Um....it was time to leave when the first public massive child molestation case happened decades ago which also included a massive thorough cover-up by the church.

It's time to use RICO to seize all the catholic church's assets in America and end them. What the fuck is wrong with people that they wouldn't want to eradicate this cabal of child molesters?

*promote telling Catholics to GTFO of this molestation gang or be labeled complicit in the molestation. You give tithe, you paid to molest children....you still tithe, then you're doing it knowingly and should be lumped in with the molesters.

Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Sunday, August 19th, 2018 10:50am PDT - promote requested by newtboy.

Let's also keep in mind these outrageous numbers are only the reported, documented, fairly well proven or admitted cases in one area of one state, records of which were finally found after decades of stonewalling by the church who intentionally blocked any investigation at every turn in their (successful) efforts to run out the clock on statutes of limitations so their members could escape justice. The real number of victims in just that area alone must be 100 times larger if history is any guide.
The real national numbers would be easily 1000-10000 times larger. World wide, you have to multiply by millions.

This is the MO of the catholic church and has been for endless decades. Move (not remove) the abusers and hide the abuses, then apologize much later for the sins of your predecessors while continuing to shield them (and while secretly shielding the current known crop).
Where are the right wing nutjobs breaking into churches to rescue kids from the Catholic sex slave trade? This story is true and verified, but Piousgate is repeatedly ignored while pizzagate is still a thing.
Sweet zombie Jebus.

Too busy praising the Donald.

He would have more success trying to catch a unicorn in Central Park. The church has deep pockets and plays a long game that span far beyond any individual's lifetime.

I think the intricacies of the arguments and the moral implications were best put in song form:
*related=https://videosift.com/video/Pope-Song

Pope Song has been added as a related post - related requested by noims.

I'm an atheist and will always be one of the first in line to suggest that religions should be subject to criticism and the rule of law just like any other organization.

That being said, I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea that congregations are complicit in the misdeeds of the institution itself, whether or not they are aware of verified instances of misdeeds. ...Pretty slippery slope.

Expand that to, say, nations. In the history of the US, the government has committed some pretty indefensible atrocities. Genocide, mass relocation, and other offenses against Native Americans in the name of "manifest destiny". Enslavement of a race of people based on skin color, with disenfranchisement and continued abuse well after slavery was abolished, with elements that certainly persist to this day. Funding and supplying extremist organizations because they happen to have a short-term enemy that coincides with ours, which frequently comes back to bite us in the ass later. Using underhanded tricks including false-flag operations to justify wars and other offensive actions. Attempting to assassinate democratically elected leaders of foreign governments. And on and on.

Are all US citizens complicit in those misdeeds, merely by an accident of birth? But those things were in the past, you might argue. Given the depth of dirt you can find on our past with a little digging, I'd say it is reasonable to expect that there's things that the government is doing now that we may or may not be aware of that would be similarly difficult to defend.

Many/most Catholics can either remain intentionally blissfully ignorant about these problems, or will be able to go to great lengths to rationalize their way around them. Just like most US citizens don't lose much sleep over our government's past and present misdeeds. In either case, indoctrination puts the blinders on -- and can be incredibly difficult to escape.

For the religious, "love the sinner, hate the sin" is an oft-repeated phrase. As an atheist outraged by these scandals and the decades/centuries of intentional cover-ups by the Church itself, I might be tempted to turn that on its head. "Accept the religious, hate the religion." By all means, be outraged towards the institution itself. By all means, fight to end the protections that have allowed this kind of abuse to go unchecked. But perhaps try to keep some (Christian?) empathy for the average Catholic congregation members who have been brainwashedindoctrinated their whole lives and are likely in too deep to escape. Reserve that hatred for the clergy that abused their positions of power and control to commit these crimes, and the organizational system that systematically allowed it to happen while covering it up. They deserve every bit of hate you throw their way.

No. I disagree completely.

Paying taxes to support your government is mandatory and not doing so is punishable by law, with the full force of law enforcement backing that up.
Paying tithe and supporting a gang of known repeated, continuous child molesters and their helpers/protectors is a conscious free choice, as is remaining intentionally ignorant of their crimes (if that's even possible).

There's no correlation. It's not a slippery slope at all imo.

Now if you choose to stand up in support of those disastrous government programs, cheering them on and backing their supporters, then you're complicit.