theconcrete way it is does become harmful on a global scale to allsocieties under its rule. It is a wonderful ideal, however it is anirrational belief to expect followers to carry it out in allcircumstances. It is even more dangerous when good catholics areentreatied to uphold the good name of the church whenever a digressionon the commandment, the belief or the potential harm which can comefrom it is crushed through the need to uphold the good name of thechurch. It is is such flawed thinking which enables such men today torise to power and in their own way will also use all that is withintheir power to uphold their own good name no matter how many of us itkills or maims.
The good name of the church needs to be put onhold for a while and the good name of humanity and the benefit ofmankind and the protection of children needs to replace it untilsociety can take a breath and repair some of the ills brought about bythis blind obedience.
Healing, real healing for an entiresociety can be whisked away in a moment when men who have no ability tounderstand, men with no ability to rationalise the facts when left in aposition of such power as a bishop and they have the might broughtabout by just one action from its arsenal of weaponry can and in factdo dictate the path a society takes when it incorrectly entreats itsfollowers to protect its good name. The very act of protecting the goodname in fact becomes the enforcement and the implementation into oursocial systems a state which is in denial of the facts - this task willnot be completed until the state and the entire world population is inharmony with the way the current population of Catholic bishops thinkon the individual topic - a state which will never exists - a statewhich must function in some sort of self mutilation mode forever oruntil either the world concedes defeat or the Bishops catch up withreality.
It is true that the Church with its belief believes itis justified to crush and suppress those who disagree with it, this isso even during its times of ignorance or blindness.
It is truethat the Church must feel embattled. it simply gets it wrong when itattempts to uphold a state, a belief or a commandment which is indefiance of the facts in the understanding of its Bishops.
TheChurch's' Bishops expend those billions of dollars and entreaty itsfollowers to uphold its good name in regards the sexual abuse ofchildren by some of its clergy. That the issue of the sexual abuse ofchildren is inherently wrong in our society is not of concern to theBishops, the good name of the church however is and parishioners areencouraged on a daily basis to protect it. This simply does not permitan opportunity for an examination of the facts. The Church protects andkeeps secret the facts and successfully expends millions of dollars inlegal cases to enforce that. This suppression and crushing of allopposition to their stance is in their eyes necessary as they see thebringers and presenters of the facts as enemies of the church, aspeople who are attempting to bring down the good name of the church. Itis for this very reason why so many of those who have been sexuallyabused by priests within the church are persona non grata as theacknowledgment of the facts must in their eyes diminish the good nameof the church and must be fought against at all cost. That it does thisis evidenced by the facts. Facts which the Catholic church believesimplicitly that it has the right to do so and in fact it does entreatyits followers to protect the good name of the church despite the facts.When parishioners around the globe stop protecting the good name of thechurch it will allow them to act appropriately - even at times whenthey are in conflict with the views of some bishops.
The factssurrounding the sexual abuse of children by religious can not beacknowledged and understood whilst bishops and parishioners falselybelieve that the knowledge and subsequent understanding that does comefrom an examination of the facts must be suppressed and withheldthrough the abuse of the power to be able to entreat parishioners andfollowers to blindly and obediently protect the good name of the church- a good name which becomes even more sullied day by day by this veryaction.
The Catholic Church is a victim of its own power - it isboth the cause and the denier of justice for victims of clergy abuseand it is simply incapable of extracting itself from that position. Oursociety is destined to remain with the growing fact that many morechildren will be sexually abused for generations to come by not onlyCatholic priests gone wrong but the entire society must endure forthose many more generations whilst the catholic church (in fact it isonly some bishops and priests) works out that sexual abuse of childrenby some of its clergy is wrong, it damages individuals and society inthe most harmful of ways and that it must morally and socially adjustaccordingly and that their current actions are and are seen as the mostirrational and socially harmful of actions when they insist onpopulations of followers to uphold their good name while they try tofind a way to understand where they got it wrong - something thatessentially is common sense to all of us.
Society for the nexthundred years or more will suffer from this one issue until Governmentsintervene on behalf of the children of their citizens and legally forcethe facts into the open.
Governments which fail to act despitethe public acknowledgment, the global understanding and the facts whichare available will also feel the need in turn to protect their own goodname - fortunately they can be dragged regardless of their kicking andscreaming, regardless of their promises of money, wealth and economyfrom power at the next election and their spin doctors and leaders willwrite memoirs to explain why that were right or wherever else they mayhave been wrong - mostly they will talk of International treaties andmoney, they talk of economies and jobs, they talk of taxes and tasks,yet few of them can genuinely talk of the effects let alone the causesof the sexual abuse of children and of the harm it does to a societywhen in the face of the facts it too acts as if in a similar state ofdenial to that of our religious leaders the bishops.
