Religion as a Gateway to Sexual Predation

Because of the status it confers on to its "priests", religion transforms the latter into "holy men" who ought to be listened to and believed. That has been humanity's primitive trajectory throughout its evolution: To elevate members of the tribe as "mediators" with the divine and thus confer on them higher status. And to buttress their position of power, these priests, witch doctors, sorcerers, shamans and religious charlatans strike deals with the political power in place (president, king, chief, etc.). For example, Donald Trump and his Evangelical Christian advisors.

Problem is that these priests, mediators, sorcerers, charlatans and such highly ranked members, virtually all the time men, have libidos. The high status they are granted by the tribe tends to give them liberties they would otherwise not have, including stealing money from the common wealth of the tribe and engaging in illegitimate sexual activities. Few victims dare complain because the perpetrator "speaks to God" and "God speaks to him", and he knows what God thinks, etc... Would anyone challenge God if God was a sexual predator? No (because in reality God does not exist; He wouldn't show up in court to defend Himself). Would anyone challenge God's spokesman or intermediary if he were a sexual predator? Not until recently, and these spokesmen are humans that can be dragged to court.

Most sexual abuse victims by religious figures have kept silent for millennia. For some, it was considered an honor to be desired sexually by the priest or the shaman or God's representative. Only God knows how many women were impregnated by priests. Only God knows how many indigenous female inhabitants of the colonized world were impregnated by Jesuit, Evangelical, and other Western Christian missionaries in the New World. Only God knows how many women of the Central and Souther Asian geographies were impregnated by Arab Muslim conquerors spreading the "only true faith" along with their seminal fluids.

The credulity of average ignorant people has not waned in the face of charlatans claiming to be sent by God to save you and me from sins we did not know we committed, including the ultimate sin of being simply born according to Christian gospel. Yes, indeed, the "original sin", as it were, plagues you the moment you leave your mother's womb. Therefore, the divine intermediaries (priests and associated charlatans) must save you from your original sin: In some cults they dipped you in water and make hand meaningless hand gestures over your head. In other cults, they cut parts of your genitalia. In others, they cut deep scars in your facial skin. The possibilities are many to scar you for life and remind you to which cult you belong.

Here is an instance of a God Messenger and his "good" deeds in the Philippines, right now in 2024:

=====================================================


Hundreds of police raid a religious compound in search of Filipino preacher wanted for child abuse
JIM GOMEZ
Sat, August 24, 2024


Apollo Quiboloy appears on his talk show on May 23, 2016, in Davao City, southern Philippines. (AP Photo, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)


MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Hundreds of police officers backed by riot squads raided a vast religious compound in a southern Philippine city Saturday in search of a local preacher accused of sexual abuse and human trafficking, police officials said.

A supporter of the group, called Kingdom of Jesus Christ, reportedly died due to a heart attack during the massive police raid that started at dawn in the group’s compound in Davao city, livestreamed online by a local TV network owned by the group, police said, adding that the death was not related to the police operations.

Officers brought equipment that could detect people behind cement walls. But by mid-afternoon, they found no sign of Apollo Quiboloy in the compound — some 30 hectares (75 acres) that includes a cathedral, a school, a living area, a hangar and a taxiway leading to Davao International Airport.

Quiboloy and his lawyer have denied the criminal allegations against him and his religious group, saying these were fabricated by critics and former members, who were removed from the religious group after committing irregularities.

Quiboloy’s followers, many filming the police raid with their cellphones, yelled at the police, questioning the legality of the raid and pronouncing the innocence of Quiboloy, who was a close supporter and spiritual adviser of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte had criticized previous attempts by large numbers of police to arrest Quiboloy as overkill.

Quiboloy claims to be the appointed son of God. In 2019, he claimed he stopped a major earthquake from hitting the southern Philippines.

Police Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, who led the raid, said officers wanted to serve warrants for the arrest of Quiboloy for various criminal cases, including child abuse and human trafficking. He justified the large deployment, saying there were more than 40 buildings and structures to be searched in the religious compound, where large numbers of Quiboloy’s followers heckled and opposed the raid noisily.

“We won’t leave here until we get him,” Torre told reporters as sirens blared in the background. “We have no-bail warrants for Quiboloy and four others for very grave crimes, including human trafficking, child abuse and other cases.”

In 2021, United States federal prosecutors announced the indictment of Quiboloy for allegedly having sex with women and underage girls who faced threats of abuse and “eternal damnation” unless they catered to the self-proclaimed “son of God."

Quiboloy and two of his top administrators were among nine people named in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury and unsealed in November 2021.

The superseding indictment contained a raft of charges, including conspiracy, sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, marriage fraud, money laundering, cash smuggling and visa fraud.

Quiboloy’s group said then that he was ready to face the charges in court, but he went into hiding after a Philippine court ordered his arrest and several others for child and sexual abuse. The Philippine Senate has separately ordered Quiboloy’s arrest for refusing to appear in committee hearings that was looking into criminal allegations against him.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has urged Quiboloy to surrender and assured him of fair treatment by authorities.

When he was mayor of Davao city and later as president, Duterte appeared in Quiboloy’s news program to promote his police-enforced drug crackdowns, which left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead. Duterte and his police officials have denied authorizing extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, but he openly threatened drug dealers with death when he was in office.

The International Criminal Court has been investigating the widespread killings under Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs as a possible crime against humanity.