Hello, I want to welcome to the nonprofits. So twenty plus years since the spotlight scandal came out, the Catholic Church is still trying to deny justice for victims, and that Trump administration is now backing this. EJ. Let's take it away.
So today we have a story that shocks no one and that speaks volumes about the Chops, given that they have so many abuse scandals and even more cover ups that we don't know about due to the insured nature of the church. Is this bill blocking a good idea? Today we'll explore it from all sides, both atheist and theist, and hopefully we won't have to convince you how horrible this truly is.
So this is going to be a very fun article everybody. I'm so excited. I love talking about childhood essay. So that being said, Stephen, I'm going to start with you, my friend. What is your kind of You know I've discussed that particular arc. Please explain.
Well, yeah, Like, the idea is that, as it stands right now, anything that is confessed to a priest within the context of a confessional that is sacred. You know, it's God's will that you cannot violate that which gives shelter to uh, you know, people who pray or people who put children at risk. And so there is a push to say, well, no, I'm sorry. If someone confesses, you know, there there the fact that they're that children are at danger, you have you have a legal obligation
to report that to the authority. And and they're they're giving leeway, they're giving latitude to these prees, saying Okay, you don't need to come to court, you don't need to make a statement or anything like that. You just need to notify the authorities. And then they'll take it from there. They'll dive in. And the church is saying, sorry,
we have special rules here. If something is confessed within the confessional, then that is sacred and the priest cannot break that sacred trust and if they do, or kicking them out. So it's just just the just not only is it placing dogma ahead of just common sense. And actually it's putting priests, the safety of priests, the well being of priest above children who are in danger. And that's and that's we shouldn't be surprised by this, right.
So, I mean, you're a Canadian, so being from our wonderful door the neighbor. Thank you for being an emotional sport Canadian. By the way, how do you feel about like the federal government actually kind of stepping in and being like, yeah, this is perfectly acceptable for us to
like support the Catholic Church rather than victims. And how does that kind of like how do you square that, you know, living outside the United States and your feelings of like the sense of justice that is definitely not happening now, like.
I I should Yeah, I'm very curious, Like this is clearly an American perspective, but because this is so much bigger than nations, this is you know, the church doctrine, which is a global institution. I don't know now, I'm really curious if it is any different here in Canada. But like, by all means no, Like this this is how, you know, systems of perpetrate predatory systems are insulated from justice and from actually caring about the children that they're
supposed to care about. Apparently all life is sacred, and yet in a situation like this, where that child's betterment is in danger, it's just ludicrous that any government would stand aside and say, well, you know what, you guys, make your own rules in this one area where our citizens are in danger, and I just it baffles, it buggles the mind.
To be fair, O, lives are sacred until well song as they're in the womb. That is very on brand for a Catholic. So I'm just kidding, just point that out as a former Catholic. Anyway, EJ, what was your kind of feelings on this article?
So I'm sure as for atheists we can all point out how disgusting this is. It's worse from a Catholic perspective. So if I, if I might go on a small tangent, I tell you. So, Let's say a child goes to abuse at the hands of a trusted adult, and that adult goes to the priests and confesses that priest cannot and does not go to the police due to fear
of excommunication, which might mean going to Hell. However, if they don't go to the police, that kid grows up and resents the church they didn't stop and act so horrible as sexual abuse when they could have, so they become an atheist or a pagan or some other community outside of Christianity that is condemned to hell. The abuse are they are remaining Catholicism. So doctrine of states, abuser goes to heaven, victim goes to hell? How they ever loving can they call that?
Just? There is no.
There's no justice in that.
So so like let's so let's say you're going to say the church and you've been taught at the back to salvation even after abusing someone. Uh, fuck you, by the way, if you do that, what does this say about salvation? If you can just go to your priests and they, you know, say, if you, you know our fathers say some Hail Marys and you your soul is eternally saved even though you're a piece of crap, you know.
And what does this say about like the church incentivizing like science and victims and not get and not letting them get their day in court, not getting them to talk about you know, civilly or on on the judiciary level, like how how justice is going to be served?
Well, it shows, I think for one, that this is an incredibly outdated system. Yeah, this might have worked, well it didn't. But this, for argumentsake might have worked two thousand years ago or about one five hundred year ago when the Catholic.
