mrussel1 said:

Gern Blansten said:

I remember being surprised by the kneeling piece when I attended a Catholic funeral. 

I grew up in the United Methodist Church. We only did communion twice a year I believe...Easter and Xmas. 

I used to go to church with my Grandma in Ft Wayne whenever I stayed with them during the summers. She attended a church affiliated with the Church of God. They did communion every week which was an impressive snack for me.

Dude.. you ate the Body of Christ.  Sicko.  

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

cblock4life said:

tempo_n_groove said:

mrussel1 said:

brianlux said:

The notion (as stated by some of you above) that working as pastor, youth group leader, etc. creates access makes sense.  What doesn't make sense is that supposedly Christianity is a faith based at least in part on a sense of morality and yet here you have people committing heinous and highly immoral acts.  It reminds me of Christians who love and support Trump, another example of a confounding disconnect. All I can say is, Jesus would be mightily pissed off.  If you think he lost his cool with the money changers in the temple, imagine how he would feel about these creeps.

American Christianity is a long way from Jesus's teachings.  

Not all the churches suck.  I've been to some good ones.

Jesus didn’t pass a collection plate.  All American religions are corrupt in one way or another and some to a lesser degree (there is no degree of sin?) than others.  

I guess we are doing a religion class now?

Jesus did not but Tithes are very much mentioned throughout the bible.  It goes with the whole Give unto the Lord thing.

Can we add synagogues and Mosques to the corruption list too?

Is this thread about religious corruption, or groomers? 

Christians don't really have a leg to stand on when it comes to the latter. 

That's debatable.

What is? 

Grooming.  It happens everywhere unfortunately.

It sure does, and in the case of the Catholic church there's been coordinated cover up and enabling of grooming and abuse of children over the course of decades, if not centuries. 

This piqued my curiosity as to whether or not grooming and abuse is more prevalent in some religions as opposed to others... . I don't have the answer to that question, nor do I have time to dive in today, but with that being said:

There's no small amount of hypocrisy coming from the overwhelmingly Christian conservatives in America vilifying LGBTQ groups for grooming of children. Like you said, it happens everywhere. Has it been happening among the drag or trans community to the extent that they should be demonized for it? Not that I'm aware of, (but I'm open to new information). 

Vilifying an already marginalized group for something that happens everywhere suggests this line of attack has nothing to do with children at all, and more about attacking that group and stoking the culture wars. 

I trust that's not lost on you. 

Not lost on me at all and the other religious groups it's hard to get numbers but it happens.  Certain Jewish secs marry off their kids young, that's what they do and nobody knows about it because it's all in house.

Rearranged marriages still happen.  Is that grooming?  If they are being taught that this is what you do then it is.

NY used to have a 14yo marriage age up until a few years ago.  Crazy right?

mrussel1 said:

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

mrussel1 said:

brianlux said:

The notion (as stated by some of you above) that working as pastor, youth group leader, etc. creates access makes sense.  What doesn't make sense is that supposedly Christianity is a faith based at least in part on a sense of morality and yet here you have people committing heinous and highly immoral acts.  It reminds me of Christians who love and support Trump, another example of a confounding disconnect. All I can say is, Jesus would be mightily pissed off.  If you think he lost his cool with the money changers in the temple, imagine how he would feel about these creeps.

American Christianity is a long way from Jesus's teachings.  

Not all the churches suck.  I've been to some good ones.

Agreed, for sure.  I don't have anything against people who are religious or church going.  My father was very involved in the Presbyterian Church.  He was a deacon for several year and at one time he became the Moderator of the General Assembly of the U.S. Presbyterian Church.  He did good work and was a faithful and decent man.  So I know there are good people doing good things in various churches.  What I don't understand is why more people of faith have not spoken out against those who would distort and pervert the foundations of their faith. 

It's really sad.  Now let's be honest, there's been a sect of the Christian faith in this country that has a long history of using the Bible to oppress the marginalized and less fortunate in this country.  I won't name names, but we'll call the the Bouthern Saptists.  This is all part of their history.  

I actually really like the Presbyterian and Methodist sects of Christianity.  I have found those congregations to be more open minded, accepting, etc. 

Why more people haven't spoken out, I cannot say.  I continue to blame right wing media, including Fox, for radicalizing a significant portion of this country.  

