Survey on Priests Involved in Sexual Harrassment Cases

arrha · Post by **arrha** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:09 am

** this should be a poll topic, unfortunately, I don't know how to add many questions so here: (this survey is made for a senior's thesis on apostasy as a result of sexual scandals committed by Roman Catholic Priests!)

OBJECTIVES OF THE SURVEY: To find out Former Catholics’ perception on Roman Catholic priests who are involved in sexual acts and the reason why they left the Church.

Name:
Age:
Current Religion:
Location/Country:
Occupation:

1. What is your religion now?
a. protestant
b. born-again Christian
c. Baptist
d. Others:_______ (please specify)
2. How long have you been a Catholic before you converted?
a. 10-20 years
b. 21-30 years
c. 31-40 years
d. 41-50 years or more…
3. What is your perception about Roman Catholic priests before you broke away with Catholicism?
a. They are good examples/role models for all Christians.
b. They are merely people who are consecrated to God through rituals.
c. They are hypocrites & pretenders who try to act reserved and good in front of people.
d. They are like me, I see them as an equal.
4. What is your perception about Roman Catholic priests after you heard that one of them had been accused of sexual harassment?
a. I think it was just a mistake, some false accusations made by whoever wants to ruin their names.
b. So I was right, they are hypocrites!
c. Nothing really changed, I see them as ordinary males who have their own desire of the flesh (like any other normal person)
d. Others: _______________________________________ (please explain)
5. What do you think of Roman Catholic Priests involved in sexual scandals?
a. Disgusted! They are supposedly some good role model for the people!
b. Pitiful! They are involved in a crime they did not commit.
c. Doubtful! No way, did they really commit those things?
d. Steadfast to the Faith! They didn’t do it!!!
6. What is the reason why you transferred to another religion?
a. The other religion points outs teachings which are more agreeable and sensible than that of the Roman Catholic’s teachings.
b. I had lost my faith in any of their teachings because of the way the religious leaders act opposed to their own doctrines.
c. The other religion offered me a better way of obtaining salvation.
d. Others: ___________________________________________ (please explain)
* Thank you for participating in our survey! We truly value your cooperation!!! Have a nice day!

Post by **otseng** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 7:17 am

Since this topic is not a debate topic, but a survey for assisting in research, I have moved this topic to the Random Ramblings subforum.

fidelis · Post by **fidelis** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 12:10 pm

can I just make a point?

Statistics show that a married man is MORE likely to abuse a child than a Catholic priest

that is all

Nyril · Post by **Nyril** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 1:33 pm

can I just make a point?

Statistics show that a married man is MORE likely to abuse a child than a Catholic priest

Counter Point:

Statistics are less useful in this instance because the abuse was kept quiet for 30 years after it happened, and then only a few people have come forward and claimed to have been abused. It is likely that there are more people out there who have been abused who have yet to report it (at the very least, one more person), so the numbers could be low.

Also, how high is the representation? If 5000 men out of the entire population of men (140 million or so?) abuse children, the rate is low. If only 5 priests have abused children, you can claim that the number is low, but if you only have 5000 priests, the rate is insane against the general population.

fidelis · Post by **fidelis** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 5:05 pm

The numbers were done according to the ratio of priests and married men. Also your point about how many abuse victims have not come forward, the same could be said for those abused by their fathers

DanMRaymond · Post by **DanMRaymond** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:33 pm

Name: Dan Raymond
Age: 19
Current Religion: None
Location/Country: New York/Boston, USA
Occupation: Student, Musician

1. What is your religion now?
None
2. How long have you been a Catholic before you converted?
a. 13 years
3. What is your perception about Roman Catholic priests before you broke away with Catholicism?
c. They are hypocrites & pretenders who try to act reserved and good in front of people.
4. What is your perception about Roman Catholic priests after you heard that one of them had been accused of sexual harassment?
d. Others: It didn't really surprise me at all. Corruption isn't so surprising, its the 21st century!
5. What do you think of Roman Catholic Priests involved in sexual scandals?
a. Disgusted! They are supposedly some good role model for the people!
6. What is the reason why you transferred to another religion?
d. Others: I realized that my prayers weren't being answered, and the whole thing kind of seemed ridiculous. Oh yea, the amazing amount of contradictions in the bible didn't help either.

DanMRaymond · Post by **DanMRaymond** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 1:45 pm

Also, just because you have statistical proof that its more likely that a married man will abuse his child, that doesn't make the situation in the catholic church right. It doesn't even have anything to do with it. Thats a useless statistic

fidelis · Post by **fidelis** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 7:54 am

Thats a useless statistic

no it isn't. i was pointing out that people are making such a big deal over priests who abuse children, yet when a father abuses his daughter, little is said.

No statistics are useless by the way, someone can find use from any statistic. Yours is a very childish arguement. You can't just pretend a statistic is usless and ignore it simply because you have no better arguement against it.

Nyril · Post by **Nyril** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 3:55 pm

No statistics are useless by the way, someone can find use from any statistic. Yours is a very childish arguement. You can't just pretend a statistic is usless and ignore it simply because you have no better arguement against it.

First and foremost, almost anyone can find a way to make statistics work to their advantage. You would be amazed at the number of scenarios in which this works, but we can play this game. If I were to narrow the sample population of my statistic to a church in which boys were abused, I could probably say we had 3 priests, and 200 men, and 5 children abused by each group. In this scenario, priests prove to be the more dangerous of the lot.

Secondly, and more importantly, you haven't actually given me any numbers or sources to work with here. All I've got is you saying that it is more likely to have a child abused by men then priests, and I have no idea where you got that idea and what you're using to support it, and then you call me childish because I don't bow to unreferenced statistics in an argument.

fidelis · Post by **fidelis** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 4:25 pm

ok, if you read your first apragraph again, you will find that your arguement is illogical.

Let me throw out some statistics for you:

There were 236,000 people in jail for sexual offenses in 2000 (38 of them were Catholic priests). The largest group offenders are relatives of the children.

Mathematically, more than 99.5 percent of the priesthood remains untainted by this scandal.