{"id":741,"date":"2010-12-31T15:40:50","date_gmt":"2010-12-31T15:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2010\/12\/the-popes-excuses-for-pedophilia-and-what-it-means.html"},"modified":"2010-12-31T15:40:50","modified_gmt":"2010-12-31T15:40:50","slug":"the-popes-excuses-for-pedophilia-and-what-it-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/12\/the-popes-excuses-for-pedophilia-and-what-it-means.html","title":{"rendered":"The Pope’s excuses for pedophilia and what it means"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

F. A. Hayek,<\/a> a famous but little understood economist sheds light on one of the scandals of our time.  There is a well
\ndeserved outrage<\/a> <\/span>building over the current Pope’s blaming “the 1970s<\/a>” for
\nrampant pedophilia and child molestation by Vatican employees.   <\/span> <\/span>Some of us remember that time, and the Pope’s statement is at
\nbest an attempt to distort the truth and shift blame away from the guilty.  <\/span>As we know beyond reasonable doubt
\nthese actions were at least covered up , by Bishops including the current Bishop of Rome<\/a>.  <\/span>To this we add the weasel word<\/a>s of prominent lay Catholics <\/span>who have taken it upon themselves to
\nspeak for the Church.  <\/span>To my mind
\nthat these men are moral degenerates posing as spiritual teachers goes without
\nsaying, but I want to focus on something I think is much more interesting.  <\/span><\/p>\n

The Catholic
\nChurch consists of many millions of people who are not moral degenerates.  <\/span>They way outnumber those who are.  <\/span>Many of these people, lay people,
\npriests, and nuns, engage in devoted service to others and seek to walk their
\ntalk as best they can.  <\/span>How then is
\nit that moral degenerates or those who cover for them make it to the top or near the top so often? For this pedophilia issue has gone on for decades and probably millennia.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Within a
\nspiritual context the answer to this question is important for several
\nreasons.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/font><\/font><\/font>
\nFirst, religious organizations have a long history of encouraging and even
\nparticipating in widespread violence against peaceful people.  <\/span>Off the top of my head Christians,
\nMuslims, and Hindus all come to mind, and I am sure that list is a partial
\none.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/font><\/font><\/font>
\nSecond, the current crop of aggressive atheists use these acts to attack the
\nargument that a super-human and meaningful ethical context even exists. <\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/font><\/font><\/font>
\nThird, most religions seek to make the world a better place, and figuring out
\nhow the worst get on top so often is a key to any such endeavor.<\/p>\n

Finally, as a
\npolitical scientist I have always been interested in how often the same
\nphenomena occurs in government, and indeed in large and powerful organizations
\nwhere ever they can be found.<\/p>\n

Organized Amorality<\/b><\/p>\n

I think Nobel
\nLaureate F. A. Hayek hit on the answer but did not see its full
\nimplications.  <\/span>In the chapter “Why
\nthe worst get on top” in his Road to Serfdom<\/a><\/i>, (recommended but not even remotely understood by Glenn Beck), Hayek
\ndiscussed why such monsters as Hitler and Stalin could rise to the top of
\npowerful organizations.  <\/span>He argued
\nit was a result of “collectivist” ideology and politics.  <\/span>But in fact the implications of Hayek’s
\nargument went far beyond Nazism, Communism, and similar movements. It holds for
\n<\/span>any<\/i> organization with all-
\nembracing goals for humanity, and to a more limited extent for any organization
\nat all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Modern society
\nwas so complex that any strong sense of community between all people
\npresupposes “a greater similarity of outlook and thought than exists” between
\npeople.  <\/span>If the community -race,
\nclass (or Church) – exists in some sense independently of its members then only
\nthose people who work to advance its goals can be good members.  <\/span><\/p>\n

People in all
\ntheir diversity can be united around a goal if it is sufficiently abstract,
\nsuch as the “all power to the working class,” the “German Volk,” (or the
\n“Kingdom of God”). This abstract goal “enables everyone to project their hopes
\nand dreams into what will happen once it has been achieved.”  <\/span>We have seen this recently with Obama’s
\ncampaign for president, where each of us who supported him projected our own
\nversion of “Hope and Change” into him, while he was careful to keep it all
\nvague.<\/p>\n

When we all
\nunite around vague, abstract and compelling goals, a powerful sense of unity and
\nself-sacrifice arises rooted in a superficial but  intensely felt
\nlevel of agreement. <\/p>\n

