08 July 2008 | 1 comment

Virtues we hate: chastity Mark Thompson

Roger Gallagher09/07/2008 12:20 AM

One interesting way that the West’s rejection of celibacy is shown in the media’s portrayal of Roman Catholic priests. Every time a sexual abuse scandal rears its head, the cry goes out “If they just allowed married priests, they wouldn’t have this problem”.

Whilst I believe that Roman Catholic priests should be allowed to marry, I believe the reasons should be those advanced by the Reformers, rather than a belief that having married priests will eliminate sexual abuse. Sadly, the history of sexual abuse within the Protestant denominations, as well as that of general crime statistics, tells us is that married men are just as likely to be pedophiles or sexual abusers as single ones.

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