After a week of heated and hysterical debate, which culminated in the pope's somewhat silly command that Holocaust-denier Richard Williamson spontaneously distance himself from his "beliefs" in order to be reintegrated into the fold, the man at the centre of it all has finally deigned to comment.
Before distancing himself from his notorious ideas about the Holocaust, Williamson stated in an interview with Der Spiegel, he will first "examine" the historical evidence. Only if that historical evidence yields the appropriate insight will he rethink his attitude. This will take time, however - a prediction we can safely take to mean that Williamson has no inclination whatsoever to rethink his views of the Holocaust.
The real kick in the gob of reason and sanity, of course, is his obscene suggestion that the historical evidence needs to be examined. By him.
As always when confronted with the conspiracy theorist's claim to the right to form her/his own opinion about firmly established facts, I feel a blinding, palpitating wave of exasperation wash over me. Right now I wish I did believe in a wrathful god, because if I did I would pray for him to strike Mr. Williamson with particular vehemence (and would probably feel better for it), but since I don't, all I can do is hit my own head against the wall and wail.
4 comments:
Certainly smug, but hypocritical? To my mind it is pure, unadulterated, casuistical catholicism.
The latest version of the post (once again I'm guilty of post-post fiddling, slap wrist and mea maxima culpa) is hypocrisy free.
Of course you're right: Williamson is only the nauseating tip of the shiteberg that is the Roman Catholic Church.
And in a way I'm glad about the causa Williamson. It proves the unease I've always felt about Catholicism. And at least now I don't have to fake liberal tolerance towards that particular bunch of deluded fantasists anymore, as I've tried to do in the past -- all unease notwithstanding.
And it might do the Catholic Church substantial and enduring harm. Town halls across German have already begun to notice a rise in people leaving the church. Long may it continue! An institution that fosters, furthers and shelters tossers like Williamson is not only ridiculous, it is well-nigh threatening and should be stripped of its assets, deprived of its influence and ultimately closed down.
Break out the ammunition, for at dawn we march on the Vatican.
"Load up on guns and bring your friends"?
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