RobP I quite agree... the Church and its 'agents' ARE to be held to a high level of accountability.. no argument there. But by secular society ? ... they are accountable to CHRIST Himself. Now.. we often hear of the "evil" Exclusive Brethren.... but I should let you in on a little not so well known secret..the 'exclusive' aspect of their denominational badge is that they ABSOLUTELY will NOT tolerate "sin" in the members.. leaders or otherwise... so.. there are many aspects of stories filtering throught he 'totally unbiased' media.. (cough) which are not made known, but which IF known would change the public perception OF those situations AND the 'Church' as a whole.

So...why do I deflect this attack by Amanda and raise questions about her true motives ? AAAH.. I do it because 'The Church' which includes me, have been given the rotten rough end of the media stick for so long now..and from hollywood, that I'm determined to 'fight back'. It's called the COUNTERpunch.

So, (for Franks benefit) while this "topic" is about Church related funny business, it forms part of a much bigger thing, which is perpetrated by Leftist interests and thus, I see no reason whatsoever not to attack it for what I feel it is.

David-BOAZ

I'll talk in your language. You don't seem to understand mine.

"Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice." (Matthew 26:34 King James Version)

Three times you've denied the child victims of sexual assault by clergy. Do you have any feeling for them at all?

Boazy: "...while this 'topic' is about Church related funny business, it forms part of a much bigger thing, which is perpetrated by Leftist interests "

There you go, Frank - all is revealed. Clergy don't sexually abuse kids. It's the LEFTIST PAEDOPHILES.

It certainly could NEVER happen in the Brethren. We know this because Boazy said so, and he never tells porkies, does he?

"but which IF known would change the public perception OF those situations AND the 'Church' as a whole."

Hang on whoah BD. You won't get far, trying to defend the bretheren
mob. Any cult, which brainwashes its kiddies, denies its followers
from freely mixing with the rest of the community, bans tv, radio,
internet etc, so that those brainwashed followers can't think
for themselves, is not defensible. You are sinking to new
fanatically religious lows, tryng to do it.

Castration of child sex offenders? This solution is predicated on an obviously faulty premise. Clearly, this solution wont stop an offender from switching sides.

Lets not live with our heads in the sand.

Claims of hypocracy on this forum? Hahaha.

OLO is the gathering place of hypocrites. Every single poster in this place indulges inconsistent opinions.

Lets refrain from self deceit, shall we. Afterall, self deceit is at the heart of those who abuse the vulnerable.

David Boaz,

Whether you meant to say it or not, the implication, as with your counterpart Muslim fundamentalist brethren, puts you above the law, "... the Church and its 'agents' ARE to be held to a high level of accountability.. no argument there. But by secular society ? ... they are accountable to CHRIST Himself."

The mad mullahs, their followers and their form of allegiance to Allah are, in principle, exactly the same as yours is to ‘Christ’. Whilst we can be reasonably certain your nature is not one of terrorism, this of type misguided authority will eventually spawn such activity. J.C. himself, as the story goes, submitted entirely to Roman authority for trial – you, however, place yourself above such action. It would seem you desire your own Shari type court, outside of secular authority.

Yes, Trader.. We’re all hypocrites, to a lesser or greater degree – but the biggest deserve to be cut down to size, so we can at least look 'em in the eye :).