Jesus of Nazareth demanded child abusers to be held accountable

 

By Fr. Shay Cullen, Founder since 1974 The news in the Philippines these days is focused on impeachment, changing the Constitution, and other mundane political matters. The public, Congress and government agencies are far from addressing the needs of children who are sexually and physically abused by relatives, human traffickers and online predators, and the seeming social acceptance that allows the abuse to happen. The country’s justice system needs reform, and while many judges are working hard to deliver justice to child abuse victims, many others are not. Some have overloaded court schedules, causing a number of child-abuse cases to languish up to two to three years in some family courts. Such manufactured delays prolong the suffering of the child victims. In a letter to the Preda Foundation in October 2023, Court Administrator Raul B. Villanueva said that out of 183 statutory family courts, only 106 are organized. They are clogged with many important cases. Child sexual abuse cases are about traumatized children, and they need special and immediate attention and speedy justice. As they say, justice delayed is justice denied. Special children’s courts need to be established by law, with highly trained prosecutors and judges to bring justice and healing to the abused children. The convictions of their rapists would be a strong deterrence to would-be child abusers. During a visit some years ago, Mama Fatima Singhateh, the United Nations’ special rapporteur for online child abuse and trafficking, said the Philippines should pass a law setting up a special children’s court. This is needed to hear and quickly resolve child abuse cases. It is hoped that children’s rights advocates in the Senate would work on this proposed legislation. Meanwhile, telecommunications corporations and internet service providers (ISPs) must be held responsible for the uncontrolled transmission of images of sexual abuse of children beamed from the Philippines to pedophiles overseas. A corporate policy to deploy effective artificial intelligence-driven software is absent. Those allowing child abuse to happen are as guilty as those committing it. The UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) has said as many as 2 million Filipino children have reported being sexually harassed and abused online. Due to stigma and fear of scoldings, most children do not report such abuse. With cheap mobile phones and low-cost internet access, the number of victims is likely to double or triple the known figure. Every child is vulnerable. The figures for child sexual abuse victims globally are sobering: one in three girls, one in every five boys. Consider how people abuse their own offspring. What is seriously wrong with the human race? Humans are supposedly the world’s most intelligent creatures, with large brains. Most, apparently, have very low moral values. We are a damaged species, indeed, waging brutal, senseless wars against ourselves, driven by greed and ambition, with millions of people killed and wounded. Pedophiles and child abusers are waging war against children by raping and abusing them. Generally unknown, ignored The great values taught by Jesus of Nazareth to respect, protect and care for children are generally unknown, and his call to bring abusers to justice is also generally ignored. This is the great failure of the institutional Church. With exceptions, it mainly counts success on the number of baptized members, and most of its clerics are isolated and removed from the suffering of people, particularly victims of human rights violations. Most of the clergy repeatedly perform rituals and give irrelevant theological speeches. As an institution, the Church has lost its main purpose to transform society by motivating people to actively do good and oppose every evil with the conviction that they will win. This is faith, aimed at creating a society where equality, justice, truth, freedom, and human rights and dignity are experienced daily. Many clerics have abused and are abusing children themselves with impunity and are protected by silence and inaction. This has disgraced the institution with regard to child protection. Only by the courage of some of its true leaders and dedicated members of the People of God does the light of truth and action for justice for children continue to burn brightly. A recent Unicef-Interpol report said 90 percent of the online grooming for sexual abuse of children occurred on Facebook. However, it is still clear that the majority of child sexual abuse acts are done by family members. Child defenders and nongovernmental organizations are campaigning and educating students, parents and teachers to report abuse and help child abuse victims get justice. What people can do is to oppose the seeming social acceptance of and apathy over child sexual abuse by institutions and the wider public. About 40 percent of mothers of the 62 sexually abused children in Preda’s therapy home have chosen to protect their rapist husband or partner rather than standing with their children to demand justice. This is devastating emotionally for the children. When judges postpone hearings, the children’s suffering increases. Church authorities must act against the abusers in their ranks and end impunity. The Church must become a beacon of child rights by cooperating with truly independent children’s rights’ organizations to pursue justice for the victims. They should end the obstruction of legal action and allow offenders to be brought to justice in the civil courts. The Church’s internal safeguarding program should bring those clerics to justice in those same courts. Only when a strong movement of people realizing the extent of child sexual abuse and demanding action by all authorities would there be hope to reduce it. If not, the abuse will continue to grow.

