From the title of this post one might assume I am talking about some seedy creep waiting to pounce on children to offer them drugs or take them away to some den of vice. That is not what I mean at all though of course they are a means of doing so.
The corruption I am writing of is that done by respectable people without so much as the bat of an eye lid.
Faith schools are one such method we use in order to corrupt our young. We do so by teaching them fantasy or ideas as TRUTH. We corrupt their ability to think for themselves. We instil in them the fear of questioning, fear of abandonment, fear of being oneself, fear of life. What is more, we know what we are doing and why we are doing it. To control. What is not so clear is that we do so in order to allay our own fears.
Involving children in religious practice or teaching is to corrupt them. In it abuse of the worst kind.(As is mutilation of boys and girls thru circumcision) Children view adults as strong and right and infallible and trustingly. We repay them by corrupting them. We know they will not question and by the time they have reached an age when they have the wherewithal to do so, the damage has been done and most do not and they go on to abuse and corrupt the next generation.
In the west we seem to have very serious problems when it comes to sexual behaviour. High teen pregnancy rates, Right rates of sexually transmitted diseases, a proliferation of pornography, of promiscuous behaviour. Why? Because we are taught that sex is wrong. Either directly or subliminally.
Since the sexual urge is natural to all human beings, we all experience it. To be taught that such urges are wrong is corruption. Certainly my religious teaching left me knowing that truly good people never had such feelings and certainly never acted upon them. Sex was a necessary evil in order to procreate but that was all. It was better not to indulge, even for that purpose. Young women only started to menstruate because they had impure thoughts. If they had not, they remained pure and did not menstruate.
To have sexual feeling toward one's own sex is a sure fire way to burn in hell for eternity. Since such feelings come about naturally and are not bidden nor are they able to be sent packing, one's only choice of thought is that one is evil. After all, one must be to have such feelings.
If one also has a family where the discussion of sex is taboo, then the teachings are compounded and it is highly likely that a lifetime is spent carrying shame and guilt over what is a naturally occurring human feeling.
I believe that one of the reasons that we victims of sexual abuse carry so much shame and guilt is precisely because of this early corruption. Not eh act of abuse on it's own but the teaching we receive from society and religion.
Such shame is likely to stick around for life due to the corruption having been so early in life. For many being able to experience a sexual life that is loving and pleasurable is beyond reach. Instead it is forever tainted by fear and shame.
This is corruption of the young and one reason why it such an evil.
Another long stretch, but hoping to be more regular
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6 comments:
I think you are correct. The attitudes about sexual experience is tainted, almost from birth, by adults who are inhibited and who treat these experiences as, somehow, "dirty" or "wrong." While I don't in any way condone sexual abuse, the victims are very often traumatized further by society's and individual responses to it. Sad, but true.
Interesting, indeed, is the fact that we are still Victorians in many respects.
Well said!!!!!
We'd all be better off if parents taught their children about sex the same way they teach them about everything else: little by little, as the child is able to understand, without charged emotions, and with the perspective that sex is a natural, normal, fun part of life, that nonetheless carries certain risks and responsibilities.
When my youngest was five, we were driving in rush hour traffic when he piped up from the back seat, "Mommy, sometimes when I have funny thoughts, my p*nis gets stiff and sticks up." After I got the car back on the road, I gave simple explanations and answered all of his questions, one by one, as he asked them. He (and my older son) ended up with a clear, honest picture of human sexuality and reproduction that wasn't overwhelming or too embarrassing, as it would have been had I avoided the question or waited to have The Big Talk until they were adolescents. I think I made it very clear that they can always come to me with questions. This also made it much easier for me to talk to them about sexual abuse and warning signs and what sort of touching or behavior is not okay.
It breaks my heart that you suffered so much as a child. It would kill me if one of my children had to go through what you did.
A breath of fresh air, colin. I'm finally finding the liberal knitters, yayyyy.
I do have some argument that all religions are corrupt. I am a Quaker. Our central premise is that 'there is that of God(dess) in everyone" and that time spent in expectant silence will bring us into contact with him/her. We have no doctrine or creed. We have "queries" that focus on leading us to examine how we express our "leadings" in our daily life. We have testimonies (peace, the Inner Light in everyone, service. Some of us are Christian, some are Buddhist, Jewish, Pagan, Agnostic. It doesn't matter.
I completely agree with you about the sex issue. My parents tried to raise us without sexual guilt, and , at least with me, succeeded quite well. When sex is a healthy natural part of life, intended to be pleasurable, etc. most porn loses its appeal. Also sexual orientation is irrelevant because what you want doesn't affect what I want, as long as you don't try to impose it on me. My daughter is a lesbian in a very happy relationship. She is still young, not yet 20, so I hope they will wait until after college to get married. I look forward to grandchildren. I think they will both make great parents. I also appreciate that they are unlikely to have an unexpected and perhaps unwelcome pregnancy. :)
Hi Margaret - thank you for posting. Yes, I have time for the quakers and you have taught me more about them in this brief response than i knew. I thought they were exclusively Xtian. I want to clear something up-I did not mean that all religion is corrupt(though some are of course) but that to teach it to children corrupts the children. Their ability to think for themselves. It is wrong to teach them our ideas as TRUTH no matter how benign.
colin - I have read your post with a great deal of interest. I made the mistake of "teaching" my children my former (Catholic) faith and now I wonder whether one can actually "teach" children faith. One can be a good example and hope they learn that way, but one can no more force another, even a child, to believe in anything. I think 'teaching' a particular religion is simply impossible. Perhaps better is to show precepts and explain one's own faith. I remember my oldest daughter asking me if I'd be mad at her if she were Jewish. That shocked me. I said, "of course not - you're my daughter and I will always love you, no matter what." She seemed genuinely surpised. That broke my heart. I think we need to be there for our kids, no matter what.
OK my two cents.
Joam
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