On Real Time with Bill Maher last night, the host and guest Christopher Hitchens discussed the current new reports, and institutional cover-ups, of child molestation by Catholic priests. Hitchens and Maher, both committed atheists, cheerfully admitted they were there to “gloat” about the scandal, while casting the crimes in the most stark language. “Let’s not call it ‘child abuse,’” said Hitchens. “It’s the rape and torture of children.”
“This is the one crime one cannot think about without vomiting,” said Hitchens.
It was pretty invigorating to see and hear something like this discussed on TV, where the iron-clad rule is that there are two sides to every story, and the opposite side must be given air-time. As Maher noted, there’s no one who’s going to come forward and make the “pro-child abuse” case.
Of course, Hitchens is the man who wrote an entire book condemning Mother Teresa. Between his ferocious anti-Catholicism and the way Maher’s smugness can get in the way of even his good observations, I’ll bet there were some viewers watching this who thought, yeah, well, they have a point, but do they have to condemn everything about the Church?
What do you think?
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Well, if other people had talked more openly over the years and the Church had been open and honest, maybe it wouldn’t come to the intensity of Hitchens and Maher.
But what do you expect when the church lies and basically enables child molesters over the years? Child molestation is abominable wherever it appears and whoever does it. But it is even more despicable when members of the “faith”, who many people trust, do this to those in their care.
And FYI, I’m a Catholic and have NO Problem with people like Maher and hitchens being vehement about this. More people should be talking about this. But the church has done an incredible job not only of hiding its complicity but in shutting up the media.
I agree. How else can you discuss it? These are despicable acts committed by trusted members of the church. They should be treated even harsher because they are members of the church.
I have no problem with Maher and Hitchens calling out these disgusting hypocrites.
Thank God for one thing, both Hithcens and Maher are going to hell and that makes me so happy!
…you mean the hell mentioned in the New Testament but NOT the Old Testament? How Christian of you!
I hope your comment is directed at your belief in general (though the bible states that only god knows who is going where) and not off what Hitch and Maher said. B/c that would put you defending the one true church in this debate.
Thank God for one thing, both Hithcens and Maher are going to hell and that makes me so happy!
/// oh my god said not to judge ….
why …because HE will be the JUDGE
In hell as opposed to your heaven with the hipocritical child molesters who believe they are above the law because of their affiliation with the church. Are you retarded or just that brainwashed by god?
there is no hell. there is no god. stop with the non-sense.
Yeah and I’m going to hang out with the Easter Bunny after I get done violating the Tooth Fairy while Santa Claus videotapes us so Misses Claus can post on her Facebook Page. Can we please stop giving these crackpot pedophiles tax exempt status!
We’re already in hell by living with people like you.
@Donknottz-LMAO!!
Thanks D!
Your belief in hell and it’s likely candidates is an interesting one you get there because you lack a belief in God ??The evil perpetrators of child abuse who happen to be priests well they can do a bunch of hail mary’s and be forgiven and go to heaven ???If there is a God I’m sure God is secure and allows people to question his or her existance.Evil acts and not thoughts and beliefs get you into hell.
SO ARE THE PRIESTS!!! OR…
BE RE-BORN AS A SLUG.
Absolutely agree. Like Bill Maher said last week, if the Catholic Church were a chain of day care centers, it would be out of business after just ONE of these incidents. Because it’s RELIGION, it’s OK. These people are choosing their own butts and their friends over the well-being of the children in their charge (for years), and it’s just disgusting. Whether or not you believe in religion or not (or Catholicism or not) has nothing to do with the fact that this situation is 100% immoral.
I am a Catholic. I watched Bill Maher last night and the cover up and sexual assault that was perpetrated on children is the most horrible violation of trust and innocence. This Pope can not carry the jock of Pope John Paul II. He was a member of the Hitler Youth. He as Archbishop of Munich transfered many degenerate priests to parishes where they could target even more kids. As a Cardinal in the Vatican he gave sanctuary to Cardinal Bernard Law who was facing indictment in Massachusetts for his actions in covering up the assaults by priests in his diocese of Boston. The Pope is also a head of state because the Vatican is technically a country. The only redeeming quality is that this Pope is in his eighties and he shouldn’t be around too much longer.
Hey George, If there is one thing the pope can do it’s carry a jock. They have had thousands of years of practice from well you know!
Could the Church be indicted as a criminal enterprise under RICO??
Bill and Christopher are right. What is the other side of the story? We make a big deal about keep pedophiles away from kids, but we don’t care if the pedophiles are priests. This just goes to show people how screwed up religion (Catholic Church) really is.
