Because the clergy have mastered the art of fooling most of the people most of the time
To be fair, we could ask the same question regarding many other denominations, but the Catholic church maintains a high profile for its sin, corruption, and deception. Let’s review some of the damage it has caused.
Clergy Abuse of Children
I did some probing on Google, and it would appear that the Catholic church worldwide has paid out 3 to 4 billion dollars (yes, that’s billion with a B) in settlement of suits filed against priests for child rape/abuse. Are rank and file Catholics blind to this reality? Why would anyone still attend—be members of, give money to—a church with that deplorable record?
In a 2018 article, titled What’s the Harm? Why Religious Belief Is Always Bad, Richard Carrier was scathing in his analysis:
“In actual fact the Catholic Church is an international rape factory. And has been for decades; possibly untold centuries. Religious belief not only allowed that to happen, it is still allowing it to happen, as believers refuse to leave the church, refusing to effect any substantive reform that would prevent it, refusing to find a less deadly and destructive religion to believe in and support.”
Can’t we assume that the church does have the power, the resources, to put an end to this horrible scandal? On the fantasy level: The church would have its members believe that Mary, Queen of Heaven, makes personal appearances worldwide. Can’t she be assigned the task of priest surveillance? Any time a priest is alone with a child with malicious intent, Mary could show up, punch him in the face, give him a swift kick in the groin, and scold him brutally: “Not even my son will forgive you for this sin!”
At the very least—on the reality level—the church should be able to create thorough screening procedures for accepting or rejecting candidates for the priesthood. Do the deep psychological investigations: who are the men that might be inclined to molest children? The ecclesiastical bureaucracy can also put an end to the secret transfer of offending priests to other parishes. This is an inexcusable practice.
Ongoing, entrenched misogyny
Even the kindly Pope Francis was emphatic that women would never be ordained priests in the Catholic church. Yet there are Catholic women who want this to happen, but this looks like an uphill battle that will never be won. The men in the priesthood are bluntly denying that this spiritual yearning of devout Catholic women is valid: it’s false, misguided. Only the men have a genuine channel to spiritual truth. What else would we expect when two members of The Trinity are male? One way to distract from this arrogance is to idealize, idolize, the Virgin Mary, claiming that she was conceived without original sin, that her body ascended to heaven—that she is indeed The Queen of Heaven. More about Mary later.
The malicious misogyny is especially obvious in the church’s prohibition of contraception, birth control, and abortion. Women around the world suffer so much because holy men are determined to exercise control over female bodies—based on their narrow interpretations of theology.
Hypocrisy rampant at the Vatican
Frédéric Martel’s 2019 book, In The Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy (555 pages, published simultaneously in 8 languages), is based on four years of research. He describes this thorough investigation in the Acknowledgements section at the end of the book, (pp. 551-555).
In the Prologue, Martel states the following: “The Vatican has one of the biggest gay communities in the world, and I doubt whether, even in San Francisco’s Castro, the emblematic gay quarter, though more mixed today, there are quite as many gays!” (p. xi)
Moreover, in chapter 1 he is emphatic:
“So the omnipresence of homosexuals in the Vatican isn’t just a matter of a few black sheep, or the ‘net that caught the bad fish,’ as Josef Ratzinger put it. It isn’t a ‘lobby’ or a dissident movement, neither is it a sect of a freemasonry inside the holy see: It’s a system. It isn’t a tiny minority; it’s the big majority.” (p. 18)
Of course, the Catholic church would be horrified if this basic truth about the Vatican became well known. The situation was made worse by two homophobic popes, John Paul II, who brought his negativity about homosexuality from Poland to the Vatican. Benedict XVI, from Germany, also hated homosexuality, and did what he could to influence Vatican policy.
