Catholic Church excommunicates 9 year old rape victim

07/24/2009 in Atheism And Religion | 2 comments

Last March we  heard about a Brazilian child who after being raped by her stepfather conceived twins at the age of 9 years old.  Obviously she and her family decided to abort the babies considering her age and the danger of childbirth at such a young age, (and the circumstance of rape).  Because of this decision, the Catholic church responded by excommunicating the child, her mother and the doctors who conducted the procedure.

Abortion is illegal in Brazil except in cases of rape or when the mother’s life is in danger, both of which apply in this case. (The girl’s immature hips would have made labor dangerous; the Catholic opinion was that she could have had a cesarean section.) (via Time.com)

So much for a compassionate religious group.  After living through the trama of being raped by her stepfather, this religious institution expected this young girl to live through childbirth and becoming a mother at a point in her life where she has not even reached the AGE OF REASON.  As a naturalist, it matters not to me whether one is “in the catholic club” or not.  However, this sort of behaviour demonstrates how out of touch and desperate these magistrates and robe-wearing celibates are with the rest of the world.  Now, considering that Brazil is the most Catholic nation in the world, this brash move does not come as a surprise.   Recently Brazil’s population has declined from almost 100% Catholic to 74% catholic.  This encouraging statistic may have church officials on edge and more willing to “pull out all the stops” when trying to make their religion appear serious and legitimate.

I say we let the catholic leaders continue to don their colorful robes, pointy hats and golden staffs.   Let them throw people out of their club and offer pretend blood sacrifices like in the bronze age.  Let them dig their own graves.  Every superstition fads from fame.  Moon worship, Sun worship, Zeus… Jezeus is next.

Related posts:

  1. The Catholic “Church” Lobby group obsessed with SEX
  2. Why Humanists Should be Concerned with Catholic Rape
  3. Catholic Church Funding ACORN
  4. An Atheist in a Catholic Church

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  1. matt’s avatar

    matt on 08/05/2009 at 10:36 pm

    In the second paragraph you say that you don’t care whether someone is in the “catholic club,” so wtf are you writing this. If it doesn’t matter then don’t bring attention to it. If it does matter, then I would assume you are happy she was kicked out, in which case your whole article is backwards. I used to be Catholic once, since I felt I couldn’t follow the rules I left; AS I SHOULD HAVE. It’s like calling yourself a vegetarian, yet you go to the local steak house every week. If you don’t follow the rules, leave the group. If you don’t follow the rules, and don’t leave, your going to get your ass kicked out. And who the hell are you to say when the age of reason is. Some people learn to reason way before others. And I mean WAY before. As for the validity on the medical advice they received, who can tell. Party A says abortion, Party B says cesarean section. Without additional information, you can’t say either one is right or wrong. Maybe the parents really wanted the abortion and the doctors went along with it. Maybe the doctors were the ones who were the supporters of the abortion. Maybe they never even thought about a C-section. Like I said, without additional information, we’re all just ignorant bystanders.

  2. LiberatedMind’s avatar

    LiberatedMind on 08/06/2009 at 10:56 am

    Matt,

    I appreciate your comments, but I would like to leave the swearing and hateful tone out of the debate.

    The point of the article is to point out the disconnection between the Catholic Church and humanity. You are correct, I do not care if someone is in the Catholic Club or not, but what does matter is when a 9 year old girl who is part of the club is raped and then kicked out of the club. This matters because it gives us a real life example of how religion is applied to difficult situations and fails miserably. Asking a 9 year old to deliver babies conceived during rape is inhumane and cruel. The Catholic Church’s response to her situation was one of abandonment and denial, solving nothing. This shows the rest of us how the Church operates and where their morals are: stuck in the bronze age.

    Cheers!