Churches Have More Crime Than Strip Clubs

Here’s something you don’t hear every day – there’s more crime in religious houses of worship (churches, synagogues, monasteries, mosques, convents, cathedrals and chapels) than there is in adult businesses (strip clubs, sex shops, brothels, massage parlours, gay clubs, gaming houses and gambling clubs) – at least that’s what one report from Australia has shown.

To be specific… “The data showed 85 people were assaulted in places of worship, compared to 66 at an adult entertainment premises… Places of worship also took the lead in sexual offences (16), theft from motor vehicles (33), resisting arrest (7) and liquor offences (10). Harassment and threatening behaviour at places of worship (30) was over 50 percent more than at places of adult entertainment (13).” That’s right, there’s more sex crime in churches than in sex clubs.

None of that should be all that surprising. How many wars have been fought in the name of religion? How many millions of people have been killed in the name of religion? The Spanish Inquisition? Fatwas? On the other hand I’m having a hard time thinking of a war fought to defend “adult activities”. Hitler put gay men in the death camps – but that sorta proves my point – the person doing the “deviant act” wasn’t the one doing the killing.

The other aspect is that churches tell you there’s something wrong with you and you need to change. That means people wind up repressing their urges. The problem with Catholic pedophile priests shows what happen when you take that approach. In contrast, sex businesses accept you for who you are (for the most part) and you give a legal outlet for your urges.

If you need even more evidence check out Joe.My.God.’s “This Week In Holy Crimes” series of blog posts. It’s truly amazing how screwed up some religious leaders are.

That said, religion done right can be a good thing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a brothel or a sex shop or a massage parlor be a community center, or do social work, or pressure politicians on behalf of their community, yet I’ve seen churches do all of those things. But all of those things are also done by non-religious community organizations. So while I wouldn’t advocate replacing churches with strip clubs, I do wonder if we wouldn’t be better off replacing them with community centers.

Possibly The Worst YouTube Video Mashup Ever

This is wrong on so many levels… You’ve got Rick Astley singing and Nirvana playing…

So for one that means Rick Astley has taken over for Kurt Cobain. Then there’s the whole thing of putting Rick Astley in a mosh pit environment (yes, it’s a mashup with a mosh pit). And then on top of everything else as I write this it has a perfect 5 star rating on YouTube…

The World Needs More People Like Grace Jones

Grace Jones has always been wonderfully unpredictable an eccentric… Well, she’s back and crazy as ever – take a look at this video…

For starters she hoola hoops through the whole thing and several times pretends she’s about to drop the hoop, but then recovers… Singing and hoola hooping can’t be easy…

But then there’s the outfit – a corset and a gstring, gloves and a mask. Gotta say, she looks incredible – especially for her age (61).

Just wish there were more people like her… Love her energy…

Crazy Laws Intended To Protect Children

See the following picture?

Pic of fully clothed guys, but still legal

Technically, it’s illegal for me to show it to you and I could be thrown in jail for it. Why? Because it comes from a photoset that includes sexually explicit photos. Even though the guys are fully clothed it’s illegal to show any picture from the set unless I’m physically in possession of documentation of the guys’ ages. They’re obviously are not under age, and they’re fully clothed, but my using the picture is illegal. To me that’s completely messed up.

Now take a look at this pic…

Illegal picture example

Generally unremarkable, but also illegal for yet another reason that also makes no sense… Beyond the fact that I’m not in physical possession of the age documentation for the models, the model is Canadian and the photo was shot in the US and the model probably only has Canadian ID. His Canadian ID is only legal if the scene was shot outside the US. I understand the immigration and work issues, but how can I be breaking the law because the photo was shot in the US? If the same photo were shot in Canada or Russia or Brazil or the UK I wouldn’t be breaking that part of the law.

These crazy laws were written to protect children. Yet someone could get thrown in jail for not having documentation for someone that clearly not under age (e.g. someone who’s clearly 50 or 60 years old). Unfortunately, because the laws are so screwed up they’re rarely ever enforced and if the government does try to enforce them they can easily be thrown out because they’re so messed up. That means these bad laws are actually not protecting children at all. A good law makes sense and is defensible. A good defensible law would protect children, but we don’t have that.

We need a overhaul of the laws to protect children. It’s a complicated minefield because many teens have been introduced to the fact that they’re sexual beings at a young age. You have teens like Brent Corrigan who present fake IDs because they want to work in the adult industry before they’re 18, and then you have teens who genuinely need to be protected because they’re not ready to deal with all that comes with adult work.

I don’t have the answers, but I do know the current laws make no sense. Hopefully things will get straighted out in the not-too-distant future.