No immunity

The Catholic religion has had many-many incidents of sexual indiscretions, molestations, and the like. It's a standing issue with them, and has been, for a long time. But other religions aren't immune from this plague. According to this news article, former Spiritualist minister Simeon Stefanidakis was sentenced for having child pornography. I'm surprised, and sadly disappointed. I've talked with Simeon several times over email, back when I had my first web site, The Spiritualist Religion Page. He was a great resource, and from a strictly spiritual perspective, a great guy. It's regrettable that he has a problem of this kind, one that landed him in jail. Sexual indiscretions are problems of the worst kind. It's like a dark cloud that covers everyone in any role - victim, perpetrator, and bystander. Regardless of the role, people don't get over it quickly or easily, and they rarely forgive, let alone forget. And the trust lost is almost impossible to regain. Having learned of this tragedy, I'm doing my best to think (and hope) that he never hurt anyone with it. Pictures and videos are bad enough, but hurting someone, anyone, crosses yet another line. Whether the authorities discovered it or not, I pray he didn't cross that line. I hope that Spiritualism doesn't get tarnished in any way. Some people think we're weird enough as we are, and the last thing I want to do is to give them something else to beat us up about. Of course, we still have a long-long-long way to go before we would even come close to the Catholic church. Not much of a consolation, but it is a consideration ...