Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, has an excellent piece on just how the catholic church, and of course so many maga conservatives, try to avoid responsiblity.
An excerpt:
“You may have seen clips of former Fox News host Megan Kelly attempting to downplay the seriousness of what the late New York financier and his associates did:
“He wasn’t into, like, 8-year-olds,” said Kelly, adding “but he liked the very young teen types that could pass for even younger than they were, but would look legal to a passerby.” She then added: “There’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old, you know?”
Her argument, then, is that it’s unfair for anyone to call Epstein a “pedophile” because he wasn’t technically into little kids. He was only into slightly older kids, which technically makes him an ephebophile. SO CALM DOWN, EVERYONE!
It was a horrible argument because the technicality doesn’t make a difference. Epstein exploited children and a lot of people apparently knew about it. It’s not so complicated that we have to parse the language to separate various classes of children.
That’s where the Catholic League comes in. They heard the word “pedophile” and their Spidey Sense immediately began to tingle.
When the non-profit group (with assets of over $60 million) found out what Kelly said, they jumped to her defense with a statement saying “Megyn Kelly is right about Epstein.”
The group’s leader Bill Donohue argued that the word “pedophile” only applies to a “person who has sex with a prepubescent male or female, meaning someone ten or younger.” (That’s not the definition, but let’s go with it.)
BTW, it ain’t just the catholics who have this problem.
Club Schadenfreude 
It is heartbreaking the Catholic League uses circuitous logic to endorse Megan Kelly’s defense of a sex trafficker. They defended themselves by saying.
“Wrong. The data clearly show that the vast majority of priestly victims were male (81 percent) and that 78 percent were postpubescent. Why is this important? Because it means the molesters were homosexuals. When males have sex with males who are postpubescent, that’s called homosexuality, not pedophilia.”
That tells me they believe having sex with vulnerable boys under the age of consent is better than being a pedophile.
And
“Epstein was a sexual monster. But the discussion is marred when false comments are made about his behavior. It is even worse when people like Megyn Kelly are falsely blamed for justifying it.“
Guess they didn’t learn anything from their precious Bible. Aren’t we supposed to be protecting the vulnerable and not using schematics to shield a monstrosity in human form.
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The self-deluded religious crowd has, if nothing else, the most incredible ability to rationalize anything, and I mean anything at all! Just look at all the dogmatic nonsense they need to bend and twist into believable fodder for their “faith”; walking on water, creation ex nihilo (and in only 6 days, no less!), turning water into wine, and, the show-stopper, resurrection! Add to this all their political :truths” they hold as self-evident; the Fat Felon is a good man, he “feels” for the little guy, he’s doing a great job and America is a better place for having had him at the helm!
That’s a whole lot of B.S. to swallow but they seem to find ways to get it down the hatch, so rationalizing pedophilia with a difference between kindergarten and junior high school ages is probably a piece of cake for them!
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I’ve heard this argument before regarding the technical definition of “pedophile.”
It was made by a Franciscan Friar regarding the behavior of Catholic priests. It’s “like” how some of these clowns define the “Shalt not kill” thingy. “Well, it means “murder,” they say. Then why the fuck does it not say (or be translated to) “murder?” Or like a married Mormon acquaintance of mine who said his church adult (male) advisors told him, “Eatin’ ain’t cheatin’.” Somebody must tell Bill Clinton.
If an adult male (or female) has sex with an underage person (in most states), it’s called “statutory” rape. It is morally wrong, generally illegal, and folks go to jail for it.
We all know what happened here. I tip my hat to the ancillary RC organization (who does not speak for all Catholics) as he defends the scum of humanity. BTW, these rich men who fucked underage women are not mentally ill or perverted. They are criminals. And once again, the fucked-up half of the country will defend the dictator like any true, loyal Nazi.
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