Not that Im defending the church, but it sounds like it was done by an order, not the church itself. Either way people need to realize that organized religion has yet to benefit humanity.

Girls who had become pregnant, even from rape, girls who were illegitimate, or orphaned, or just plain simple-minded, girls who were too pretty and therefore in "moral danger" all ran the risk of being locked up and put to work, without pay, in profit-making, convent laundries, to "wash away their sins."

I bet if you put this story in the news today without saying who did it, people would guess it was some Islamic country. Funny how whenever a religion has control of a country, wierd things like this happen...

The Magdalene Laundries
by Joni Mitchell

I was an unmarried girl
I'd just turned twenty-seven
When they sent me to the sisters
For the way men looked at me.
Branded as a jezebel,
I knew I was not bound for Heaven
I'd be cast in shame
Into the Magdalene laundries.

Most girls come here pregnant
Some by their own fathers.
Bridget got that belly
By her parish priest.
We're trying to get things white as snow,
All of us woe-begotten daughters,
In the steaming stains
Of the Magdalene laundries.

Prostitutes and destitutes
And temptresses like me-
Fallen women-
Sentenced into dreamless drudgery-
Why do they call this heartless place
Our Lady of Charity?
Oh, charity!

These bloodless brides of Jesus,
If they had just once glimpsed their groom,
Then they'd know, and they'd drop the stones
Concealed behind their rosaries.
They wilt the grass they walk upon,
They leech the light out of a room,
They'd like to drive us down the drain
At the Magdalene laundries.

Peg O'Connell died today.
She was a cheeky girl,
A flirt
They just stuffed her in a hole!
Surely to God you'd think at least
some bells should ring!
One day I'm going to die here too.
And they'll plant me in the dirt
Like some lame bulb
That never blooms come any spring,
Come any spring,
No, not any spring...

Magdalene Laundries Slide Show and Commentary requires Real Player

and it seems they didn't even have sex with them either.

They just wanted cheap labor

RF

What more proof do we need??? Lets nuke Ireland already.

Religion has caused more pain and suffering than anything else in th world.

The irish suck, actually.

Its a good thing boys can just blow the priests to get their sins forgiven.

No dangling babys?

I need to know this? Farks getting lame with the anti-Christian stuff. Don't need to browse here anymore.

obvious?

Considering "the Church" has generally considered women nothing but breeding stock anyway, I can't say I'm surprised.

Never did understand why the americans like the irish so much... with all your technology you can put boosters on ireland and take it over to you - see how much you liekt hem then

Selfish-ass dyke nuns. They just wanted to keep all the hot, smart chicks to themselves.

fark, religion sucks.......

it's Dead Kennedy's Lyrics time again


RELIGIOUS VOMIT
chorus all religions make me wanna throw up all religions make me sick all religions make me wanna throw up all religions suck they all claim that they have the truth that'll set you free just give 'em all your money and they'll set you free free for a fee they all claim that they have 'the answer' when they don't even know the question they're just a bunch of liars they just want your money they just want your consciousness chorus all religions suck all religions make me wanna throw up all religions suck all religions make me wanna bleah they really make me sick they really make me sick they really make me sick they really make me sick they really make me sick they really make me ill

Gee... a Brit who hates the Irish. What a surprise.

What's even worse is that nobody in the Church will even make the small gesture of apologizing.

Hey, someone has to take care of all the nuns' dirty habits.

Naked_man - would you rather pretend it hadn't happened? I'm glad people are talking about it, because there's no point pretending that christianity is the epitome of purity and perfection.

Sick, indeed.

And sad.

Another reason to think catholicism is stupid and hypocritical, folks!

Bigredlemon,George_W_lush:
Have you ever BEEN to Ireland? They have some of the friendliest people in the world there. It's a wonderful country. Not to say they don't have their own problems. But why should anyone take the few and portray them as the norm? Most Irish are embarrassed of this. They are not nearly as religious today as they used to be. A large chunk of the Irish youth is Gothic (the same kind of Gothic we have in the States; not saying this is a good thing but it shows that the youth isn't very religious). Ireland is probably the most passionate, friendliest, and beautiful country I've been to.

I bet they all deserved it.

This isn't anti-christian, this is anti-catholic. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that many nuns and priests are the farking scum of the earth. Why don't they get over trying to "help" other people and just "help" themselves... I'd like to see a nun doing my laundry without being allowed to talk, for the rest of her life.

Yeah what a sick religion, you upstanding americans would never do something like that, especially not on that scale. And it certainly couldnt be a law.

Oh wait, weren't some african-americans enslaved for a few years or something...hmn makes you wonder.

Yeah it's bad, but you're all hypocrites.

Rapid_eye_movement

Yes I have been to ireland, the country itself (with no people in it) is nice - but on personal experience with irish peopel (theres millions here) I see they are scum.

