Five Thai monks charged over sexual abuse of minors: police

[retsdon]

There are some good monks in Thailand, but a lot are well dodgy. The other thing is that Thais in general seem unwilling to countenance the idea of child sex abuse. In the moo ban that we stay for a couple of months a year there's a character who spends all his time with the young boys. When I raised this with my wife, her reply was that he's a bit simple. - which he probably is. But when I pointed out that, simple or not, as a young man in his 20s he's bound to have urges, and that as he doesn't interact with people his own age whatsoever, those urges might quite possibly be directed where they shouldn't be, it was like a light coming on. She hadn't even considered the possibility.

As we have kids of our own, I asked her to just quietly find out from the neighbors if there were any rumours. But she didn't want to even raise it. "Mai dai!'

Needless to say I've told my kids to give this guy a wide berth, and if he ever speaks to them, to just walk away. - and tell me. Anyway, the point is that if it's so hard to even talk about the possibility that the village idiot might not be 100 percent trustworthy, imagine how hard it would be to raise issues about the local abbot or a monk.

[nidieunimaitre]

I know catholics priests had bad press in recent time but buddhist monk are of a totally different league.

IMO, Catholic priests are a lot worse. They were preaching against homosexuality while molesting little boys or covering up for those that did. The monks might be perves, but they are a lot less hypocritical.

Please remember that homosexuality and pedophilia are not the same thing. Priests who are molesting children are not gay, they pedophiles.

Please remember the origin and meaning of the word. If they are molesting children of the same gender, they can accurately be described as homosexual paedophiles. It has no other connotations than homosexual police officer.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

You don't give up, do you - not even after your more explicit post was deleted by the moderators.

And the maybe most common ones are heterosexual incest paedophiles, commonly known as "fathers and uncles".

[JRSoul]

I would not worry too much about these monks getting jail sentences. What i want to know is if they can get early release if they become.a monk again like a lot of long time prisoners do.

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

If a monk has any kind of sex with another person from that moment on they are no longer a monk...if they continue to stay in robes they are creating huge amounts of bad karma for themselves.

('entry of the organ into any orifice .... human or non-human ... to the depth of a mustard seed.')

Once disrobed they are not able to ordain again in this lifetime....unless they lie about it....then much more bad karma.

One second in hell is not worth it..... let alone hundred of years.

I'm sure all that bad karma is a great deterrent - unless, of course, they have realised it is only religious mumbo-jumbo BS.

[Greg Nixon]

This story is about Buddhist monks. Any anecdotes? One very obvious abuse of their positions is the too many temples with few attendees. Much time is spent raising money for these ornate temples. Meanwhile back in the real world, Thais go without.

Another obvious abuse is that the monks do little real work. They do a lot of begging but what real work do they do ? I see them shopping, smoking and drinking beer but how do they actually contribute to the GDP ?

When was the last time a monk helped you or a neighbour ? I thought love and charity was about giving not about receiving.

Lastly the prayers that they chant are not in the Thai language and are not understandable to most Thais. Of what value is that ?

Witch doctors.

Buddha would be shocked. He did not envision this adulteration of his teachings.

[retsdon]

Lastly the prayers that they chant are not in the Thai language and are not understandable to most Thais. Of what value

It would be a sad day were the Sanskrit chants to be translated for the convenience of a local population. Every Buddhist knows them, and every Buddhist knows what they mean in their own language. The chants are thus universal and timeless - and that's what gives them their power to inspire and guide. They are beyond borders and eras.

[MILT]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I know catholics priests had bad press in recent time but buddhist monk are of a totally different league.

IMO, Catholic priests are a lot worse. They were preaching against homosexuality while molesting little boys or covering up for those that did. The monks might be perves, but they are a lot less hypocritical.

Faulty logic here but I won't wast my time with you.

The catholic church built school who provided eduction to people all over the world. Which other religion did that ? Please answer.

Among the thousands of people who sacrifice their life to provide education to the less favorized, there was a few bad apples. You focus on them because of your twisted mind.

Al Capone built schools too. Defending the indefensible.

[selftaopath]

" 95 percent of the population are practising Buddhists, "

WOW!!! Really? If one was to observe behavior of Thai citizens s/he would be hard pressed to see a formidable "practice" of Buddhist principles. Didn't the Buddha suggest.... do not lie, cheat, steal, get drunk, etc.?

So are the masses "practicing" to get it "right"? Or is the term Buddhist used loosely or ideally?

[Ulysses G.]

How many people do what their religion tells them to do, anywhere? Thais are Buddhists like Christians are Christians and Muslims are Muslims. There are a lot of hypocrites when it comes to religion.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Ulysses G.

[Strangebrew]

That's taking packing your chit to the next level.

[GAZZPA]

I know catholics priests had bad press in recent time but buddhist monk are of a totally different league.

IMO, Catholic priests are a lot worse. They were preaching against homosexuality while molesting little boys or covering up for those that did. The monks might be perves, but they are a lot less hypocritical.

Faulty logic here but I won't wast my time with you.

