{"id":374,"date":"2011-02-28T12:38:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-28T12:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beliefbeat\/2011\/02\/honor-killings-clergy-abuse-the-exceptions-that-dont-prove-the-rule.html"},"modified":"2011-02-28T12:38:00","modified_gmt":"2011-02-28T12:38:00","slug":"honor-killings-clergy-abuse-the-exceptions-that-dont-prove-the-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/02\/honor-killings-clergy-abuse-the-exceptions-that-dont-prove-the-rule.html","title":{"rendered":"Honor Killings & Clergy Abuse: The Exceptions That (Don’t) Prove The Rule?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stories about clergy abuse and honor killings have something interesting in common: the horror rarely seems to faze the truly faithful — or at least not the faithful who haven’t experienced it in their immediate circles. In my reporting and casual conversations, it seems the vast majority of Catholics\/Muslims always agree that these are terrible but isolated cases — just a tiny fraction of priests\/fathers have been implicated! — that absolutely do not represent their religion.<\/p>\n

Fair enough?<\/p>\n

Of  course, this kind of thinking isn’t limited to Catholics and Muslims… It’s human nature to believe the best of your own community, and the worst of outsiders, right?<\/p>\n

Here’s a sample of recent stories:<\/p>\n