Thank you! You are absolutely correct. I was raised catholic and I am a retired crime analyst…the fact that the church has gotten away with such crime is reprehensible…child cruelty is a crime and those priests should have been treated as the criminals they are. If the church had not lied and covered up, there would have been much more support towards them…however, the ones who hid the facts of molestation should be treated as criminals as well. Many children suffered at the hands of priests and nuns as well.
Exactly. The priests who covered it up AND sent pedophiles to other parishes where they abused more children were “aiding and abetting a criminal”. Prison. Period.
F— the RCC.
What do we think??? Does that even need to be asked? Why are we even musing about this? The sexual abuse of children, and cover-up of same, is among the most horrific acts that can be committed. These people need prison for life. In the U.S. the Feds need to use RICO as the Catholic Church has become a criminal enterprise in regards to this.
Are you serious? What do we think? It’s only because its a church that these people aren’t in prison now. If it were the guy next door, if the neighbors didn’t kill him, he’d be in prison as we speak.
the Catholic Church needs to be prosecuted all the way to the Pope if necessary. It is a criminal organization and its assets must be seized. ANYONE who donates to this church, or supports it in any way, is supporting child abuse, child rape and pedophilia.
And the fact that you even hint in this article that the Church has been treat unfairly in this is STUNNING.
Shut . . . it . . . down.
Chill out. Geez. What do you think…what are your thoughts…any comments…all mean the same thing. It’s a friggin blog.
Not “to” the Pope; INCLUDING the Pope! He’s supposed to be perfect and right in all his teachings. Maureen Dowd in today’s NYTimes OpEd page says Benedict should be sent back to Bavaria; INDEED!!! Makes me ashamed to even be a “fallen away” Catholic!
For the love of television, can’t someone else write reviews about Real Time wtih Bill Maher? With every review, your dislike for his show manages to overtake the review. This review wasn’t as bad as past reviews, but I think Maher and Hitchens made rather excellent points last night. It IS the rape of children, and why should they do anything but condemn it??
so michele you’d prefer EW hire only critics that like what you like. interesting thought.
until they find one, is it cool if they keep expressing their own perfectly valid opinions?
of course not. It’d just be nice if every review of this show wasn’t so ridiculously biased. “Gloating” about the sex abuse scandal? Give me a break.
In Ken’s defense, they really were “gloating” about this situation because it just proves their points about how they view the Catholic church. Ken is just letting us take it from there…And I totally agree with bob. It’s his job to be a critic, and he’s made it clear he doesn’t like Bill Maher’s show (even though I love it), so what do you want him to say? Either way, it’s interesting to note that as much as Ken hates the show, it still seems to hold him as a viewer since it gives him so much to write about.
I agree with Michele – why have someone review a show that they NEVER seem to like
They actually refer to the fact that they are gloating withing the first few moments of the clip!
Yes – and the same goes for the posters – so please leave.
I haven’t watched this week’s ep yet but Maher (and every comedian, really) bugs me with the whole Catholic Church scandal. Yes, it’s horrible and those involved deserve to be raked over the coals. But the fact that it has become a joke disgusts me. These are young kids who were raped and sexually abused by spiritual leaders they were supposed to be able to trust and their plight has become a national punchline. It just bothers me so much. Condemn the Church all you want, even as a Catholic I admit they deserve it, but leave the kids out of it. It’s not a joke.
It’s obvious you didn’t watch the episode because Maher did not make a joke about it. He was very serious in condemning these priests and the church for covering up. No jokes were made about the victims.
Exactly. There was no joke.
Maher hates God. Good, he can go to hell, he’ll fit in well there.
Have you ever heard what he thinks of children, Google that one!
He’s just a little dope-smokin punk.
Yes Jeff, we get it: you don’t like Bill Maher. So could you maybe stick to the topic, or are you in favor of child molestation?
Hey Chris, go suck a railroad spike!
Oh, I get it, you were the one molested. I’m sorry you were molested Chris. Of course I’m not for that. You can still have a good life though. Just don’t bite yourself or commit suicide when you’re older.
Maher doesn’t hate god … how can you hate something that you know doesn’t exist.
Hey Jeff, go wash you mouth out with buckshot, brother. Hail Satan!
Actually he doesn’t hate god – he’s just not very sure there is one (since there is no proof) but be intensely dislike most of gods followers.
Your point is well taken, except that I think in this regard the damage is done…the ridicule of these people is all that is left. These nameless children are brought up, but the named individuals of the Catholic Church reap their infamy
John, who is making fun of the kids? No one is joking about the kids themselves. Any and all jokes are at the expense of the Church, who absolutely deserve everything that they get.