Church was formed.
But this doesn't work. Now today we know all the effects that abuse has on a person, and as I'm sure all of us can say, the effect of deconvert and how stressful that can be, all of that compounding on a victim. Because a two thousand year old church decides that it wants to protect pedophiles and abusers over the victims is insane. It not only brings into question the morality of the church, but also the morality of
the priests who are wearing the cloth. How can you call yourself a pillar of the community when the people you are protecting are actively hurting your community.
That is a good question, and I think some people need to be asked that question. EG. I like you to do that. I would love to hear your perspective. Please share, my friend.
So, first I would like to say that, in my opinion, the Catholic Church was outdated fifteen hundred years ago, just saying but besides everything that was said here by our friends, I would like to just give a sense of comparison by explaining how it is in France. So there is no law specifically protecting priests from having to disclose sexual abuse on children, but the current dress prudence allows it.
Priests who denounced such behavior are, however, legally protected. It cannot be excommunicated in France for that, although no such case has ever happened in France. On like four years ago almost a report from an independent commission estimated that two hundred and sixteen thousand people over the age of eighteen had been victims of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church in France out of a population of fifty five fifty six millions of people above the age of eighteen.
And this institution is where the rate of sexual abuse on miners is the highest outside family. So this has to be added on top of all the abuse that we are aware of and they were aware of and never reported. So if you combine all the data, that brings a lot of pain to a lot of children. Basically, and yeah, like I said, the Catholic Church was outdated fifteen hundred years ago. I don't understand how we because the thing is, this is not the institution policing itself.
It states outside the institution that have to police the institution. And this institution hasn't shown in again two thousand years that it's not willing to police itself unless it has to and it is forced to. And so it's the most criminal organization on the planet and it will be still for the case to come.
So just in France, Allan, there's two hundred and sixteen thousand mcdims estimated, so and this is not that's just France. And we know all back in the early two thousands when the spials and or scandal, there were thousands and thousands of people that have been abused within the Catholic Church. My CICD teacher when I was allegation's capital came out a large himself. So this was something that you know,
definitely infected you know, even my local community. So given that the current legal holes that are allowed to terrible human beings, do you think that they can be legitally defended? Because to me, I think that anyone that defends this type of crap deserves murder, Hornets and his people. So I would love to hear your perspectives.
And I think it's it's an outdated principle to believe that Christs have some moral superiority that gives them the ability to manipulate this information UH in a proper way, like UH priests are one of three categories of people who who cannot be forced to uh to report crap time to well sexual abuse to children. It's lawyers, doctors,
and priests. And I understand it on the other two categories, but it doesn't mean anything anymore today, especially in Europe, the priests have a very very low footprints in terms of power, in terms of representtivity, in terms of you know all this, So this needs to go. Also, I would like to add that on top of the victims that are still alive today that can be counted, as you alluded to, there are all these people who were
victims and who are not alive. Like how many children is it in the Ireland scandal with the nuns that just let baby die, babies die because they were born out of wedlock. How many three thousands or four thousands? So yeah, the number is most likely much much higher.
Like can I believe.
Let me not go ahead say things.
This is a tax funded system. Our tax money is supporting this system, and I don't want us to lose sight of the fact that this isn't just like oh, the girl guides or the boy scouts or the bowling team, our tax these are the fact that they have their charity status means that our money is supporting these systems that are not protecting its citizens. And I think we,
like we need to readdress this situation. Like I can understand that the churches and chair and the Catholic Church is possible of doing some good, but we really need to assess how much evil they're doing uh and how much we as citizens rey want our tax dollars to be supporting those organizations.
So I have opinions, but EG, I know you're chapping at the bit, so EJ, please share.
The fact that not only our tax money goes to the Catholic Church, but it's an international organization that has moved priests around to hide abusers is not only unconsionable, but I would go so far as to say that it's well well over due time for a full stripping down of the Catholic Church and an investigation like internationally into all the big players within it, because the fact that this happens at small local levels is not understandable,
but it is predictable with any institution that has a central person in power. But the fact that they are so often protected says that the problem must go all the way to the top.
Yeah, made up of white men. That's worth three billion dollars.
