Religion has a serious, systemic, abuse problem.

One time, I wrote a letter to Pope Francis. I know…ridiculous.

What wasn’t ridiculous was the message I wrote to him: that before he goes off to save the climate and solve the refugee crisis and bring peace to the Middle East, he first needs to take care of priority number one—addressing sexual abuse in his church.

The Catholic Church has gotten the bad rap of being the sole proprietor of sexual abuse within religious institutions. But, as James Nolan wrote for VICE a couple years ago, “Modern history has been riddled with revelations of religious child abuse.” From New Religious Movements to Buddhists, Muslim madrassas to Mormon schools, Hindu gurus to Methodist ministers, it seems that religion has a serious, systemic, abuse problem.

What are we going to do about it?