Richard Dawkins has come out in defense of "mild" pedophilia, of the sort he experienced at British public school in the 50s.
Because he has no God, he of course has no moral standard by which to judge evil. From an article at Salon.
Others have written on the trouble having no standard can bring. I will waste no more time on that. I do want to point out that here we have another example of how people are damaged and destroyed by things that we prefer not to name sin. Intellectually, Dawkins wants to be cool about this whole thing. To say that it's not a big deal, that we shouldn't judge. But how is Dawkins so familiar with "mild" pedophilia? Because he was victimized by it. Is Dawkins' public image one of peace, reasonableness, contentment, love?
No, Dawkins is famous for living his life in a rage. He is on a crusade (if you'll allow the term), but he is not fueled by devotion, love, passion, or zeal. He seems to be fueled by anger.
Anger at whom? Perhaps at the God who seems to have sponsored a people who sexually abused. There is no "mild" pedophilia here. Only the sort of abuse and slavery that can break a boy, and turn him into an angry man. We reap the whirlwind together; we tolerate sin, it does what it will do to people, and we bring judgement on ourselves.
Do not think that the moralistic crusades of men like Richard Dawkins are the only judgment to come our way for the endemic sins of slavery, prostitution, abortion, and abuse that we give a place among our people. And not only that we give place to, that we might even try to give a place to, the place to, a place of honor. Do not think, dear reader, that you will escape it. You are one of us.
___________________________________________________
Christians must humble themselves, especially the men, whose sins these are. Our tolerance and fear of sexual sin affects every corner of the society in which we are priests. Pray the Lord postpone his judgement. Pray that you will be brave to intercede for the city. "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once."
You will have to do this even though you are complicit in these sins. Even though you seduced that girl at campus ministry in college. Even though you knew your cousin was getting an abortion and you said nothing. Even though you looked at porn after you were married. Even though your sins have been greater and more unnameable than these. It is time for you to intercede, to represent, to take responsibility.
The lives of Christian men should give to and make demands of those around them. Everywhere you go your complicity in these sins and your willingness to be quiet in the face of them grant implicit permission to all the Christians and pagans around you to continue in their wicked ways.
Have a teleology of the body. Teleology is the idea of being directed toward a particular end or purpose. Away with gnosticism, gentlemen. Away with your flirtations with the idea that the little sins committed by the body don't matter. What your body is made for matters. And if you live that way, you will teach it to others.
This is the primary difficulty with Christians using birth control, including "natural" Catholic-safe methods. (I say this as one who uses birth control.) Our bodies were obviously made to make babies. The use of birth control by Christians was the first step down a path that allows young Christian couples to look people in the eye and tell them they don't want children. We act as if these are indifferent decisions, the choices of individuals only. But we were made to bear fruit, and children are some of those fruit.
A society that doesn't desire children cannot help but see children only as smaller, weaker humans. And you know what we do to the weak...
So want children. Honor children. Let others see that in your family.
And don't think only of kids when you think of a teleology of the body. Affirm the Incarnation at every step. Marry young. Have lots of sex. Make good food. Drink plenty of wine. Have many friends. Have them in your homes. Garden. Paint. Play a sport. Whatever you do (said the blogger), do not become a brain with a computer.
Be strong. The world is full of bullies. It is full of domination and enslavement. It is not full of Christian men who, having farmed and sailed and soldiered and ridden all their lives, are flush with the wise strength of those who know how to use their bodies after God's will for them.
It is very hard to have any strength if you aren't learning to be human after the image of God. To be like Jesus is not to think more holy thoughts, nor to believe the right things. Many Christian men are robust of doctrine but weak of body and terrible of social interaction. Hence the tone of many Christian bloggers and commenters. These men are like the men of the world: simply bullies. They do not know that to be strong they must...
Be kind and chivalrous. Your strength ought to demand something of those around it. That something has many manifestations, and many names. I will call it chivalry. Unlock your word-hoard and praise the good name of those you know. Defend the honor of those around you. Treat women as ladies, and children as lords. Open doors, carry heavy things, do not allow insults and gossip to be bandied about. Act as if the dignity of God's image abides in every human, and especially the weak.
At no point in this should you read in an encouragement to be nice. Nice people are terrible people. They don't take responsibility. They turn a blind eye. They allow rape and abuse. Be the sort of neighbor an enslaver is afraid of. Don't be a nice guy. Be strong, be kind, be chivalrous.
Be a prophet, priest, and king. Speak truth, intercede, fight for those whom God has given you. It's your calling. It's your responsibility.
___________________________________________________
Richard Dawkins does not believe in honor, or in honoring others. He believes in being right, that is, in being stronger. He might believe that because he was never honored.
Enslaving sexual sins are endemic because you and God's people have not done anything to bring them crashing down. And by that I don't mean joining an activist ministry, although that is a good thing, and there are plenty of dark doors that need to be kicked in. But I mean that you aren't opening doors for women. I mean that you're not honoring your wife.
The world teaches that the strong deserve honor, and that people should fight to be stronger than others for their own good. Christ teaches that the weak deserve honor. Behave that way in all aspects of your life and you will save many.
Because he has no God, he of course has no moral standard by which to judge evil. From an article at Salon.
Dawkins went on to say that one of his former school masters “pulled me on his knee and put his hand inside my shorts,” and that to condemn this “mild touching up” as sexual abuse today would somehow be unfair.
