I would never claim that religion is the sole (or even the main) cause of pedophilia, if for no other reason because “pedophilia” is a mental illness as opposed to an act — and it’s a condition that would appear to be innate in certain people, regardless of religion (or lack thereof). As for Dawkins’ comments, he has spoken elsewhere about what he meant, which was to say that he didn’t feel HIS particular experience did him any lasting harm. This is to say he didn’t want to claim the same level of trauma as somebody who was routinely raped, or anything of that kind. He phrased it badly but I don’t think it’s particularly charitable to interpret him as defending pedophilia. And unfortunately Salon is awful for taking people out of context — I stopped reading it for that reason. They’ve done innumerable hatchet jobs on people like Sam Harris that stunk of cheap pseudo-journalism.