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

cblock4life said:

tempo_n_groove said:

mrussel1 said:

brianlux said:

The notion (as stated by some of you above) that working as pastor, youth group leader, etc. creates access makes sense.  What doesn't make sense is that supposedly Christianity is a faith based at least in part on a sense of morality and yet here you have people committing heinous and highly immoral acts.  It reminds me of Christians who love and support Trump, another example of a confounding disconnect. All I can say is, Jesus would be mightily pissed off.  If you think he lost his cool with the money changers in the temple, imagine how he would feel about these creeps.

American Christianity is a long way from Jesus's teachings.  

Not all the churches suck.  I've been to some good ones.

Jesus didn’t pass a collection plate.  All American religions are corrupt in one way or another and some to a lesser degree (there is no degree of sin?) than others.  

I guess we are doing a religion class now?

Jesus did not but Tithes are very much mentioned throughout the bible.  It goes with the whole Give unto the Lord thing.

Can we add synagogues and Mosques to the corruption list too?

Is this thread about religious corruption, or groomers? 

Christians don't really have a leg to stand on when it comes to the latter. 

That's debatable.

What is? 

Grooming.  It happens everywhere unfortunately.

It sure does, and in the case of the Catholic church there's been coordinated cover up and enabling of grooming and abuse of children over the course of decades, if not centuries. 

This piqued my curiosity as to whether or not grooming and abuse is more prevalent in some religions as opposed to others... . I don't have the answer to that question, nor do I have time to dive in today, but with that being said:

There's no small amount of hypocrisy coming from the overwhelmingly Christian conservatives in America vilifying LGBTQ groups for grooming of children. Like you said, it happens everywhere. Has it been happening among the drag or trans community to the extent that they should be demonized for it? Not that I'm aware of, (but I'm open to new information). 

Vilifying an already marginalized group for something that happens everywhere suggests this line of attack has nothing to do with children at all, and more about attacking that group and stoking the culture wars. 

I trust that's not lost on you. 

Not lost on me at all and the other religious groups it's hard to get numbers but it happens.  Certain Jewish secs marry off their kids young, that's what they do and nobody knows about it because it's all in house.

Rearranged marriages still happen.  Is that grooming?  If they are being taught that this is what you do then it is.

NY used to have a 14yo marriage age up until a few years ago.  Crazy right?

Of course it's grooming, and (not that you brought it up) but when it comes to indoctrination, our public schools have nothing on organized religion. 

My point is this: I think the majority of people getting worked up about grooming at drag shows just want a reason to hate people who do drag shows. It's homophobia under the guise of protecting children. 


I would love to see a word count of how much 'groomer' (or some other variation of the term) was used online in the last 3 years as opposed to just the 15 years prior.

This is a new boogey man for conservative America in recent years. Maybe my recollection is wrong, but I don't recall 'grooming' per se being part of the lexicon or all that prevalent of a concern when the Catholic Church scandal came to light some 3 decades ago. 

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

cblock4life said:

tempo_n_groove said:

mrussel1 said:

brianlux said:

The notion (as stated by some of you above) that working as pastor, youth group leader, etc. creates access makes sense.  What doesn't make sense is that supposedly Christianity is a faith based at least in part on a sense of morality and yet here you have people committing heinous and highly immoral acts.  It reminds me of Christians who love and support Trump, another example of a confounding disconnect. All I can say is, Jesus would be mightily pissed off.  If you think he lost his cool with the money changers in the temple, imagine how he would feel about these creeps.

American Christianity is a long way from Jesus's teachings.  

Not all the churches suck.  I've been to some good ones.

Jesus didn’t pass a collection plate.  All American religions are corrupt in one way or another and some to a lesser degree (there is no degree of sin?) than others.  

I guess we are doing a religion class now?

Jesus did not but Tithes are very much mentioned throughout the bible.  It goes with the whole Give unto the Lord thing.

Can we add synagogues and Mosques to the corruption list too?

Is this thread about religious corruption, or groomers? 

Christians don't really have a leg to stand on when it comes to the latter. 

That's debatable.

What is? 

Grooming.  It happens everywhere unfortunately.

It sure does, and in the case of the Catholic church there's been coordinated cover up and enabling of grooming and abuse of children over the course of decades, if not centuries. 