Martel quotes one the people he interviewed:
“This is a man [Benedict XVI] who has devoted his life to denouncing homosexuality. He makes it one of the greatest evils of humanity. At the same time, he has said very little about paedophilia, and was very late in becoming aware of the scale of the problem. He has never really differentiated on the theological level between freely consenting relations between adults and the sexual abuse of minors below the age of 15.” (p. 514)
Martel offers this insight: “…Benedict was well aware deep inside, I would dare say from experience, that celibacy, abstinence and the failure to acknowledge the homosexuality of priests were at the heart of the whole scandal. His thought, minutely elaborated at the Vatican for four decades, exploded into pieces. This intellectual failure must have contributed to his resignation.” (p. 514)
Whatever happened to love your neighbor as yourself? These hatreds nurtured at the Vatican are so contrary to the heart of the Christian message.
Martel quotes a German bishop:
“What will be left of Joseph Ratzinger’s thought when the balance is truly drawn up? I would say his sexual morality and his positions on the celibacy of priests, abstinence, homosexuality and gay marriage. That is his only true novelty and originality. And yet sexual abuse destroyed all that, once and for all. His prohibitions, his rules, his fantasies, none of that holds any more. Nothing remains today of his sexual morality. And even if no one dares to admit it publicly in the Church, everyone knows that it won’t be possible to put an end to the sexual abuse by priests until celibacy has been abolished, until homosexuality is acknowledged by the Church, allowing priests to be able to denounce abuse, and until women are ordained as priests. All other measures concerning sexual abuse are in vain. Overall, the Ratzingerian perspective needs to be completely overturned. Everyone knows. And anyone who says the opposite is now an accomplice.” (pp. 514-515)
In 2010, George Weinberg’s book was published, Society and the Healthy Homosexual. This was intended to calm fears about the dangers supposedly posed by same-sex relationships. This was a voice of sanity that should have been welcomed and promoted by the Vatican.
To distract from the corruption, to fool most of the people most of the time, the clergy have perfected razzle-dazzle show business
When I was young, I recall my very devout Methodist mother’s astonishment when she saw TV coverage of Vatican ceremonies. At that time, the pope—in an elaborate costume—was still carried on an elevated platform to be seen by thousands of people. “What has that got to do with Christianity?” was my mother’s reaction. As it turns out, this show-business display is designed to keep people in awe of the church and its promises. If the church has spent billions to settle child rape lawsuits, Catholic parishes world-wide have no doubt spent millions on elaborate sets, art work (i.e., church decorations), and 
especially costumes to impress the faithful. One of the full ironies is that the very homophobic American Cardinal, Raymond Burke, could be president of the Vatican Drag Queen Club, since his costuming is so excessive, so ridiculous. Does he really believe that the devout will be convinced, “Wow, he’s so holy!” Outsiders who have never been victims of Catholic indoctrination have another reaction: “What a clown.”
especially costumes to impress the faithful. One of the full ironies is that the very homophobic American Cardinal, Raymond Burke, could be president of the Vatican Drag Queen Club, since his costuming is so excessive, so ridiculous. Does he really believe that the devout will be convinced, “Wow, he’s so holy!” Outsiders who have never been victims of Catholic indoctrination have another reaction: “What a clown.”
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| Cardinal Raymond Burke |
With all of the decorations, statuary, and art work in Catholic churches, it would seem that the third commandment in the Big Ten is simply ignored: Thou shalt not make any graven images of things in heaven or earth. It would seem that the colossal statues of Mary, Queen of Heaven—many of them carried in the streets—are made in defiance of this commandment. The church wants the devout to be able to visualize Mary, as depicted in their theological fantasies, hence the statues of her that are so common.
Pushing eternal life as a major distraction
Many years ago I knew a very devout Catholic woman whose main goal in life was to get to heaven, so that she could see here mother again. She refused to listen to any critique of Catholic dogma. Not too long ago, an elderly Catholic woman told me that their priests had warned the children never to think about what they had learned in catechism. It was this woman’s daughter to whom I gifted a copy of my 2021 book, Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught. Her reaction was, “I can’t read that, I’m a Catholic!” Above all, hang on for dear life to the promise of getting to heaven by doing what the church says, believing what the church requires.
So all of the elaborate costuming and ceremonies—and warnings not to think—seem to be getting the job done. Keep on claiming that Catholicism holds the key to getting to heaven, and the mistakes and sins of the church are pushed aside. Most of the people are still fooled most of the time.
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
• Guessing About God (2023)
• Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available.
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.
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