More evidence of religion's link to morality …

… or rather, its increasingly-apparent lack of one. There's currently an investigation concerning the Irish Catholic Church and the numerous reform schools they've been running. These schools seem to have more in common with your local work camp or torture rooms than actual education facilities, as the report uncovers. They're used to fabricate religious paraphernalia, such as crosses and rosaries and the likes, while the poor children were routinely abused, beaten and molested before, during and after. So much for Catholic compassion.

Below is a quick summary of what's been uncovered so far, according to PZ Myers:

a history of official cover-ups of pedophiles within the church since the 1930s.

a pattern of beatings, abuse, and molestation in church-run workhouses.

molestation and rape were "endemic" at the boys' workhouses.

ritualized beatings and personal abuse and denigration.

kids were falsely told that their parents or siblings were dead.

a continuing insistence on protecting the child molesters in their ranks.

whistleblowers were accused of being "money-seeking liars".

the Irish government cut a deal with the Catholic church to cap their losses to lawsuits at $175 million…which is only a tiny part of the full cost.

If I ever meet someone who insists morality is only brought on by religion and faith, I'll resist the urge to slap them and instead will point them to this report, and the countless others like it that keep appearing all the time from all over the world. Again: morality and ethics are not created by religion. They are inherent to mankind. Religion merely defines various sets and groups of ethics and moral values and guidelines – nothing more.

Anyway … Now that most of the priests who've conducted these workhouses of horrors are getting on in years and living in retirement homes that doubtlessly treat them with the care and compassion they themselves never gave to the children in need they harbored, these workhouses and reform schools are rapidly disappearing. A good ending to a horrible tale, I suppose.

(via Pharyngula)