This piqued my curiosity as to whether or not grooming and abuse is more prevalent in some religions as opposed to others... . I don't have the answer to that question, nor do I have time to dive in today, but with that being said:

There's no small amount of hypocrisy coming from the overwhelmingly Christian conservatives in America vilifying LGBTQ groups for grooming of children. Like you said, it happens everywhere. Has it been happening among the drag or trans community to the extent that they should be demonized for it? Not that I'm aware of, (but I'm open to new information). 

Vilifying an already marginalized group for something that happens everywhere suggests this line of attack has nothing to do with children at all, and more about attacking that group and stoking the culture wars. 

I trust that's not lost on you. 

Not lost on me at all and the other religious groups it's hard to get numbers but it happens.  Certain Jewish secs marry off their kids young, that's what they do and nobody knows about it because it's all in house.

Rearranged marriages still happen.  Is that grooming?  If they are being taught that this is what you do then it is.

NY used to have a 14yo marriage age up until a few years ago.  Crazy right?

OnWis97 said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Merkin Baller said:

tempo_n_groove said:

cblock4life said:

tempo_n_groove said:

mrussel1 said:

brianlux said:

The notion (as stated by some of you above) that working as pastor, youth group leader, etc. creates access makes sense.  What doesn't make sense is that supposedly Christianity is a faith based at least in part on a sense of morality and yet here you have people committing heinous and highly immoral acts.  It reminds me of Christians who love and support Trump, another example of a confounding disconnect. All I can say is, Jesus would be mightily pissed off.  If you think he lost his cool with the money changers in the temple, imagine how he would feel about these creeps.

American Christianity is a long way from Jesus's teachings.  

Not all the churches suck.  I've been to some good ones.

Jesus didn’t pass a collection plate.  All American religions are corrupt in one way or another and some to a lesser degree (there is no degree of sin?) than others.  

I guess we are doing a religion class now?

Jesus did not but Tithes are very much mentioned throughout the bible.  It goes with the whole Give unto the Lord thing.

Can we add synagogues and Mosques to the corruption list too?

Is this thread about religious corruption, or groomers? 

Christians don't really have a leg to stand on when it comes to the latter. 

That's debatable.

What is? 

Grooming.  It happens everywhere unfortunately.

It sure does, and in the case of the Catholic church there's been coordinated cover up and enabling of grooming and abuse of children over the course of decades, if not centuries. 

This piqued my curiosity as to whether or not grooming and abuse is more prevalent in some religions as opposed to others... . I don't have the answer to that question, nor do I have time to dive in today, but with that being said:

There's no small amount of hypocrisy coming from the overwhelmingly Christian conservatives in America vilifying LGBTQ groups for grooming of children. Like you said, it happens everywhere. Has it been happening among the drag or trans community to the extent that they should be demonized for it? Not that I'm aware of, (but I'm open to new information). 

Vilifying an already marginalized group for something that happens everywhere suggests this line of attack has nothing to do with children at all, and more about attacking that group and stoking the culture wars. 

I trust that's not lost on you. 

Not lost on me at all and the other religious groups it's hard to get numbers but it happens.  Certain Jewish secs marry off their kids young, that's what they do and nobody knows about it because it's all in house.

Rearranged marriages still happen.  Is that grooming?  If they are being taught that this is what you do then it is.

NY used to have a 14yo marriage age up until a few years ago.  Crazy right?

Of course it's grooming, and (not that you brought it up) but when it comes to indoctrination, our public schools have nothing on organized religion. 

My point is this: I think the majority of people getting worked up about grooming at drag shows just want a reason to hate people who do drag shows. It's homophobia under the guise of protecting children. 


I would love to see a word count of how much 'groomer' (or some other variation of the term) was used online in the last 3 years as opposed to just the 15 years prior.

This is a new boogey man for conservative America in recent years. Maybe my recollection is wrong, but I don't recall 'grooming' per se being part of the lexicon or all that prevalent of a concern when the Catholic Church scandal came to light some 3 decades ago. 

Agreed. Yeah, grooming/pedophilia are everywhere. It happens in churches, schools, private companies, youth sports, and probably about any other type of organization you can think of. 

Really, we (the "royal" we) have had a lot of opportunities to do a lot better at combating and punishing, whether you're talking liberals, conservatives, religious, atheist, etc. But what does today's conservative outrage factory do? They pick one certain type of people the they don't  and create a narrative to keep the outrage factory churning. Anyone who says it's about the children is either a bold-faced liar or a sucker.

“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”