: Caf's actual quote: '...too bad the Catholic Church in America didn't show a little less tolerance for a particular lifestyle. Seems it has cost them millions and, quite frankly, given them a reputation as a haven for pedophiles and child abusers.'

A little context makes quite a difference. Even more clarity might be found if you look back at your description of the BSA (in 884, directly quoted immediately before the above statement in 887) and understand that I was attempting to make a point about your own extremism by citing you phrase for phrase. Your phrasing about the BSA was... "recent policy of religious EMPHASIS (rather than tolerance)has cost it millions of dollars in public funding and, quite frankly, given it a reputation as a haven for bigots, religious and otherwise"

: Once again, it's difficult to know what form 'a little less tolerance' to a policy of ZERO tolerance would take. The fact that some Church officials, such as Cardinal Law, made unauthorized exceptions to this policy hardly reflects on, to use your own words, 'the Catholic Church in America' as a whole. On the contrary, it was the Catholic Church in America, and especially in Boston, that demanded, and got, his resignation.

But the fact is it did "reflect on" the organization as a whole, whether accurately or not, and affect the reputation of the whole. Furthermore, Law's resignatin was a media driven outcome, fueled by expensive litigation, and is hardly likely to have happened apart from the media frenzy and the legal and financial implications. Of course the media gave a disproportionate view, when do they not?

: Any religious denomination, and the members thereof, have a right to be outraged over ANY incidence of child sexual abuse. There is such a thing, however, as putting one's own house in order first.

And that means... ? The media voices that followed the story and fanned the public disgust were not the voices of some religious group, conservative or otherwise. Some of the media voices in fact identified themselves as disgruntled Catholics. Who is it that should have kept quiet and put their own house in order? Actually, maybe it is you, yourself before you sound off so shrill and harsh about organizations you've targeted here.

: A perfunctory word search on any good search engine will produce many good references regarding abuse within the other denominations I named, and many others, possibly the Church of Christ as well. I don't know, I have no interest in singling any particular denomination, but rather in pointing out that it's a problem that goes beyond denominations.

Every sin and every crime is going to be found in some representatives of any group of any size. However, actually, you (essay) do have an interest in singling out those you consider overly conservative or "fundamentalist." You've shown the proclivity before, and have done so here, again.

I stated that I had no particular interest in researching the various allegations you raised, essay, and that I have no interest in defending the various groups. That's the fact. I'll make this much of an exception, from a simple search. Below is a link to a page from a publication by the Mormon Alliance. The page provides some details about 10 cases of Mormons prosecuted for child sexual abuse, and some information about 11 others. It doesn't tell us anything in particular about Mormon men in general or Mormon leaders in general. Mormons seemingly do have a particularly strong affinity for Scouting, and perhaps that is reflected here. In these 21 criminal cases, I see the Boy Scouts are directly mentioned 9 times as places where initial homosexual encounters occurred for these offenders as youths, or as hunting grounds for these predators as adults. That's a disturbingly high perecentage, I would think. Again, broadly speaking, perhaps the BSA has some very practical reasons for supposed lack of "tolerance" regarding known homosexuals in leadership or participation. Being a private organization, they have a right to do that, I believe.

• Mormon Alliance "Criminal Investigations"