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Are there more pedophiles per capita in the Catholic Church than other religions, or in other professions in general? If so, what is the evidence. This seems like a very difficult thing to really know beyond anecdotal evidence, which of course there is a lot of.

I refer to anecdotal evidence of the kind exemplified in the first post here:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=556630

of which I have seen lots.

This article:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/11/priestly-celibacy-catholic-sex-scandals

also repeats the common attitude that priestly lifelong celibacy (a largely catholic practice) is the cause.

So, the question is, does something about Catholicism cause pedophilia at a higher rate than other religions or professions and is that thing celibacy?

Benjamin
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    [Welcome to Skeptics!](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1505/welcome-to-new-users) This site isn't about just asking any question. We want to focus our attention on doubtful claims that are widely held or are made by notable people. Please [provide some references](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/882/what-are-the-attributes-of-a-good-question/883#883) to places where this claim is being made. – Oddthinking Mar 09 '16 at 05:11
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    It's obviously made all the time implicitly. http://www.alternet.org/story/146920/what's_really_behind_the_catholic_church's_sexual_abuse_problem – Benjamin Mar 09 '16 at 05:32
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    Frequently celibacy is cited: https://www.google.com/search?q=cause+of+Catholic+pedophiles&oq=cause+of+Catholic+pedophiles&aqs=chrome..69i57.14463j0j4&client=ms-android-sonymobile&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 – Benjamin Mar 09 '16 at 05:33
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    And by statistically, I mean per capita. – Benjamin Mar 09 '16 at 05:34
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    Probably a duplicate of this question: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/2107/is-there-systemic-sexual-abuse-of-children-by-catholic-priests – Andrew Grimm Mar 09 '16 at 08:13
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    There was a big rabinnic pedophilia scandal two years ago http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/02/06/ban-orthodox-rabbinic-pedophiles-%E2%80%93-not-rabbi-avi-weiss/ – D J Sims Mar 09 '16 at 14:19
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    Pedophilia in Islam is too frequent to make the news http://dailycaller.com/2016/01/15/anti-pedophilia-bill-rejected-in-pakistan-as-anti-islamic/ – D J Sims Mar 09 '16 at 14:21
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    @AndrewGrimm That question is more about systemic issues. It might for example be the case that the catholic church has an average or even a low number of pedophiles per capita, but still has systemic issues regarding the rape of children (systematic cover ups, blaming of victims, etc). – tim Mar 09 '16 at 14:21
  • All good points and info. However, has there been a study realy comparing the rates? – Benjamin Mar 09 '16 at 14:53
  • @Andrew, it's not a duplicate as I'm asking specifically for comparison to other religions and professions. – Benjamin Mar 09 '16 at 14:55
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    @Benjamin: You asking for that comparison isn't on-topic, unless we can find a claim comparing them. – Oddthinking Mar 10 '16 at 00:05
  • [This page claiming no difference](http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/common-misconceptions/9-myths-about-priestly-pedophilia.html) seems like it might be an appropriate source, except it gets hung up on the difference between the scientific and common definition of pedophile. Would be better to find a claim about "child abuse" to cover the issue properly. – Oddthinking Mar 10 '16 at 00:06
  • Well, it seems irrelevance to find one person saying this. We could just say that I'm claiming it. I Googled 'x xhild abuse' where x was many religions. Catholics get the most! – Benjamin Mar 10 '16 at 00:41
  • Why is this still closed, it is not off topic – Benjamin Mar 14 '16 at 14:23

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