Why Priesthood Often Gets a Bad Name: An Analysis
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
14
September 2022
“Prostitution, Priesthood And Politics Are The
Oldest Professions In The World. Barring The First One, I'm Not Very Sure about
the Integrity of the Other Two. "
H L Mencken, American journalist
The recent
sexual exploitation of two minor girls at a hostel by the pontiff of a famous
Mutt in Karnataka again gives birth to the same question: Why do we repeatedly
fall into the trap of these so-called 'holy' men, whose carnal desires and
perversions are often far stronger than those of common men? It's time to analyse
this murky phenomenon of Lust & Liturgy going hand in hand. Agreed, the
presumption of innocence applies here that implies every person accused of any
crime is considered innocent until proven guilty. So, prudence entails that
aspersions shouldn't be cast upon the pontiff as the case is sub judice. At the
same time, we cannot generalize by stating that all these holy people are shady
and priapic. There could be a few with a rather clean image. But the question
remains as to why ' holy' people are often embroiled in such activities?
Because of the perceived spiritual
halo effect surrounding priesthood, the 'holy' men are often exempted from
scrutiny. They enjoy some sort of immunity from ignominy and censure. The
religio-scriptural protection provided to them accords a 'divine' status to
priests and pontiffs. But are they different from godmen and godwomen India is
replete with? Priests and godmen are the two sides of the same coin. The
difference lies between the former getting the stamp of direct and sanctified
religiosity and the latter calling themselves men of god. Both the categories
often exploit people, esp. women, in the name of religion, ritual and
faith.
An aura of inviolable invincibility around
these 'holy' characters exonerates them of all wrong and questionable doings.
Despite knowing that gurudom/priesthood is an outright vague and shady
business, people willingly fall into the trap of these swindlers because
humans, esp. Indians, look up to them as god incarnates or the earthly agents
of god. In other words, we deify them. This Deification Syndrome acts as a
cataract, nay a glaucoma, to our vision and we cannot discern the ' designs' of
holy characters. Psychologists are of the view that when credulous followers
invest complete religious faith in a person or object, that person's anomalous behaviour
(read ' misdeeds ') is often overlooked and this constant overlooking by the
gullible followers emboldens the godmen, priests and cult leaders. What do many
Christian priests, esp. Catholic priests, do? They take undue advantage of
their church-sanctified 'holy' status and indulge in all sorts of murky
behaviour and carnal activities with impunity. Despite their flagrant and
heinous deeds, their followers still worship them like gods and they still
believe that these 'holy' people are innocent and as pure as a white lily! This
blind faith is a catalyst to godmen and priests' unquestioning and hypnotizing
spell on their followers.
At the same time, our silly belief that
all these ' people of god ' being free of physical desires and are eternal celibates
also contributes to the charade of gurudom and priesthood. The Celibacy
Syndrome, integral to all man-made faiths, exacerbates the whole issue. It
entails as well as perpetuates a very wrong belief that sex is not meant for
'pious' people. Since these 'pious' people project themselves as paragons of
chastity and divinity, they condemn sex in public but long for it in the
privacy of four walls. In other words, they preach water but drink wine. What
they condemn publicly, they covet privately.
Our religio-psychological dependency and
unwavering faith in these spurious people make the turbid business of organized
faiths very productive. At the same time, all these priests and Pujaris have a
proximity to politicians who protect them. So, such licentious gurus and
priests thrive with a comforting sense of unmitigated freedom to enjoy the
'fruits of flesh in the garb of spirituality.'
As long as
humans remain under the fear of religion and god, these awfully bad and impious
characters shall continue to grow like water hyacinths and however hard you may
try to extirpate them, they'll burgeon back to exploiting their timid and
god-terrified followers sexually and emotionally. The brainless masses will
also continue to be deceived by these lascivious sadhus, priests and godmen
quite gleefully.
-----
A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/priesthood-bad-name-analysis/d/127945
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