Controlled Desire

Ever wondered why religious leaders seem to be obsessed with sex? It's no so much because they really care about the subject; it's because they can divert the attention from themselves to the people. If everyone is always anxious about how they look at someone, or how someone looked at them, no one is paying attention to what goes on behind closed doors where the leaders live. Hence the Catholic Cardinal Pell can say abortion is worse than priests molesting children, for the former is done by the laity, and the latter by the leaders. (See: http://www.cathnewsusa.com/2013/05/cardinal-pell-who-said-abortion-is-worse-than-priests-raping-children-apologizes-for-cover-up/)

When everyone is obsessing about sex, few care about true justice, for justice has come to mean abstinence. Hence celibacy becomes the greatest form of devotion humans can offer to the divinity, and family becomes something only for incontinent people, who can't control themselves. But more so, women become the source of all evil, for when celibacy is the norm, a woman, who can seduce a man by simply being a woman, becomes injustice personified.

Although it is true that sex plays a big part in many crimes committed against humanity (such as trafficking and sex slavery), in of itself sex is amoral. We need sexual desire to continue the human race, and as a physical manifestation of love it is so tangible that it can be felt with every fiber of one's being. But when sex becomes a matter of control, it is transformed into something far less desirable; it becomes something ugly, a secret to be hidden, a sign of a lack of self-control that people shun and fear. And due to the fear people begin to avoid other humans, for sparks fly whenever they come in contact. Monasteries were built for that very reason, but it was an exercise of futility, for human desire cannot be locked in a cage; it is within us.

While some can successfully live a life of continence, for most it is an unrealistic expectation. As long as religious leaders use sex as a means of control, people will go elsewhere, or live in the shadows of shame. Neither is a viable option for those who love God and other humans, wherefore it would be so much better if those who walk before us would finally get the point and begin to obsess about something else, such as feeding widows and orphans.