When the group
\nis finally in a position to implement this dream this unity begins to fall apart
\nas concrete disagreements about specific ends, their proper priorities, and
\nspecific means to achieve those ends all cause dissension to arise.  Different interpretations of doctrine, be it Marx or the Bible, emerge.  Different priorities arise.  The organization’s unity is threatened with schism. Addressing this<\/span> problem unleashes a fatal logic.<\/p>\n

Hayek argued
\nthat every “collectivist” system “has two central features . . . the need for a
\ncommonly accepted system of ends of the group and the all-overriding desire to
\ngive to the group the maximum of power to achieve these ends. . . .”  <\/span>While he did not mention it, his description applies to more than collectivism
\ncommunist or Nazi style.  <\/span>He
\ndescribed the basic orientation of any organization’s towards its members and
\nits goals.  <\/span>Churches, corporations,
\npolitical parties, and unions all share these two attributes. Their strength varies with the importance of organizational goals.<\/p>\n

Hayek added that
\n“To act on behalf of a group seems to free people of many of the moral
\nrestraints which control their behavior as individuals within the group.” <\/span> <\/span>War demonstrates more profoundly than any other activity, but
\nthe same attitude arises in sports, and any other group activity where we share
\na strong sense of ourselves as a group against an outside world.  <\/span>The result is that members tend to
\ntreat those outside their group as real or potential allies, real or potential
\nopponents, or as irrelevant.  <\/span>The
\nmore important the goals to the members, the more powerful this tendency
\nbecomes.  <\/span>Political utopianism,
\nwar, and religion are among the most powerful motivators for people.<\/p>\n

This is why the
\ninner logic of any instrumental organization  <\/span>denies the equality of those over whom it or its leaders have power.  These people necessarily serve as resources for attaining the organization’s goals. The only limitation
\nhere is how important the goal is for the members.  <\/span>Other points of view tend to be seen as challenges to the
\ndominant group, as sometimes they are. 
\n<\/span>Alternative views within the group tend to be seen as disloyal  regardless of the motives behind them.  <\/span><\/p>\n

The implications
\nare profound.  <\/span>Most fundamentally,
\nto the degree the organization’s goals are important to its members, they
\nsubordinate their individual conscience to those goals.  <\/span>While individual morality can make absolute or near absolute
\nprohibitions on certain kinds of behavior, the goals
\nof organizations demanding and receiving intense loyalty override these limitations.  <\/span>As Hayek put the point, “This makes collectivist morals so
\ndifferent from what we have known as morals that we find it difficult to
\ndiscover any principle in them . . . .” The basic
\nprinciple of collectivist organizations is, as Lenin observed, that “the end
\njustifies the means.”<\/p>\n

When I was
\nteaching college and these issues arose I would ask my students how many played team
\nsports.  <\/span>Most raised their
\nhands.  <\/span>I would then ask how many
\nsaw team mates cheat at some point. 
\n<\/span>Again most hands were raised. 
\n<\/span>I finally asked how many reported on the cheating.  <\/span>As I remember no hands ever went up. <\/p>\n

Their behavior
\nwas a mundane example of this process. 
\n<\/span>The cheating was easily rationalized as acceptable (the other side does
\nit) and reporting on it would weaken the team and create divisions and resentments.  <\/span>The cheating that was tolerated was kept in bounds primarily
\nby players’ commitment to the rules and to how important winning that particular
\ngame was in their lives. We are ALL caught up in this dynamic when we are
\nmembers of a group with a goal.<\/i> What keeps
\nthings under tolerable control is our willingness to subordinate our goals to
\nan over arching set of ethics and values. 
\n<\/span>The more important the goal the stronger these limits have to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Distorting the Goal<\/b><\/p>\n

Over time an
\norganization established to achieve a goal comes to identify the goal with the
\nwell being of the organization itself. 
\n<\/span>Not only is the over arching goal important, members have all kinds of
\npersonal goals that get caught up and identified with the organization’s
\nwell-being.  <\/span>This is particularly
\ntrue for people who make serving the organization a career or calling.  <\/span><\/p>\n

To the degree
\nthe well-being of the organization becomes identified with the organization’s
\ngoal, the next step in its degeneration sets in.  <\/span>The organization becomes its own reason for existence, and
\neven (always ‘temporarily’) setting aside its initial goals can be rationalized as a
\nnecessary if regrettable step.  <\/span>The
\nclassless society never comes, but the Party abides.  <\/span>The Nazis did not have such a long time in power for this to
\nhappen, but it would have.  <\/span><\/p>\n