The catholic church built school who provided eduction to people all over the world. Which other religion did that ? Please answer.

Among the thousands of people who sacrifice their life to provide education to the less favorized, there was a few bad apples. You focus on them because of your twisted mind.

Defending the catholic church is very noble not to mention daunting given its history of witch hunting, financial corruption, child molesting, cover ups the CIA would admire, not to mention the Spanish inquisition, the Borgias and murdering the odd pope.

Good luck......... you'll need it!

In two minds about whether to bother replying to your post,,, so here goes.

The catholic faith is not a bad religion. You mention a few things that can easily be argued against but I will leave you to search for those things (if you are open minded enough to bother). The whole point is that there are always good and bad in every organization, wherever you go.

The religion in itself is good as is Buddhism and various others, none of them do harm in their principles and beliefs. The polluting factor is always people, and in this instance it's the same again.

It is foolish to brand a religion or belief system as bad because some individuals behave badly, there are millions of others who share the same faith and belief that do not behave in such a way. And as for referring to witch hunts that was a very long time ago and during those times people behaved very differently in all walks of life compared to today.

i for one know many catholics and I find them to be happy and peaceful people who deplore this behavior as much as anyone else. So, perhaps you can be a little bit more open minded and not brand buddhism and the catholic faith as bad because of these despicable individuals.

Lastly, I am not a catholic before you ask.

[GAZZPA]

I know catholics priests had bad press in recent time but buddhist monk are of a totally different league.

IMO, Catholic priests are a lot worse. They were preaching against homosexuality while molesting little boys or covering up for those that did. The monks might be perves, but they are a lot less hypocritical.

Faulty logic here but I won't wast my time with you.

The catholic church built school who provided eduction to people all over the world. Which other religion did that ? Please answer.

Among the thousands of people who sacrifice their life to provide education to the less favorized, there was a few bad apples. You focus on them because of your twisted mind.

Unfortunetly you wasted our time with your lack of logic and a change of the actual subject. Which is" Child abuse by Clergy", and, the cover up of the same. Not which group built more schools ( and collected the most money making them richer then God). But the warped destruction of innocent young lives and how the hierarchy of that group responded to it.

The Catholic church in full knowing often just switched the offender to a different parish who then repeated his sickness on new victims. Free to continue with no legal ramifications and then bought off the victim or family when the publicity got to hot.

Yes . Like the Monks, there were just a few bad "Eggs" percentage wise. But repeated absolution from the leadership without real treatment and not removing them from service is the crime of the Catholic Church. Schools and helping the poor is their banner. But one does not excuse the other.

These monks arepublcy being relieved of there power over these of these innocents and subject to the law with no favortism the same as if theie perversions were not hiding in Gods clothe and probably even more so because they were. It's the law of man and a just one.

The Bible states "Give Ceaser his due". No Clergy should have diplomatic immunity but be subject to the laws of the country they are in.

Fully agree with all your points, there should not be any kind of cover up, it is not acceptable.

The leaders of the church should be addressing the issue. However, as far as i am aware the church is not above the law, if the Priests were found guilty of child abuse then they go to prison the same as anyone else, right?

If they are not found guilty then surely they should be left alone?

In all of this i hate it when people who want to bash religion use individuals terrible behavior as an excuse to do so. It's narrow minded bigotry and it incites the "haters" in the world to jump on the band wagon and spit on the floor of everyone who is Catholic, Christian, Buddhist or whatever.

People should see these individuals for what they are, sick and they need to be taken out of society. As for all of the decent Buddhists, Catholics, Chrisitans, Muslims or whatever leave them alone.

I hope that these Monks receive the full force of the law and taken out of society for as long as possible.

[Fookhaht]

The novice asked, "Wat did you say Abbot?"

Abbot, behind him, "Bend wai over...wai, wai over."

The real tragedy is...the proctologist found the giant incense stick...

and it was still smouldering....

So you consider this discussion a joking matter? You are out of line.

[bigbamboo]

I flew Thai first class the other day and had 5 Thai monks for company....vows of poverty obviously don't cover travelling in style

You don't need to be rich to travel First Class with THAI...... just well connected.

[GentlemanJim]

When are organised religions going to understand that enforced celibacy is not only wrong but it simply does not work. Humans are not meant to be celibate, if we were celibate there is no means for the human race to continue. Why would any God want their top religious folk to be celibate? It seems (and I know it is a generalisation) that the majority of sexual abuse issues in religion belong to those religions where it is deemed that you must be celibate. I am sure there must be Protestant Vicars who have been done for kiddy fiddling but I will wager it is nowhere near on the same scale as Roman Catholic Clergy.

If these Monks truly believe that they must stick to the tenets of Buddhism in order for them to reach enlightenment then they may as well take up rum sodomy and the lash now because as far as this life is concerned they have all taken part in an epic FAIL. This is Nirvana Fail lesson one, only a gazillion more lifetimes to get it right.

Stop the need for celibacy in the clergy and you may have a chance of cutting down drastically on sexual abuse by same clergy.