the end to scandals of clergymen are nowhere in sight. it is not known to which group they belong. first of all they are humans like us and most of them do not deserve the respect of some naïve persons who insist on kissing their hands and seek blessings by touching their ‘robes’.
as we see, some clergymen feel happy when they humiliate their followers and ensure that they seek their blessings. however, the monks too have their points of weaknesses. they feel hungry and fall sick like us. for example it is surprising at what happened inside a monastery in egypt when a monk who had allegedly chosen to live in seclusion and dedicated himself to his faith and worship would one day kill the head monk over ideological and financial issues related to the distribution of donations.
at least over half a century ago i had heard or read every year about the involvement of catholic priests in harassment or sexual abuse of boys or even adults, and that the church officials covered their misdeeds, the latest of which involving more than a thousand boys and girls who had been sexually abused by parishioners in australia over the past 70 years.
it was reported that many complaints connected to this issue were ignored by senior officials to protect the wrong-doers and the church institution that generates money for them. in a specific case, one of the suspects was the archbishop of australia who was recently convicted and who had earlier described sexual assaults as just ‘inappropriate behavior’.
another report also condemned the archbishop of washington, cardinal donald wuerl, who was formerly the head of the diocese of pittsburgh, for his role in c o v e r i n g up abuses. many victims were reportedly d r u g g e d and deceived .some reported being beaten by family members who did not believe their stories.
reports in the us media say pennsylvania - home to more than 3 million catholics - has the largest number of investigations into cases of child sexual abuse within the church.
cardinal theodore mccarryk, the former archbishop of washington, a top leader, resigned last month amid allegations he sexually abused children and adults for decades.
earlier this year, pope francis apologized to the chilean victims for ‘serious mistakes’ he made in dealing with alleged sexual assault on children.
in china, xuecheng, the chief buddhist monk and chairman of the chinese buddhist association, was charged with sexual misconduct and was forced to resign from the chairmanship of the chinese buddhist association.
if we contemplate our situations, we shall find that we are not better than others. iraq, for example, has witnessed in recent years what has been considered the largest corruption in history, and the accused were either affiliated or supporters to religious parties.
advocates and clerics did not hesitate to falsify their academic degrees for the sake of worldly gains. let us not forget the role of the clerics in plundering the money of many countries, whether in lebanon or iran, the accusations made by former iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad.
there is no doubt that many need religion in their lives, but with the advancement of means of communication and the spread of education, the importance of the cleric is on the waning side.
we must therefore seek other sources of development and improvement of ethics outside the scope of the religious institution and away from the prying eyes of the clergymen whose strength lies in the majority of their followers to hate and discredit the other.
a colleague says, “the more space occupied by the clergymen in public life, and the expansion of their presence in forums and media, the more the nation is declining and stepping into backwardness.”