The current
\nCatholic hierarchy’s behavior is a perfect example of this process.  <\/span>Many Catholic officials likely personally disapproved of pedophilia.  I certainly hope so. But they believed it would hurt the Church if
\nthese activities were exposed to a unsympathetic larger world.  <\/span>Because they saw the Church as doing
\nGod’s work on a fallen earth, this was a serious threat.  <\/span>Best then to handle the matter internally, and as quietly as
\npossible.  <\/span>That its weakest members
\nwere sacrificed to the Church’s well-being was a regrettable necessity.<\/p>\n

It is at this
\npoint that a common human virtue, loyalty, becomes a human vice.  <\/span>Insofar as people strongly identify with a group’s
\ngoals,  <\/span>there can be no recognition
\nof other people’s intrinsic value when such recognition threatens the
\norganization. Collectivism then must<\/i>
\nelevate power over ethics because ethics in human society primarily applies to
\nindividuals.  <\/span>Ethical individuals
\nautomatically limit the group’s ability to act.  <\/span>Since ethics is the limitation of power, this means that
\ncollectivist groups cannot truly be ethical.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Hayek’s view,
\na collectivist political system would not attract men and women whom we would
\nregard as good.  <\/span>Good people would
\nbe repelled by it.  <\/span>I think here he
\nis off the mark.  <\/span>Once they believe
\na noble goal is truly good, many people will subordinate themselves to it.  <\/span>This in itself is not
\ncollectivistic.  <\/span>But when they see
\na particular group<\/i> as essential to the
\nattainment of that goal, and so come to equate the good of the group with the
\ngoal that initially animated them, they are corrupted.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>The moral energy that enabled them to
\ndevote their life to a noble goal is turned to devoting their life to the
\nservice of the power of a group that identifies with the goal.  <\/span>They may have started out good, but
\nthey end up doing bad.  <\/span>Here, I
\nbelieve, is the key to the question of why so many self-sacrificing communists
\nturned into brutal rulers. It is why so many good Catholics excuse inexcusable
\nconduct by their hierarchy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why the Worst Get on Top<\/b><\/p>\n

Hayek also
\ncontended that collectivist groups will attract those who seek power and
\nauthority over others.  <\/span>A group
\noriented towards power will be most effectively led by those who are themselves
\ndevoted to power. Further, such people will be willing to do more in order to
\nrise.  <\/span>They will be less bound by any personal ethical limits.  <\/span>Competent
\nsociopaths will normally have the competitive edge in the internal politics of big
\norganizations.<\/p>\n

Consequently, in a
\ncollectivist system, be it communist, Nazi, fascist, theocratic, or something
\nelse, the worst will tend disproportionately<\/i> to come out on top.  <\/span>This
\noutcome is not a law without exceptions. 
\n<\/span>Russian Communism gave us Mikhail Gorbachev.  <\/span>The Catholic Church gave us John XXIII. But these men are
\nthe exception and their efforts at reform either failed (John XXIII) or led to
\nthe demise of the corrupted organization. (Gorbachev).  <\/span>The current Pope with his lies and distortions is more the norm.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout human
\nhistory organizations established in the name of service to a higher
\nall-encompassing good have reinterpreted their charge to provide their leaders
\nand key members with power and privilege.  The process proceeds as follows: <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>First people subordinate their personal morality  to the organization and its goals.<\/p>\n

Second, the initial goals are redefined as what is good for the organization.<\/p>\n

Third, the organization’s leaders become increasingly dominated by sociopaths.<\/p>\n

Such a long and consistently blemished record suggests that the usual
\nexplanations that “the wrong people” got into positions of power, or that
\n“mistakes were made, but will now be rectified,” or even that “human nature” is
\nat fault, are inadequate.<\/p>\n

More than anything else, this is why I love the fact that NeoPagans groups are so decentralized.  It is also why I so deeply suspect big organizations of any kind.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

F. A. Hayek, a famous but little understood economist sheds light on one of the scandals of our time.  There is a well deserved outrage building over the current Pope’s blaming “the 1970s” for rampant pedophilia and child molestation by Vatican employees.    Some of us remember that time, and the Pope’s statement is at best an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,9,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-social-and-political-theory","category-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Pope's excuses for pedophilia and what it means - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/12\/the-popes-excuses-for-pedophilia-and-what-it-means.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Pope's excuses for pedophilia and what it means - A Pagan's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"F. 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