Australia, and in particular Sydney, has just survived the visit of the catholic pontiff. One of the most interesting issues surrounding the visit, in my opinion, were the calls for a pontifical apology for the many cases of sexual abuse perpetrated by catholic clergy. Having had a catholic upbringing, and attending a catholic boys college, this issue has something of a personal relevance. Although I was not personally subject to any sexual abuse, and had no first hand knowledge of any at the time, it was common knowledge in the playground that there were certain members of the teaching staff, not all of them priests or brothers, either, whom one had to be very vigilant around. Indeed, a common playground cry in those days was “Bums to the wall, bums to the wall!”, whenever one of these questionable characters strolled by, thus informing the perpetrator that their activities were public knowledge, at least amongst the students. Adults, however, teachers, clergy and parents, found these cries disrespectful taunts, and treated them as something to be punished, rather than as the warning signals which they obviously were. Perhaps there were also innocent teachers who suffered these taunts. However it seems clear now that underneath this smoke, was a deadly fire, damaging and burning many lives.
When I think about this, and why the warning signals were ignored, I come to the conclusion that our society treats children with contempt and mistrust. The initial assumption is that they are lying, being nasty, or otherwise acting mischievously. Somehow, children, our society seems to assume, are naturally inclined to being naughty, and it is only through discipline, and in those days, corporeal punishment, that the evil is driven out of them.
The origins of this child-hating attitude lies, I believe, in the very doctrines of Christianity itself. The doctrine of original sin teaches that we are all tainted, at birth, with the sinfulness shown by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Baptism, is supposed to wash away the taint of original sin, but it is, apparently, ineffective, if the attitude of the teacher-clerics is anything to go by. This belief in the intrinsic evil of children caused the clergy, in my school days, to be great believers in the discipline of corporeal punishment. They took delight in the strap, the cane, and six of the best.
Even today, we have adherents of this view spouting their nonsense in public. Recently the leader of the state opposition in Queensland, was defending the right of parents to smack their children, saying he was smacked as a child, and it made him a better person – seemingly unaware of the irony of his remarks. Having been raised in a culture of physical and corporal punishment, I regard physical discipline and smacking of children as child abuse. It breaks my heart to see parents smacking their two year olds with repeated slaps. “Stop that, or I’ll give you something to cry about”.
I am a great believer in establishing clear boundaries, and consequences for anti-social behaviour. Establishing in children the consciousness of interacting positively with others, and the need to respect other people emotionally, physically and spiritually is, or should be, one of the principal jobs of parenting. Personally, I feel no need to resort to physical coercion, intimidation or violence to achieve this end.
Indeed, I believe that attempting to teach respect, love and consideration through beatings and physical intimidation is misguided in the extreme. Most often, it results in people who become hardened to their own suffering, and that of others, and all too often, people without scruples about using intimidation and the threat of violence to get their own way in adulthood.
But it goes deeper than simply the doctrine of original sin. There is also the question of sexual innocence and celibacy. As I discuss in my book the Great Work, the concept of celibacy is based on the idea that divinity and sexuality do not mix, and that to be pure, and a suitable emulator of Jesus Christ, one must refrain from any sexual expression, not only in action, but also in thought and imagination. The reason this is thought to be so is that creation is conceptualised as balanced between the ultimate good (God) and the ultimate evil (the Devil). Any union of opposites is mapped onto this basic paradigm, with one side of the coin acquiring a gloss of goodness, and the other acquiring a sinister gloss.
Thus the inevitable conclusions are reached: day is good, night is of the devil, man is good, woman is of the devil, humanity is good, nature is of the devil, reason and rational thought are good, emotion, intuition and instinct are of the devil, activity and progress is good, rest (idleness) is of the devil. These days, our society is not quite so stark and medieval in its outlook, but underneath our so-called modernity and rejection of superstition, lies the very same basic worldview as medieval Christianity. Even in the cartoons, the goodies battle the baddies, re-enforcing the view that the world is driven by the endless battle between good and evil.