I get that but why is this something to make jokes about at all? This is something that needs to be discussed seriously, not something Jay Leno uses in his monologue. I understand no one is making fun of the kids, themselves, but (in my mind, at least) every Catholic priest joke is at the EXPENSE of these kids and that’s just wrong.
Maybe you should put more of your criticism of “taking it seriously” at the pope and the church for their egregious behavior concerning thses matters. It’s not up to Bill Maher to bring this issue to the forefront, he’s just the only one who has the courage to say anything condemning the church.
john, it doesn’t matter if you think the jokes are at the expense of the kids or not- they’re all pretty obviously crafted not to be. this is what humor is- finding the funny in pain.
lighten the eff up.
The only reason comedians touch this subject is because the media and the government do not step up and portray it as the bad horrible thing that it is. Government should be all over the church, revoke status and tax exemptions, punishing them for when they do these things, but because the church has money, they are able to just blame the media for bias and pay off the government officials (ALL over the world, not just here in the US)
I don’t think they condemned the church enough! People in the Catholic Church covered up the molestation of children. They didn’t care about the children, they only cared about protecting this false sanctity of the Church. If this happened in a public school or any secular institution, there would be hell to pay for the parties involved but for some reason when religion is brought into things, people become so frightened to criticize those that DESERVE to be criticized. The Catholic Church holds no value in this society. It is only holding us back from progress.
i agree, they didn’t go far enough. i find it unbelievable that all these cases of child rape go unprosecuted. more people need to speak up so that the vatican is shamed into actually doing something to stop it and pay restitution once and for all.
I’m a Catholic (and I think I will be till the day I die) but you are correct in your assessment. Catholics should truly DEMAND from the powers that be (in the Church) that these heinous acts are not acceptable. Members of the clergy who commit these heinous acts deserve to be brought to justice. It riles me up when the Church and its powerful members are quick to condemn people who are pro-choice. But they become surprisingly quiet when something like this happens.
Agreed. If this happened anywhere else other than the church, these people would be punished. Instead, it gets swept under the rug and catholics just pretend it didn’t happen.
Does anyone not find it sad that THOSE were the guests that he could come up with? It might have been his worst show to date. And I think that is saying something. This show could be great. It so isn’t. There is no balance or intelligent discussion. No debate. Any time there is a conservative, they jump on him and that audience. Jesus. I would love a show that I hear a viewpoint and I think, wow, I never saw it that way before. (I am a Libertarian, and pretty moderate so that is possible).
Uhm- “balance or intelligent discussion?…anytime there is a conservative, they jump on him”?
You mean in the way Faux News presents such “Balance and intelligent discussion?”
It’s a liberal show. One against the slew of those hate propagandists like O’Reilly and Hannity and the likes.
As big a role as churches are playing in politics despite the Constitution providing for seperation of church and state- they should be taxed. And NOT allowed the rights given to corporations given by the corporate lackeys on the SCOTUS. The USA is dead…look back to Reagan for the seeds of the rights becoming stillborn.
Isn’t it funny to watch people like Mann Coulter accuse others of hate?
“GLOAT”?????? WTF? I watched it last night and they most definitely did not “gloat”. They were horrified and pointed out that the Catholic church has repeatedly shown that they are more concerned with protecting these pedophile priests and their institution than they are with protecting children in their parishes. It’s a crying shame and someone needs to step up and put a stop to it. How many times does this sort of scandal have to break before someone does something????
I put the word “gloat” in quotation marks because it was a quote from Maher and Hitchens. THEY said they were going to gloat about it, I didn’t. And I’m glad they did.
snap.
crackle
Except they were talking about what people would say about them talking about it. They did not say “let’s gloat.” It was more of “people will say we are gloating.”
Actually, Hitchens said “I am” gloating. Not about the rape of children, but of the abuse being exposed.
If Bill cares about kids why wasn’t he speaking out against Roman Polanski or Woody Allen?????
He did speak out about Roman Polanski.
This is not a religious problem. If anyone has any experience with child abuse, they know that the perpetrator is usually a member of the family or a close friend of the family because of the trust factor and the fact that the child will likely not say anything, and if they do, there is the chance the family will deny it, cover it up, or minimize its seriousness (I know this from personal experience). Why? Because this is probably the biggest taboo of our culture, as well as the worst wrongdoing. It is the human condition to sweep under the carpet taboo. Priests are human. This is a pedophilia problem that the church, like many families, has not dealt with in a wrong way. It is no more a religious problem than it is a race or sexual orientation problem. It may be a cultural problem within the church, but it has nothing more to do with the Catholic church’s actual beliefs than terrorism has to do with Islam.
i agree its not a religious belief, but you hit the nail on the head when you call it a “cultural” problem within the catholic church: abuse is becoming as linked in people’s minds as terrorism is with islamic followers. and whether the chicken comes before the egg and men with those inclinations choose the priesthood, or whether the strict rules of celibacy and marraige result in these horrors, either way the Catholic church needs to stop putting its head in the sand and revering tradition above all else and come up with a better system. until the church shows some backbone and *remorse*, in my opinion people have the right to scorn them in whatever way they choose.