“I am very conscious that you can’t condemn people of an earlier era by the standards of ours. Just as we don’t look back at the 18th and 19th centuries and condemn people for racism in the same way as we would condemn a modern person for racism, I look back a few decades to my childhood and see things like caning, like mild pedophilia, and can’t find it in me to condemn it by the same standards as I or anyone would today,” he said.
Others have written on the trouble having no standard can bring. I will waste no more time on that. I do want to point out that here we have another example of how people are damaged and destroyed by things that we prefer not to name sin. Intellectually, Dawkins wants to be cool about this whole thing. To say that it's not a big deal, that we shouldn't judge. But how is Dawkins so familiar with "mild" pedophilia? Because he was victimized by it. Is Dawkins' public image one of peace, reasonableness, contentment, love?No, Dawkins is famous for living his life in a rage. He is on a crusade (if you'll allow the term), but he is not fueled by devotion, love, passion, or zeal. He seems to be fueled by anger.
Anger at whom? Perhaps at the God who seems to have sponsored a people who sexually abused. There is no "mild" pedophilia here. Only the sort of abuse and slavery that can break a boy, and turn him into an angry man. We reap the whirlwind together; we tolerate sin, it does what it will do to people, and we bring judgement on ourselves.
Do not think that the moralistic crusades of men like Richard Dawkins are the only judgment to come our way for the endemic sins of slavery, prostitution, abortion, and abuse that we give a place among our people. And not only that we give place to, that we might even try to give a place to, the place to, a place of honor. Do not think, dear reader, that you will escape it. You are one of us.
___________________________________________________
Christians must humble themselves, especially the men, whose sins these are. Our tolerance and fear of sexual sin affects every corner of the society in which we are priests. Pray the Lord postpone his judgement. Pray that you will be brave to intercede for the city. "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once."
You will have to do this even though you are complicit in these sins. Even though you seduced that girl at campus ministry in college. Even though you knew your cousin was getting an abortion and you said nothing. Even though you looked at porn after you were married. Even though your sins have been greater and more unnameable than these. It is time for you to intercede, to represent, to take responsibility.
The lives of Christian men should give to and make demands of those around them. Everywhere you go your complicity in these sins and your willingness to be quiet in the face of them grant implicit permission to all the Christians and pagans around you to continue in their wicked ways.
Have a teleology of the body. Teleology is the idea of being directed toward a particular end or purpose. Away with gnosticism, gentlemen. Away with your flirtations with the idea that the little sins committed by the body don't matter. What your body is made for matters. And if you live that way, you will teach it to others.
This is the primary difficulty with Christians using birth control, including "natural" Catholic-safe methods. (I say this as one who uses birth control.) Our bodies were obviously made to make babies. The use of birth control by Christians was the first step down a path that allows young Christian couples to look people in the eye and tell them they don't want children. We act as if these are indifferent decisions, the choices of individuals only. But we were made to bear fruit, and children are some of those fruit.
A society that doesn't desire children cannot help but see children only as smaller, weaker humans. And you know what we do to the weak...
So want children. Honor children. Let others see that in your family.
And don't think only of kids when you think of a teleology of the body. Affirm the Incarnation at every step. Marry young. Have lots of sex. Make good food. Drink plenty of wine. Have many friends. Have them in your homes. Garden. Paint. Play a sport. Whatever you do (said the blogger), do not become a brain with a computer.
Be strong. The world is full of bullies. It is full of domination and enslavement. It is not full of Christian men who, having farmed and sailed and soldiered and ridden all their lives, are flush with the wise strength of those who know how to use their bodies after God's will for them.
It is very hard to have any strength if you aren't learning to be human after the image of God. To be like Jesus is not to think more holy thoughts, nor to believe the right things. Many Christian men are robust of doctrine but weak of body and terrible of social interaction. Hence the tone of many Christian bloggers and commenters. These men are like the men of the world: simply bullies. They do not know that to be strong they must...
Be kind and chivalrous. Your strength ought to demand something of those around it. That something has many manifestations, and many names. I will call it chivalry. Unlock your word-hoard and praise the good name of those you know. Defend the honor of those around you. Treat women as ladies, and children as lords. Open doors, carry heavy things, do not allow insults and gossip to be bandied about. Act as if the dignity of God's image abides in every human, and especially the weak.
At no point in this should you read in an encouragement to be nice. Nice people are terrible people. They don't take responsibility. They turn a blind eye. They allow rape and abuse. Be the sort of neighbor an enslaver is afraid of. Don't be a nice guy. Be strong, be kind, be chivalrous.
Be a prophet, priest, and king. Speak truth, intercede, fight for those whom God has given you. It's your calling. It's your responsibility.
___________________________________________________
Richard Dawkins does not believe in honor, or in honoring others. He believes in being right, that is, in being stronger. He might believe that because he was never honored.
Enslaving sexual sins are endemic because you and God's people have not done anything to bring them crashing down. And by that I don't mean joining an activist ministry, although that is a good thing, and there are plenty of dark doors that need to be kicked in. But I mean that you aren't opening doors for women. I mean that you're not honoring your wife.
The world teaches that the strong deserve honor, and that people should fight to be stronger than others for their own good. Christ teaches that the weak deserve honor. Behave that way in all aspects of your life and you will save many.
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