Should priest's and other clergy deserve prison time for molestation considering their challenging lifestyles?

No member of the clergy is forced to take the cloth. They volunteer for the job, well aware of it's "challenging" nature. The harm they do to children is no less because they hold a position of trust and responsibility as members of the church. If anything they are worse offenders as it is they who are expected to set the example and they who are entrusted with moral authority. I suspect it is, in part, this position of trust that attracts the unfortunate element to the priesthood in the first place. I believe that members of the clergy should be subject to exactly the same penalties as everyone else.

What?? are you asking here?

Molesters deserve jail time, no matter what they wear or what their job is.

Perhaps you are asking, "Is it natural to ask priests to remain chaste [no sex] and celibate [unmarried]?" If that's your question, I agree that it is not natural. Priests and other clergy should be allowed to marry, have sex, have children, etc.

I don't consider any "challenge" as an excuse for molestation.

YES THEY SHOULD! But why bother - I mean, homosexuality is legal as well as excepted by the foolish and now that this is done, (this can be proven and not a hateful slam) there are homosexual groups lobbying to get a bill passed that will allow legal adults to have consentual sex with minors.

Its been in the news and should be on the interned. Its just certain groups don't want it too widely publicized or it may not pass.

YES! And anyone who hides em should get the same. Lock em up with a LARGE man and let them know exactly where their place is. On their knees.

They chose that lifestyle... no one is forced to be a Priest... and, unlike, homosexuality, you can't say you were born a Priest.

challenging lifestyles? you're kidding me!

why is it challenging? because there are kids around all the time? how about we extend that priviledge to school bus drivers? or teachers? or pediatricians? parents?

because they're not allowed tohave sex at all? that should make it worse, not be an excuse for leniency.

regardless of these so called lifestyles if they did the crime, they need to do the time. they may believe themselves to be the representatives of god on earth, but that doesn't place them above the law.

Being clergy does not make them above secular law. They still live in the same community as the rest of us and all are ruled by the same laws. Do the crime do the time.

The Bible says we are to submit to authority. That includes the laws of man. What has their lifestyle to do with it? Is that an excuse for breaking the law? Like temporary insanity? Ignorance isn't even an excuse for breaking the law. Here's another way of looking at it.......If it was you, your kid, or your little brother or sister, how would you answer the question you asked?

If you asked me that in person...

FIRST: my jaw would drop, and I would study your face to see if you were serious

SECOND: I'd back-hand you accross the face

THIRD: I'd say I give a CRAP how "challenging" their lifestyles are. They chose to lead their lives. They can leave any time they please! Palmela Handerson is always there for them! Do they HAVE to get children? What's wrong with seducing a legal-aged woman? No, that would be a sin right? I suppose it's okay to mess with children though...

People can be so ignorant and stupid that I really have a hard time keeping faith in the human race!

The ones who commit the sin knowingly, in the name of God, should be punished with harsher punishment. For people go to churches with utmost faith, to atone for their sins that they think they are commiting outside of those walls and if they are to be abused within the very walls that they seek refuge in...it's blasphemy.

Priest, politician, police, teacher...shouldn't matter one bit.

Jail, surgery, or a bullet...just not parole.