Catholic sex abuse survivor
From Not My God
Here in the Not My God penthouse, I focus on stories of atheists that are particularly difficult and moving for the purposes of illustration and because this obviously makes for a more interesting book. So if anyone out there thinks I cherry-pick the extremes, yes, I am, but that’s sort of the point.
I found this story on Dawkins’s Converts Corner.
“For many years I was a victim of religious child abuse without realizing and it took me a long time to be able to escape from the psychological terrorism of the Catholic church.
“Nowadays I’m an animation filmmaker and visual storyteller. Recently I started to work on a little personal project about overcoming the fear of hell. It evolved into a sweet non-religious book about tolerance and more than anything it helped me heal some scars from my childhood days.
“I thought I would keep that little project to myself but all that changed after reading ‘The God Delusion.’ The moment I read the chapter on child abuse I became determined to share the little fable to the world. The book is ‘I’m Not a Little Devil,’ part of what I hope will become a storytelling movement that explores the negative consequences that religion has on young kids. So far the response has been very positive. I wanted to thank you guys for inspiring me to put this tale out to the world and I hope you help me spread the word of it. A future world with no religion is in the hands of children. I definitely hope this book contributes to that change.
Rodrigo
www.nodevils.com”
I’m hearing a lot about how the Catholic priests “only” abuse children as often as anyone else. Whether that is true or not, and I tend to doubt this because of the vow to celibacy required, the church’s greater sin in sheltering child rapists is almost as bad as the rape itself.
Even if the priests are no more likely to abuse children than anyone else, for such a thing to happen in the realm of religion somehow makes this a much worse crime. Survivors could easily think god sanctioned this abuse, for example.
As to Hell, it’s at times like this I’m glad I was raised Jewish: no hell. No fear of hell.
Here in the Not My God penthouse, I focus on stories of atheists that are particularly difficult and moving for the purposes of illustration and because this obviously makes for a more interesting book. So if anyone out there thinks I cherry-pick the extremes, yes, I am, but that’s sort of the point.
I found this story on Dawkins’s Converts Corner.
“For many years I was a victim of religious child abuse without realizing and it took me a long time to be able to escape from the psychological terrorism of the Catholic church.
“Nowadays I’m an animation filmmaker and visual storyteller. Recently I started to work on a little personal project about overcoming the fear of hell. It evolved into a sweet non-religious book about tolerance and more than anything it helped me heal some scars from my childhood days.
“I thought I would keep that little project to myself but all that changed after reading ‘The God Delusion.’ The moment I read the chapter on child abuse I became determined to share the little fable to the world. The book is ‘I’m Not a Little Devil,’ part of what I hope will become a storytelling movement that explores the negative consequences that religion has on young kids. So far the response has been very positive. I wanted to thank you guys for inspiring me to put this tale out to the world and I hope you help me spread the word of it. A future world with no religion is in the hands of children. I definitely hope this book contributes to that change.
Rodrigo
www.nodevils.com”
I’m hearing a lot about how the Catholic priests “only” abuse children as often as anyone else. Whether that is true or not, and I tend to doubt this because of the vow to celibacy required, the church’s greater sin in sheltering child rapists is almost as bad as the rape itself.
Even if the priests are no more likely to abuse children than anyone else, for such a thing to happen in the realm of religion somehow makes this a much worse crime. Survivors could easily think god sanctioned this abuse, for example.
As to Hell, it’s at times like this I’m glad I was raised Jewish: no hell. No fear of hell.
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Comment by shawn brian judd on November 5, 2009 at 5:15pm -
I was raised a catholic,and never was abused as a child.I have never even met a person who claims to have been abused either male ,or female. The priest ,and the Nuns were all wonderful people.YES It's sad; that some have been abused by those who were not really of God. But as the Pope teaches screw them all! After all you were all born to sin! Lets's make the most of it! OMG f#ck the children! Young boys naked in the garden,just like Jesus! (NO ALL KIDDING US side) Jesus really was with a young naked boy when he was arrested in the garden. No Bull shit.
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Comment by Matthew on November 5, 2009 at 10:12pm -
Shawn where is your proof of this?
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Comment by Reggie on November 6, 2009 at 1:03am -
Shawn was that boy. :0
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Comment by Misty: Baytheist Living! on November 6, 2009 at 6:06am -
Reggie totally beat me to it.
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Comment by Shine on November 6, 2009 at 8:55am -
My aunt is a nun and my grandmother is spending her remaining years in the convent with her. I generally visit them once or twice a year. During a trip the early 2000s, in the midst of a fresh wave of abuse scandals, I remember one news story had broken out where the alleged victim had been exposed as a liar. My aunt and a few other nuns talked about the story, chastising the false accuser and bemoaning how awful it was that someone could possibly lie about a priest. Nothing was mentioned about how these false accusations were only able to arise because priests were fucking little boys in the first place.
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Comment by Sarah Trachtenberg on November 6, 2009 at 10:42am
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Sadly, false (not necessarily lying, which is, of course, worse) accusations of sexual abuse are common. Not only are these tragic to the accused, but they also hurt the cases of people who really were victimized. This happens regardless of clergy status, naturally.
Shawn, I'm not sure where you're going with all this.
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Comment by shawn brian judd on November 6, 2009 at 5:42pm
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Mark 14:51 Jesus young naked boy. look it up.
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Comment by Reggie on November 6, 2009 at 6:14pm
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I looked it up and thought, "this is the worst fan fiction I have ever read".
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