It’s a sad fact of life that almost wherever an organization exists that gives adults a chance for unmonitored access to children, pedophiles are likely to gather. It’s easy to confuse correlation with causation: “The Catholic Church has a problem with pedophiles because they don’t allow their priests to marry” is one of the more asinine theories I’ve heard. Who among you would resort to preying upon children were you forbidden by social contract to avoid intimate contact with the adults you find sexually attractive? It’s a repulsive implication, and one that should raise more questions about those who posit it than the behavior they seek to explain. No, open access to children along with a plausible justification for having it will attract pedophiles.
Avoiding a segue into the general psychological healthiness of imposed celibacy or criticism of the stated values of organization like the Boy Scouts or the Catholic Church (suffice it to say that I hold major criticisms against both) there is a problem with throwing out the baby with the bathwater when it comes to pedophilia: There are well-meaning priests and good Boy Scout leaders, men who want to help the young people entrusted to their care.… Read the rest