This viewpoint, in my opinion, is a destructive and unhelpful one for this period in history, and needless to say, out of step with the viewpoint that underpins many pagan philosophies. The pagan viewpoint that I espouse sees the universe as the creation of equal and complimentary principles: the generative and nurturing (female) archetype, and the inseminating and activating (male) archetype. With this worldview, sexual congress is seen as a resonance with the divine creative process that gives rise to the world. Sexuality, thus has the potential to unite one with one’s divine nature. In the Christian based worldview, sexual congress is seen as a flirtation with the devil, or the lusts of the flesh, something that separates one from one’s divine nature.
Now human beings have evolved to have and enjoy sexual activity. They are blessed with emotional and hormonal drives and desires to seek out sexual partners, and to couple with them. The pagan viewpoint of my path is to honour this aspect of our nature, and to seek to intensify the resonance with the archetypal forces of Divinity. This has the potential to transform the self and one’s relationships, by harnessing and expressing the creative power of the universe in concentrated form. However, indiscriminate and unconscious pursuit of these drives can and does bring pain and heartbreak. Therefore recognising the powerful nature of sexuality, an ethical dimension ought to surround sexual expression – based on mutual consent freely given.
In our society, we have established guidelines for when mutual consent can be freely given, and these guidelines involve the age of the parties, and whether there is any relationship of power or responsibility, or use of any physical, emotional or other form of coercive pressure.
In the Christian clergy, we find people who have, more than most, taken to heart the worldview of Good versus Evil, and where sexual expression is definitely on the Evil side. Clergy are only human, and left to their own devices have just as many sexual thoughts and urges as anyone else. However these thoughts are a source of guilt for such people, as they have bought into a worldview where such natural inclinations and thoughts are seen as the temptations of the devil, and a sign of evil working in their lives.
They may well begin to see themselves as corrupt, guilty, and undeserving. Perhaps they see their young charges as innocent and happy, and desiring this same innocence themselves, an innocence which they have constructed as lost, they wish to possess it again, by sexually possessing these (in their minds) objects of innocence.
In any case, normal modes of sexual expression are denied them. They are in a position of trust and authority. Sexual possession of the innocent may allow them a perverse return to their own sexual innocence – temporarily at least. For of course given the world view they adopt, they must be conscious that their actions are “of the devil”. This leads to greater guilt, and a greater need for redemption, and a greater attraction to childhood innocence. In short, a vicious cycle of sexual predation on the young.
While the Christian religion in particular, and our society in general, sees the world as balanced between Good and Evil, and caught in the everlasting battle between God and the Devil, there will be no let up in the line of abused children.
And it is not just the priests. We are an entire society lusting after the innocence of youth, and at the same time rushing to corrupt and take advantage of youthful innocence to turn a dollar, in marketing, sales to children, TVs, movies, toys, music and so on. However attempting to fulfil this drive to recover our innocence by purchasing the appearance of innocent childhood, will provide no more than temporary relief.
To really reclaim our innocence is to reclaim the sacred nature of sexuality, and the sacred nature of creation, and to erase the brainwashing that says that the union of male and female in sexual congress is evil, and to erase the brainwashing that says that the union of a male and female divinity is blasphemous. It is not blasphemy. It is the beauty of creation, seen through innocent eyes. The reclamation of sexual innocence is not easy, as it requires, for most of us, a fundamental change in world view. Such changes require effort and commitment. However, for the practicing pagan, such a change sneaks up on one. The God and Goddess become real, and their union more than a metaphor. The recreation of the world occurs within the crucible of ritual, every time the Sacred Marriage of God and Goddess is ritually enacted. In time, one looks out upon the world and sees in every process and circumstance the sacred wheel of becoming – the interaction of the fertilising and generative principles, producing their offspring, and continuing on the cycle of life. There is no place for guilt or shame about sexuality itself, and no drive to recover sexual innocence – which in extreme form is, I believe, one of the drivers of child sexual abuse in our society, especially by clergy.
I don’t imagine that changing world views will remove all sexual exploitation. Nor do I believe that the pagan community is itself free from this scourge. There will still be selfish people who think more of satisfying their own desires than about the effect they might be having on others. But I hope that an airing of these issues will help in understanding how to overcome and reduce the sexual exploitation of children in our society.
BB,
Robyn