Naked_man:

I need to know this? Farks getting lame with the anti-Christian stuff. Don't need to browse here anymore.

Why don't you need to know this? Is history too much for you to handle? If so, that's pretty sad.

If a couple of nuns tried to drag me away because I was in 'moral danger', being the sexpot that I am, I would farking bite them in the coochie!

SanityDenied,


yea, but I let my slaves go free

This is horrible, it's always the nut-job fanatics (Islamic and non) that give religion a bad name. Believe it or not religion has done some good. Look no further than the Catholic church as the organization that introduced the "university" and the nursing practice.

I still think this is ridiculous and cruel. And I still think the same of Catholicism. The only good thing Christianity ever did was establish a moral system which they think is determined by an outer force (God). Good thing only the main points diffused into society. To be less flamebait, I have to say that some of these morals are detrimental to society. The Church's morals advanced us a little. The Church kept us behind a LOT.

We freed our slaves in 1863. When did it say the last of these laundries closed, 1996?

No, those girls deserved it. Temptresses and others of their ilk should be locked away for all eternity.

equality to the Aboriginee!!

Yeah Lush, we have your kind here in America too. We call folks like you Rednecks.

Another sad chapter in Irish history. I blame that snake-hating bastard Patrick. If he'd minded his own business and stayed home, Ireland would be happily pagan (well, probably not, but work with me here). Sure, they would still be beating each other over the head, but at least it would be in good old-fashioned grudge matches, and not the way the other guy worships.

SanityDenied,

Oh wait, weren't some african-americans enslaved for a few years or something...hmn makes you wonder.

I think I see what you're getting at, however, I need to correct you.

No african-americans were enslaved. Africans were sold to us by their fellow africans, or were kidnapped. These were African slaves. Then, when their children were born into slavery in the U.S., they were slaves, but not of any certain nationality. They weren't born in Africa, but they weren't considered to be citizens of the U.S.

The only case in which a person can be called african-american is if they possess dual citizenship, citizenship here in the U.S. and citizenship in an African country.

That being said, slavery here in the U.S. was done away with before any of us were born. The slavery in Ireland was done away with in 1996. The people responsible for that are still alive and should be held accountable.

KazamaSmokers

Not even close, pal. I have reason to dislike them - they blow things up - when I was lil I wa sin like 5 bomb thrat areas in london.

Ha ha. It's hard to believe they've actually moved DOWN from enslaving women, to molesting preteen boys.

The only case in which a person can be called african-american is if they possess dual citizenship, citizenship here in the U.S. and citizenship in an African country.


---> Legally, yes, but the term "African-American" is almost always used in a racial or cultural context.

Sorry Lush - you're a redneck and a bigot. Don't try to dance around it.

i am not defending the actions of the church. they've been horrid.

i am, however, defending the value of organized religion -- it is extremely important to disconnect the teachings of religion of the practices/practicers.

the teachings, i think, are valuable. one must be intelligent enough to differentiate. it's way too easy to call something worthless if an unrepresentative, isolated person/dogma/fill-in-the-blank, causes one to recoil.

then again, it seems like some farkers adore the reactionary bandwagon that requires little critical analysis or historical knowledge.

/elitist rant

This is why my anscestors left Britain. Here I can send the african american helicopters for the texicans and the great white north crackers. Now who's the biatch!

do you support terrorism then, kazama

Such things happen when religion has a special political status within a state.

Remember history, or be condemned to repeat its atrocities.

George W,

I know that if the United States was occupied by another country, I would fight tooth and nail, using any means possible to get them out.

In my opinion, war is something that should only be used as a last resort, but when you wage war on someone, you should wage total war. By total war, I mean to say that every single person that is a member of the country you're fighting against is a viable target.

Saying all Irish people blow stuff up is like saying all arabic people fly planes into buildings.
Seriously judging someone simply by their skin color/nationality/religion/social class is foolish and inane. I would like to state that I know some Catholic people that are pretty cool. Sorta surprised me when I found out they were catholic. *Shrugs* Although I'm sure some catholic people would not consider them catholic...
Eh. I'm amazed this hasn't degenerated into an outright flame-war by now. Either people here have matured, or someone's sleeping on the job...

SchlingFo

irish terrorists blow up vans full of boy scouts going on trips

it's happened!

wish we could have a war with them- we'd kick their ass back to the stone age

You're all missing the point! Jesus saves, yes he does! Repent! Repent now before it's too late! Jesus loves you! Let him love you or suffer eternal damnation!

Exclamation points added for cultish zeal...

amen, clevershark

unfortunately the devotional revolution of mid-19th c. ireland was more an act of defiance to a reformed britain rather than a profession of faith.

lush:

Remember internment and SAS involvement in Ireland? Now remember how it didn't work, and how the regular bombings have ceased since we stopped fighting them.