Everyone want to speculate about all sorts of crazy reasons why this correlation might exist, but very few have considered a rather simple one: belief in God is a force for moral good.
And the Catholic Church molesting little boys is what....?
The "Catholic Church" never molested any boys. A few priests have just like in any organization. There is no evidence that Catholic priests have sexually abused children more than members of any other profession that has close contact with children, and the majority of children are abused by family members. So maybe family members are a force of evil, right?
The only distinguishing thing about the Catholic abuse cases was that a few bishops were not forthcoming, which is certainly unforgivable, but is not an argument against religious belief in any way, unless you follow the sort of fallacious reasoning common on these boards to point out the most outrageous elements of a particular group and ignore all examples to the contrary.
You're contradicting yourself then.
How am I contradicting myself? A few priests and a few bishops are not "The Catholic Church". They are not even "the priests and bishops of the Catholic Church". A handful of priests does not equal the hierarchy of the church.
You say that belief in God is a force for moral good while at the same time making excuses for the Catholic church being just as shitty as just about every other organization. If you don't have any sort of expectation that one of the Godliest organizations on the planet should be a beacon of moral fortitude then how does belief in God lend itself to being a moral good? ---