Saying that a priest who takes sexual advantage of a child entrusted to his care "suffers from pedophilia" implies that there is something wrong with his sexual functioning, just as saying that he suffers from pernicious anemia implies that there something wrong with the functioning of his hematopoietic system. If that were the issue, it would be his problem, not ours. Our problem is that there is something wrong with him as a moral agent. We ought to focus on his immorality, and forget about his sexuality. While I agree in principle witht he article it comes up short in many respects. For example - at the very end (snipped above) he fails to deal with a critical part of the argument about paedophilia. If it can be demonstrated that a child can knowingly and willingly consent then his final statements fall on their face. The historical examples he gave of the physical and then psychological methods used in identifying and then treating homosexuals illustrate a critical mistake so often made. The issue is not whether there are any physical or psychological draw-backs to the behavior - the issues is the source of our moral conviction.
Something is wrong not because it's bad for us just as something isn't good just because it appears to be good for us. A relative moral system invariably changes with the zeitgeist of the age - even the above article ultimately makes room for the potential acceptance of paedophilia despite it's clearly conservative position.
We have embraced homosexuality so openly and so thoroughly in our culture that I see child sex as inevitable in some form or fashion our in future.
We have embraced homosexuality so openly and so thoroughly in our culture that I see child sex as inevitable in some form or fashion our in future. While I understand what your saying most people in general don't want to get into the business of how two consenting adults live their lives, sexually or otherwise. That is one reason homosexuality was able to win acceptance. It is also, to some extent, why (as I mentioned above) people aren't as mad as they should be about abortion. They don't see it and they don't rationalize an unseen&unborn as a child (just like people don't care about children starving in Africa until they see their photos).
Pedophilia is in danger of having this happen as well - out of site, out of mind, the only difference is people tend to have a soft spot when it comes to children: especially those who have kids (read - heterosexuals, creating your child in your likeness).
With the divorce rate high and people spending more and more time around young kids who are not their own they will try to rationalize sex with those kids because they desire them - rationality such as, it is not incest really and we both enjoyed it.
The breakdown of the family and rampant sexuality in our culture, homosexual or otherwise, has led us down this path of rationalizing our desires above those whom we have power and control over (children). Kids are different, and attempts to make them adults for our sexual use is both selfish and evil (IMHO). I would not blame so much the homosexual movement (alone) it is the lack of parents staying parents of their own children.
Had more to say but have to run and fix a server (and it did come up short btw as you stated)! Thanks for your comments! Sorry I got long winded but this is a touchy subject for me, for this obvious reason:
