CFI’s Kevin Smith joins Ottawa Citizen Ask the Religion Expert with his first post

April 07, 2010

Please see the entire post from all the panelists at

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/ask-the-religion-experts/Religion+Experts/2753633/story.html

Kevin Smith's contribution follows:

If I believed in the Divine, I would say the continuing allegations of child abuse could be a godsend for the Catholic Church. Stories have been surfacing for years about innocent boys being sexually and physically abused by men of God, people whose role is one of guidance, trust and authority. Now is the time to cleanse the dark soul of the Catholic Church.

It seems fitting that the current Pope, nicknamed the rottweiler when he was a cardinal — a kind of Mr. Fix-It in dealing with whispers of child abuse — is now in a position to talk about this mess in an open and transparent manner. I have my doubts that will happen as the Vatican spin doctors are hard at work saving the image of the church at the expense of the victims of abuse. Benedict’s recent comments that he would not be “intimidated” by “petty gossip” suggests more of the same outdated, hardline rhetoric.

After years of cover-ups and shuffling suspected priests to other parishes with a fresh flock to abuse, the lid does seem to be off the box this time. It’s time to look inside and deal with the tragedy. Instead of praying for guidance and blaming the devil for taking up residence in the Vatican, why doesn’t the Pope face reality and establish a public inquiry into these claims. Ask why pedophilia appears to be so rampant in the Catholic Church? God’s threats about immoral behaviour have failed. There is a dire need to deal with the allegations within the laws created by humans and prosecute those that have, in the past, successfully hidden behind the cloth.

Some say that these allegations will tarnish Benedict’s papacy and he should resign. I think he should stay. The Pope has an opportunity to deal with these alleged crimes as any non-religious body would be expected to. By creating a commission, he can leave a legacy as not only God’s representative on Earth but more importantly, as a selfless man, in the spirit of the historical Jesus who tackled issues with integrity and purpose.

The next, hopefully younger, Bishop of Rome will be free to move towards modernizing the church, without the stench of scandal, by changing its antiquated views on, among other things, celibacy, condom use, homosexuality and women’s rights.

Instead of words of apology, strategically written to deflect criticism from the elite and powerful, I would remind the Pope that not even his God is above the law. He would do well to read two of my favourite quotes from the Humanist Manifesto: “No deity will save us; we must save ourselves” and “We are responsible for what we are and for what we will be.” And I would add, we are also responsible for what we have done.

— Kevin Smith is on the board of directors for the Centre for Inquiry, Canada’s premier venue for humanists, skeptics and freethinkers. CFI promotes reason, science, secularism and freedom of inquiry into every human endeavour.