And numbers are declining, you know, so that's another thing that's going to go as well, I know, right, So thank you, Lucifer. Anyway, so that's okay, and let's just take a pause. Okay, about like what this article was actually saying about the Department Justice, the civil rights investigation that's going on, which announced that investigation into the law asserting that in making a fringe on First Amendment rights
of cleartory by compelling them to violate the confidentiality of confession. Now, I want to point out if you are a teacher, you are a lawyer, you are a counselor you are a psychiatrist. You if someone says that they're going to cause harm to themselves or to somebody else, or there's a report of harm to like children or minors or people vulnerable populations, you are required by law in the
United States. You are you are required to report that. Yeah, we're going to give these wonderful little special exceptions to some people that work color and and proclaim that they talked to God in a room great and magic smokes decides who's going to be the next pope. Great for them now, Sydney, Hi, given this kind of wacked use system that has been set up by the Cathel Church, how do you how do you feel about the Department of Justice talking about confidentiality in regards to child abuse.
I think it's city. I think it no no profession, on on on the planet should have the the the ability to hide sexual abuse on on on a child or on on a even an adult. I don't think
it's more justifiable. I don't think it's uh it's it's it's it's still caused by by this uh special or I would say that the religious has in our societies and it will take a lot of time before we can get rid of it and by in the same time get rid of all the exceptions and special rules they've been benefiting from in the last fifteen hundred years. But yeah, it's it's not I understand that. Yeah, no, I understand that the US is going slowly towards religious government,
almost theocracy. But there's so many issues right in the US that it's hard to say how they can get out of these issues, specifically this one.
I don't know how you can defend the indefensible. But you know, people are going to do mental gymastics and it's going to happen. It's disgusting and terrible, but we see it all the time. So like, I am the only American on this panel, all all you foreigners my prophets this week, I know you can shame me. It's fine. It's a kink anyway. So that being said, so I'm gonna turn this over to you, EJ. As a foreigner, you live overseas in a wonderful country that is not
the United States. How Like, are there similar laws that protect like the Catholic church where you rest your head?
As far as in Scotland, I don't know if there are any laws that require them to report it, mainly because in Scotland there is a big there's a lot of sectarting abuse between Catholics and Protestants, so legislating quickly becomes a very, very big issue. However, as far as I'm aware, there isn't anything that says they should mandatorily report. However, I have heard of a few cases in Scotland of them telling the authorities. However, where I live specifically has
a lot of vigilanteism, so a lot of times. There's a lot of places like that in Scotland where they don't tell the authorities, they let it be known in the community and the community source it out.
So that being said, do you think there's too much of like this in boy club of you know, it's kind of like the mop you know, everybody kind of protects each other and then if you're if you kind of squeal your rat. That's that's a vibe. I'm getting a bunch.
Of old Italians who use violence together. Way, yeah, I can see.
Yeah, yeah, that feels very it feels very mob like. So so that so that being said, Stephen, I.
It's like just a piggyback off that point there all for you. I'm so sorry, Helen. But just just to tie into that point, like this, this is like broadly applied to confessions in general, right, but in the instance like and it doesn't have to specifically be about the church protecting its own perpetrators. But in the event that a priest does have Heaven forbid something to confess to another priest, they like they're going to get an understanding ear and it's just going to all stay so insular.
So it's not even about protecting children in general. But it's so tied so deeply, like we know that, like we've said over and over again, we know that the church isn't capable of self disciplining, self regulating, and like this this whole idea of just like trust me, it's fine, Like this is how priests can protect priests and like a couple Hail Mary's and some rosaries just should not be enough, do you think.
So, So to go back to Cindy, because I know I have have some opinions, So I would love to hear any final thoughts you have on this wonderful conversation we're having.
You come back to what Steven was just saying. It's important to remember that the secret of confession is only when the individual confesses to the priests. Once the priests tells it to other people, including other priests, then it's no longer the secret of confession, and it's no longer covered by the specificity of the law. So the moment the priest tells it to someone else, even if it's a cardinal, the priest or the pope, then that persons is legally bound to tell it.
And there you go. Now I know that we have a lot of wonderful viewers that I also think that maybe we should be looking at religious structor shures about how we're talking about abuse to the most vulnerable people in the population and stuff. You want to know more about this and other wonderful things that we've got to talk about. Click on another video.