Actually, pedophiles often choose professions or hobbies that put them in proximity to children. They become schoolteachers, little league coaches, Catholic priests, and even Protestant ministers…all these people have access to children, so pedophiles go there. Celibacy does not cause pedophilia anymore than homosexuality causes pedophilia. That is just silly. A Catholic priest pedophile is the same as any other pedophile…he takes advantage of a position of trust to abuse children. While the Church’s lack of action and active cover-ups over the years deserve all the anger and scorn received, to imply that the Church’s traditions are to blame is wrong. The traditions of the Church are beautiful and, as a practicing Catholic, they bring joy, peace, and unity. Additionally, tarring the entire priesthood is also wrong. There are many good priests who are just as horrified over the abuse of children and the Church’s cover-up as everyone on this board.
Maher and Hitchens are both blow-hards who think they know everything and the people who disagree with them are idiots. There is no room for a different point of view because it will just be denigrated. I don’t know why anyone even listens to either one of them. Even when Maher has a point, it is difficult to cede it to him because he is such an overbearing tool…
A huge crux of the issue is that the male dominated hierarchy of the RCC has made it easy for pedophiles to hide and be protected within its ranks. While an organization that connects with children is going to have pedophiles attracted to it, the more egalitarian faith organizations and structures aren’t dealing with this on a scale larger than any other institution. The structure of this one particular faith organization, and the dominance of certain men who are seen as closer to God than other men and all women has created an environment where this has become possible. The power structure has to be opened up to a much broader spectrum of people, and reorganization must take place – or this terrible thing will continue to happen.
thank you
I have to disagree on this…I think it very much is linked to the Catholic faith and attitudes regarding priests. There is a distinct attitude within the church that a priest is not just a man-but something more, and closer to God, and therefore above the laws of man.
I am surprised and extremely pleased that up to the time I am writing this, there has only been thoughtful and intelligent conversation about this recap. No Bible thumpers predicting that we will all go to Hell for condemning the Church’s actions.
P.S. If organized religion were taxed, all of our country’s financial problems would disappear. I don’t understand how they are exempt from taxation if there is separation of church and state.
Well, no Nancy, we haven’t had any “Bible-thumpers”. We have, however, had several hate-filled secularists like you, however. Even if there were Bible-thumpers here though, you could always cheer yourself up by having an abortion.
You can’t possibly even think that’s an intelligent response, right lala? I mean, you must be joking because I can’t imagine anyone being so filled with hate. Seriously? You think someone would be happy by just having an abortion? Really? Well, you’re probably a troll since no one can be that stupid, so good job on getting a response out of me.
Lala
It’s just too bad your mother did not have an abortion. Is it hard sitting in a pew with your head rammed up your lower extremities?
Lala the only hatred being spewed here is coming from your mouth or is that your anus speaking??
true bible thumpers don’t believe catholics are “christians” only those who are fundamentalist sevangelical christians are going to heaven, serious bible thumpers hate catholics and their religion so they don’t care what we all say about catholics LOL
True that.
Hitchens called this abuse what it is. Rape and torture.
Even if they were gloating (which they weren’t), I wouldn’t care because we are talking about child rapists and their protectors. Read the accounts of some of those deaf children who tried to get help, starting in 1954 and were repeatedly ignored. It’s beyond horrible and disgusting. Hitchens and Mayer have been warning for years about the abuses of religion and I am sure they take no pleasure in being right for its own sake. So, misguided outrage on Ken’s part, what matters is that all of this is coming to the light.
What else does the church have to do to make Mr. Tucker not write a “Aww, give the church a break” article? Maher was right in that the right and left agree that this is horrible and pure evil.
…? This has nothing to do with “left v. right”. It has to do with two men who more or less openly admit hating the Catholic Church taking the opportunity to “gloat” about a horrific situation because it reinforces their hate.
And MN? How many hundreds of millions of people does the Catholic Church need to help, aid, inspire, counsel, care for and love before your narrow hateful view of a 2000 year old institution recognizes this good it’s done?
Good deeds can’t make me forgive the child rape. Sorry, it just can’t.
You’re not being asked to “forget”, you’re being asked to “aknowledge”.