The Highly Selective Expression of Outrage on the Issue of The Rape of Children

If true, this is outrageous.

In extraordinary testimony last month, Archbishop Robert Carlson said he was unsure about whether he knew it was a crime for an adult to have sex with a child.

Carlson, the head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, was deposed for a case regarding sex abuse allegations that took place when he was auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 1979 until 1994. He investigated those allegations during his time in Minnesota.

During the deposition, which was released Monday, attorney Jeff Anderson asked Carlson if he "knew it was a crime for an adult to engage in sex with a kid."

“I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,” Carlson said. “I understand today it’s a crime.”

If it's true, Archbishop Robert Carlson should be forced to resign and take up a life of penance and seclusion for such an obviously dishonest answer.  That is if he isn't convicted of any crimes, for which he should serve any appropriate sentence in prison.  I would be curious to know if there was ever any discussion of lowering the age of consent in his state, during those years, which I am certain that the bishops of his state would have weighed in against.   This is exactly the kind of lawyerly dishonesty that has done so much damage to the reputation of the Catholic hierarchy and, through the scandal the hierarchs brought onto the reputation of the Catholic Church.*

However, and in response to the entirely predictable comments at Talking Points, as I've pointed out before, there were people, groups, blogs and even Wikis and people within the anti-religious establishment,  who have campaigned for an irresponsibly low age of consent, some as low as 15, or lower, and some who have campaigned for the legalization of sex between children and adults, in almost every case that would be adult men.  Those are active and public and posting online every day with almost no serious objection by the same people who have no expressed problem with the issue,  except when it's some ass covering archbishop or cardinal who is following a lawyer's advice instead of making a full public confession of their past repulsive irresponsibility.   Given the religion bashers'  willful blindness to those who are not merely hypocrites in their disapproval of the sexual use of children but who actively promote it, you might be forgiven for doubting their outrage ON THE ACTUAL ISSUE OF CHILD RAPE is sincere or even genuine.

Note:  I am not talking about those groups who advocate the attempted treatment of people who are sexually attracted to children and who also oppose them pursuing their desires, who are sometimes the object of right-wing political use as hypocritical and disgusting as the anti-religious use of this issue.  Anyone who is trying to encourage treatement and tries to help people keep from acting on those desires is not the object of this post.

Also note, I will not call this "pedophilia" because it isn't an act of love to abuse a child.

*  While I'm sure it's a point that will be lost on many people,  the crimes of the pedophile priests and employees of the church were almost exclusively done to The Church, which are the entire membership of the Roman Catholic Church, as defined by the Second Vatican Council.