Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance

“I’m sorry,” said Bildrin, the prosecution lawyer, “but I’m completely mystified by the defense strategy here. Can we halt the trial so I can consult an expert?”

“Sorry,” said the judge, “this trial has already been posponed once, you can appeal if you like.”

“Can I call doctor Undrien to question this witness?”

“What?” asked the defense lawyer.

“I think it’s only fair that if I can’t be given time to consult a psychiatrist or psychologist, I at least get another psychiatrist to question this witness and Doctor Undrien does specialize in treating victims of pedophiles.”

I didn’t like Undrien but thought that he at least was opposed to pedophilia.

Undrien was present and came to the front.

“Why are you defending Lishrashic?” asked Undrien.

“Why don't you believe it’s the right thing to do?” asked Walmit.

“Why do you believe that it is?” asked Uldrien, calmly.

“Are you cross examining me or psychoanalysing me?” asked Walmit, equally calmly.

“Why are you avoiding my questions?” asked Uldrien.

“Do you really think this line of questioning is appropriate for this situation?” asked Walmit, pouting a bit.

“Why do you keep answering questions with questions?” asked Uldrien, thoughtfully.

“Dr. Wulmit!” said the judge. “Can you answer the questions rather than trying to psychoanalyse the other psychiatrist?”

“Yes I could do that,” said Wulmit.

“Then do so!” said the judge, I think realizing that she’d worded this as a question, not an instruction.

“Why do you believe that defending Lishrashic is the right thing to do?” asked Undrien.

“Because not defending pedophiles endangers homosexuals and leads to religious discrimination against Trulists and Nuharas and possibly at least one Winemaker sect.”

“Isn’t protecting children more important?” asked Uldrien.

“Trulists, Nuharas and Winemakers, that’s everybody!” said Walmit, more forcefully.

“Not quite,” said Uldrien, obviously having been tricked into making a statement instead of asking a question, “there are a few other religions and it’s only one Winemaker sect. Besides not all Trulists use Temple Prostitutes and psychics aren’t even allowed to, and not all Nuhara men marry children.”

There was a pause while the two psychiatrists stared at each other.

“I think you should ask a question, Dr. Undrian,” said the judge.

“Oh yes,” said Uldrien, “I’ve spent much of my career helping victims of child sex abuse. Are you aware of this?”

“Are you aware of the problems of not being able to express your sexuality?” asked Wulmit.

“Are you aware that being forced into sexual acts that are contrary to your nature, particularly as a child, is highly damaging to your sexual identity and ability to function in a normal sexual situation?” asked Uldrien.

“I suspect that it’s more true that most people have some sexual hang ups and abuse victims merely blame it on their abuse and make a big issue of it while normal people just get over it. Of course the only way to test that is to sexually abuse a number of children under controlled conditions and then compare them with a similar group who are known not to have been abused. Besides your brand of psychiatry, putting everything down to childhood experiences, particularly sexual abuse, is completely untestable and therefore unscientific. There’s no such things as a placebo for a talking cure.”

“I also use drugs and magic,” said Uldrien.

“Not in a systematic way that’s been tested,” said Wumit.

“The treatment needs to be carefully tailored for each patient,” said Uldrien. “That can’t be tested in a conventional medical trial.”

“Like I said, totally unscientific!” said Walmit, pointing upward. “My methods consider the patient’s personality genetics, including their korbar and sexual programming and is verifiable by testing the patient’s DNA.”

“I’ve had great success with my methods!” said Uldrien.

“Or would the patient have got better anyway?,” asked Walmit. “We’ll never know.”

“Doesn’t it seem rather simplistic to put all deviations from normal sexual behavior down to a single gene?” asked Uldrien.

“Clearly there have to be environmental factors and other genes involved or everybody with sexual non-specificity syndrome would deviate in the same way,” said Walmit. “However, in science a theory is normally better if it involves fewer entities. Remember korbarim are determined by just two pairs of genes.”

“Why do you think that protecting pedophiles is more important than protecting children?” asked Uldrien, again very calmly.

“You don’t protect children,” said Walmit, “you just treat them afterwards and there’s no evidence your treatment works.”

“Doctor Wulmit!” said the judge. “Can you stick to answering the questions. This is a trial not a medical debate!”

“What’s the alternative?” Dr. Wulmit asked Dr. Uldrien. “Do you want everybody to convert to Winemakerism but not the form with child molesting priests?”

“Only a minority of Trulists use Temple Prostitutes. Why does our religion use them at all?” asked Uldrien.

“What about Nuharas?” asked Wulmit. “We have to be tolerant to them?”

“They’re only a minority of the population.”

“Dr. Undrien!” said the judge, “Do you actually have any questions here which will help the case?”

“I’ve treated Temple Prostitutes,” said Undrien, facing Walmit. “I know they have just as many psychological problems as a result of abuse, often more, than other children who were abused by a step parent or something. Don’t you really think that Temple Prostitution is just victimizing a certain group of children, mostly psychics, so it’s decidedly korbarist, and lending it some legitimacy so some people who probably wouldn’t have given in to their pedophile temptations do give in to them and probably making things worse overall? I believe your client’s first sexual experience was with a child Temple Prostitute. If he hadn’t had that experience and instead lost his virginity by consensual sex with a teenage girl at the school dance, would he have developed less destructive sexual foibles?”

“Firstly," said Wlamit, "banning Temple Prostitution constitutes religious discrimination. Secondly I think it provides a safe way to control the problem and let’s face it, most families are glad to get rid of their psychic kids.”

I was shocked to hear such a remark coming from a nibey.

“So you’re resorting to both child abuse and korbarism for the sake of what, religious freedom, protecting homosexuals and Nuharas?” asked Undrien.

“I’m sure you’ll agree," said Walmit, standing straight and sounding proud, "that protecting homosexuals and avoiding conflict with Nuharas is very important. You can’t just use protecting children as a reason for everything. The Nuharas say that they attack other groups to protect their children.”

“I think that’s about all we’re going to get here,” said the judge.

“We still have the problem that we don’t know where the defence case is going,” said Bindrin.

“I’ll allow you to recall this witness if you think that’s useful,” said the judge.