If you listen to Christians talk about their religion, you could swear their members must all be saints, blessed with a greater gift for compassion than their fellow man. If a person is devout, people automatically assume they are dedicating their lives to some higher purpose, and their connection with God makes them moral pillars of society.

It’s a perception that survives despite the countless times priests, monks, nuns and bishops are caught in a variety of scandals, ranging from embezzlement to child abuse. The latest incident involves the Catholic-run reform school in Ireland, where a 2900 page report painted a most unflattering picture of a huge variety of abuses dating back all the way to the 1930′s.

The schools were little more than slave labor camps, where children, living in constant terror, would be beaten, humiliated or raped for failing to manufacture rosaries in the workhouse style reform school. Amidst the controversy surrounding the report, the Church sought to bury the names and identities of the serial child molesters, either dead or living, and won the right to do so. It seems like identifying the abusers isn’t as important as protecting known child rapists. Can’t you just taste the justice?

When are we going to stop allowing these monsters to get away with these kinds of atrocities? Here you have a powerful religious institutions literally raping kids, and nothing is being done about it. If this had been any other organization angry mob wielding torches would have burned the place down. But because a religion is involved, everyone is putting on their kid gloves.

I find it insulting and mortifying that religions still get such special treatments with regard to human rights offenders. Just who is supposed to be the moral guides in this world? Does anyone want to listen to a bunch of child molesters tell us how we need to get into heaven? If there was a hell, these guys would have booked a first class flight there when they die.