tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post6640937455513056923..comments2024-01-10T17:36:15.040-07:00Comments on The Lippard Blog: Same-sex marriage in Christian historyLippardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16826768452963498005noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-92120574716894212882009-05-28T08:30:47.368-07:002009-05-28T08:30:47.368-07:00That's a good suggestion. I've accumulated a lot ...That's a good suggestion. I've accumulated a lot of widgets on the left side without thinking too much about the organization. I've done some rearranging now, to put the archives links and comments at the top, and some of the less useful items down lower.Lippardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16826768452963498005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-68772952260612260532009-05-27T19:17:54.567-07:002009-05-27T19:17:54.567-07:00Well put.
Oh, I never thanked you for making the ...Well put.<br /><br />Oh, I never thanked you for making the dates unambiguous, so here goes. Another request: place the most recent posts and blog entries higher up on the left column of the home page.Ktisophiloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16718156076583190052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-32854997354179202009-05-17T08:46:00.000-07:002009-05-17T08:46:00.000-07:00I think that explanation is sound--that's a good r...I think that explanation is sound--that's a good reason for carefully screening and monitoring people who are in such positions.<br /><br />Similarly for any position of power--it's not just that power corrupts, but that corrupt people are attracted to positions of power.<br /><br />If we selected political leaders at random, we probably wouldn't be any worse off than with democratic elections.Lippardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16826768452963498005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-44838801544346891102009-05-17T05:21:00.000-07:002009-05-17T05:21:00.000-07:00I thought you would.
A simple explanation for bot...I thought you would.<br /><br />A simple explanation for both is: those with proclivity to abuse minors sexually will gravitate to those occupations that allow them to be in a position of authority over said minors.Ktisophiloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16718156076583190052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-21296514391162123322009-05-15T18:39:00.000-07:002009-05-15T18:39:00.000-07:00To the extent those cases are like the RCC cases, ...To the extent those cases are like the RCC cases, I feel the same way about them and the administrators involved.Lippardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16826768452963498005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-66448507950367925032009-05-15T17:55:00.000-07:002009-05-15T17:55:00.000-07:00Is that so? The LA Times recently reported on man...Is that so? The <A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-teachers10-2009may10,0,1620156,full.story" REL="nofollow"><I>LA Times</I> recently reported on</A> many cases of sexual abuse in the Los Angeles Unified School District where the offender is simply put back into a classroom elsewhere:<br /><br />“A jury late last year ordered the Los Angeles Unified School District to pay nearly $1.6 million to the families of three girls molested by Ricardo Guevara, who is now serving 15 years in prison for lewd acts with a child.<br /><br />“But there was something the jury — and the public — was never told: This was the third set of accusations that Guevara had molested students. Twice before, when law enforcement officials had decided they lacked the evidence to win a criminal conviction, L.A. Unified officials had quietly put him back in the classroom.<br /><br />“Guevara's case fits a pattern, a Times investigation shows: Repeatedly, the district failed to follow up on sexual misconduct complaints against employees once police or prosecutors dropped criminal actions. Some ended up at new schools. In at least one instance — involving Guevara — the new principal had no idea of his history.<br /><br />“In three other cases documented by <I>The Times</I>, the employee went on to be charged with or convicted of molesting another student ...”<br /><br />Moving sexual predators around was just like the scandalous way the Catholic Church moved abusive priests to new parishes. But there is <A HREF="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/dave-pierre/2009/05/11/not-catholic-church-ii-l-school-district-repeatedly-returned-child-mole" REL="nofollow">precious little about this in other media</A>, compared to the voluminous coverage of any abusive priest anywhere in the world, no matter how long ago.Ktisophiloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16718156076583190052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-64732873142528829352009-05-10T19:01:00.000-07:002009-05-10T19:01:00.000-07:00I appreciate the clarification on celibacy vs. cha...I appreciate the clarification on celibacy vs. chastity. The popular use of the former term is causing that distinction to be blurred.<br /><br />I don't think your comparison between clergy abuse and teacher abuse is quite apt. Teachers who engage in sexual activity with underage students do get vilified in the press and the result is usually criminal prosecutions, and schools, unlike the Catholic Church, have not generally made a habit of attempting to conceal the abuse and move the perpetrator to another location to continue the abuse.<br /><br />If you look at all sexual relationships between consenting adults, not just the abusive ones with children, priests are unlikely to be vilified in the press for their sexual activity, as opposed to for their hypocrisy. Teachers, by contrast, don't generally take a vow of chastity.Lippardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16826768452963498005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-24091810093421392422009-05-10T17:49:00.000-07:002009-05-10T17:49:00.000-07:00These unions were not even romantic, according to ...These unions were not even romantic, according to Paglia. <br /><br />BTW, the priests you're thinking of really <I>are</I> celibate, since the word means "unmarried". Your beef is their lack of <I>chastity</I>, which was certainly <I>meant</I> to accompany their celibacy.<br /><br />And what's with the "many"? I don't see the liberals ragging teachers because quite a lot of them have sexual relations with their students.Ktisophiloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16718156076583190052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-24039685753527352592009-05-09T13:52:00.000-07:002009-05-09T13:52:00.000-07:00To clarify: I am skeptical that the *reality* was...To clarify: I am skeptical that the *reality* was that there was no sex, not that there wasn't such a pretense.Lippardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16826768452963498005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-85028461535108536672009-05-09T13:49:00.000-07:002009-05-09T13:49:00.000-07:00So the argument then is that while there were thes...So the argument then is that while there were these same-sex unions, there was at least the pretense that there was no sexual contact between the participants?<br /><br />Given the sexual activity of many purportedly celibate priests, I am somewhat skeptical.Lippardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16826768452963498005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-67843084931305490862009-05-08T21:52:00.000-07:002009-05-08T21:52:00.000-07:00But Camille Paglia denounced Boswell’s research de...But Camille Paglia denounced Boswell’s research despite having everything to gain by supporting it (‘Plighting Their Troth’, <I>Guardian Weekly</I>, 11 Sept. 1994, p. 18.):<br /><br />“Despite sporadic qualifications, Boswell repeatedly implies a genital subtext to intense spiritual alliances, even when his supporting manuscripts make clearly uncarnal invocations to martyred paired saints, who died in the service of Christ. …<br /><br />“Whatever medieval ceremonies of union may have been found, Boswell has not remotely established that they were originally homosexual in our romantic sense. Their real meaning has yet to be determined. Sacrilegious misuse of such ceremonies may indeed have occurred, leading to their banning, but historians are unjustified in extrapolating backwards and reducing fragmentary evidence to its lowest common denominator. <br /><br />“The cause of gay rights, which I support, is not helped by this kind of slippery, self-interested scholarship, where propaganda and casuistry impede the objective search for truth.”Ktisophiloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16718156076583190052noreply@blogger.com