If everthere was a more genuine reason for an entire population to rise upagainst their own elected officials (to demand immediate action or toremove them from office and power) than the widespread sexual abuse ofthe children of the population then it could only be the involvement ofthe population in an unjustified war - such is the harm to individualsand to society when Governments do not act unilaterally to control,regulate or manage those aspects of our society even if they happen tobe a church or religion which has not yet comes to terms with therealities that the facts present.
Which is the real terrorism?The real terrorism is the failure of both church and state to addressthe problem of the sexual abuse of children no matter who it isperpetrated by. The real terrorism we will face in the coming centurywill simply be the protection of a good name (state and/or church)despite the facts with the ultimate power and influence these bodieshave available, power which both can and do muster in the name of theircause no matter how blind they may be. This is the terrorism the peopleof the 21st century do face and few of our leaders appear to havesufficient understanding to be up to the task of interveningappropriately.
Thanks to the free availability and access tothe facts provided through things such as the Internet many 12 and 14years old understand this and many see it for what it is. How doGovernments and churches respond to the fact that their populations andfollowers are better educated and informed with a better understandingat times than those in the positions of power and authority. Will theydo as China has attempted by restricting and crushing access to thisknowledge, will they deploy all that is available to them to crush anddepress not only their young children they will have to extend that tothe current crop of teens as well as the growing numbers in our societywhich understands that no action simply permits the continuation ofthese abuses. How will they treat their populations and followers whospeak out - churches and state which are prepared to use the power andforces available to them to crush this dissension are simplymaneuvering themselves into the position of needing to annihilate,crush or destroy their very own off-spring, population or followers.
Itdoes seem that no amount of facts and logic are able to be presentedwhich will prompt either church or state to act upon those facts andlogic.
From the everyday persons perspective there comes anunderstanding that the system has evolved to keep the reality of thesefacts from the very people who are in a position to be able to effectthe changes needed.
The harder both church and state work tokeep the lid on this issue the harder the population will fight them.Unless government and church address and acknowledge the facts it willincreasingly become a war of knowledge and understanding against denialand sheer bloody mindedness.
The sexual abuse experienced by achild is something we all fear and react to. When it is reacted to byPremiers and Prime Ministers as something which may sully the good nameof the church or government or is something that they personally cannotspeak of then we each individually are at risk from their need to keepthe facts repressed and the need to crush any attempt to bring thefacts to the light of day.
If this were not the case then wewould have many occasions where church or state would sit with andlisten to the evidence of harm caused and to hear of many soundexperience based solutions without feeling the need to protect a nameor belief, a misconception or lack of understanding.
Thissituation can only remain whilst there is no bishop, no Prime Ministeror politician who is well adjusted enough to be able to listen, toanalyse and to act against the sexual abuse of children. WhilstPremiers, politicians and the Prime Minister remain silent on thisissue they should perhaps reflect on the fact that history will showthem to have been ineffective and impotent in regards the most basicneeds of humanity - the protection and safety of the children of thepopulation and their right to an existence in a world which is notcaught up in protecting good names, protecting party lines, protectingfinancial expenditures or protecting anything else is seen today by ouryouth as simply their leaders, their parents, their religion as beinghell bent on protecting every possible thing, thought and conceptprovided it does not protect them, our own children. Today manychildren can and understand that it is they who have been abandoned byboth church and state simply because of some other reason - most oftenit is money and it seems to be genuine anarchy to them that their ownstate and their own religion simply cannot afford to treat them ashuman beings. Is it any wonder they feel abandoned and confused, is itany wonder they turn to drugs and alcohol and whatever other as a meansof coping. It seems o the children of today that their government andtheir churches are hell bent on and have the power to enforce the samehorrors from their own childhood on to the next generation thus makingthe pillars of society the perpetrators of a form of social terrorismwhich has been continually recycled in this way for generations.
Todays'youth and those who have a genuine interest to understand know thatthis can only be the case when our political and religious leaders areor have been unable to successfully address their own childhood issues,for if they had, they simply would not permit the cycle to continue;and they would use all that is at their disposal to do that.
Thatthat is not the case is clearly evident. What then for politicians,religious leaders, their parties and their religions in the future. Isit going to be more of the same for generations to come, a hundredperhaps 200 hundred years when the ability and understanding is herewith us know.
There is one thing that they can be assured oftoday that the future generations will look back on this time and seewhat to them will essentially be arguments about the shape and the ageof their planet and about who is to blame and what they are to blamefor - they will not see a single properly functional parent among themand they will record that as part of their own history.
Thechild of the 22nd century will have at their disposal the ability tofilter fact from fiction, reality from the unreal, myth from faith andbelief and they will write harshly of the senseless waste of humanityand a centuries long history of sexually exploiting their own childrensimply because they were unwilling or unable to face the facts and thereality of the time and that they were willing to go to war to killthose who did not agree with their beliefs which they studiously andobediently followed.
[%showcomments%]