Experte räumt mit gängigem Renten-Irrtum auf – „Zwangsgelder“ vom Finanzamt drohen

Stand:19.08.2025, 18:17 Uhr

Von: Sandra Sporer 

Dass die Rente steuerfrei ist, ist ein Mythos. Selbst Rentner, die bisher keine Steuererklärung abgeben mussten, können schnell in die Steuerpflicht rutschen.

München – Wer vor dem Jahr 2005 in Rente gegangen ist, hat Glück: Er muss keine Steuern auf seine Renteneinkünfte zahlen. Für alle Rentner, die seitdem ihren Ruhestand angetreten haben, sieht die Sache jedoch anders aus. Ihre Renten unterliegen der sogenannten nachgelagerten Besteuerung und müssen zum Teil versteuert werden, wie die Deutsche Rentenversicherung (DRV) erklärt. Rund 40 Prozent aller Rentenempfänger müssen heute bereits Einkommensteuer zahlen – Tendenz steigend.  

Auch viele Rentner müssen eine Steuererklärung abgegeben. © Zoonar/Imago

Die DRV übermittelt alle relevanten Daten automatisch an das Finanzamt. Sprich: der Fiskus weiß genau, welche Rentner steuerpflichtig sind. Viele Rentner hingegen sind sich nicht bewusst, dass auch sie zur Abgabe einer Steuererklärung verpflichtet sein können. Geschieht dies dann nicht, drohen „Zwangsgelder und Verspätungszuschläge“, warnt Rudolf Gramlich, Steuerexperte vom Lohnsteuerhilfeverein Steuerring, in einem Interview des Sozialverbands VdK. „Außerdem kann das Finanzamt die Besteuerungsgrundlagen schätzen. Dies wirkt sich in den meisten Fällen nachteilig aus.“   

Steuerpflicht für Rentner ist von einem Faktor abhängig

Ob ein Rentner eine Steuererklärung abgeben muss, hängt dabei von der Höhe des Einkommens ab. Liegt dieses unterhalb des Grundfreibetrags, besteht keine Pflicht zur Abgabe einer Steuererklärung. Liegt es darüber, muss sie eingereicht werden. Laut dem Bundesfinanzministerium liegt der Freibetrag 2025 bei 12.096 Euro für Alleinstehende und 24.192 Euro für Ehepaare.

Allerdings ist nicht die gesamte Bruttorente steuerpflichtig. Der steuerpflichtige Anteil richtet sich nach dem Jahr des Rentenbeginns. Wer 2025 in Rente geht, muss 83,5 Prozent seiner Rente versteuern – der Rest bleibt als individueller Rentenfreibetrag steuerfrei. Er ist für die gesamte Rentenlaufzeit festgeschrieben. Wer indes zur Einführung der nachgelagerten Besteuerung seine Rente antrat, muss nur 50 Prozent der Bruttorente versteuern. Der Prozentsatz wird seitdem jährlich angehoben. Ab 2040 werden Renten dann zu 100 Prozent besteuert.  

Zehn Steuer-Tricks: So sparen Sie bares Geld bei der Steuererklärung

Fotostrecke ansehen

Steuererklärung als Rentner: Abgabe kann sich durchaus lohnen

Ein weiterer Fallstrick für viele Senioren sind Rentenerhöhungen. Allein durch die diesjährige Rentenerhöhung wurden zehntausende Rentner erstmals steuerpflichtig. Allerdings kann sich die Abgabe einer Steuererklärung für Senioren durchaus lohnen. So können dort beispielsweise verschiedene Pauschalbeträge geltend gemacht werden. Zusätzlich sind Vorsorgeaufwendungen wie Kranken- und Pflegeversicherungsbeiträge absetzbar.   

Die Rentenbesteuerung wird in den kommenden Jahren immer mehr Senioren betreffen. Rentner sollten ihre Steuerpflicht deshalb regelmäßig prüfen und bei Unsicherheiten professionelle Hilfe in Anspruch nehmen. Geht es nach Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz (CDU), sollen Senioren jedoch schon ab 2026 von der Pflicht zur Abgabe einer Steuererklärung befreit werden. Stattdessen soll es eine pauschale Rentenabzugsteuer geben. (sp)

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