Don't sugarcoat Holocaust denier
Calvin Freiburger
Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: Opinion
I agree with Raymond Spiotta that Europe's disregard for free expression is deplorable. Government regulation of speech is a dangerous precedent, no matter the societal ill one is attempting to silence.
But frankly, his characterizations of Bishop Richard Williamson and Holocaust denial are just as disturbing. Not only do they downplay Williamson's grave sin, but they provide ammunition for those liberals and secularists who would like nothing more than to smear the conservative and religious values of this campus as cruel and bigoted.
Williamson claims that, at most, 300,000 Jews died in Germany, and none by gas chamber. But the fun doesn't stop there.
On March 5, 2008, the Catholic Herald reported that Williamson endorses the fraudulent Protocols of the Elders of Zion (which purports to be a Jewish plan for world domination) as "put into men's hands" by God "if men want to know the truth, but few do."
He accuses Jews of working "to prepare the Antichrist's throne in Jerusalem." Incredibly, he expects us to believe he's not an anti-Semite because - I kid you not -"I once had a Jewish rabbi come and speak to seminarians."
Also, he concedes that not every Jew on earth is part of the Antichrist's welcoming committee. My, how gracious!
(Unsurprisingly, in September 2007 he also told a British audience the World Trade Center twin towers were not destroyed by airplanes, but by guided missiles in a US government conspiracy.)
Make no mistake: Richard Williamson is evil, a disgrace to the Catholic Church. Yet to Mr. Spiotta, he's merely an "outspoken Catholic?" He complains that Williamson is the one who's been smeared?
Show me one shred of falsehood in any of the reporting or commentary on the controversy.
A quick search of YouTube or Williamson's own Web site (dinoscopus.blogspot.com) will show it's no media hatchet-job -just Williamson's own words.
And it won't do to call equating Holocaust denial with anti-Semitism "irrational," or say the historical record of Nazi Germany's crimes is no more than a "received Holocaust tradition," something on which reasonable people can apparently disagree - something "good historians" should actually keep an open mind about.
But frankly, his characterizations of Bishop Richard Williamson and Holocaust denial are just as disturbing. Not only do they downplay Williamson's grave sin, but they provide ammunition for those liberals and secularists who would like nothing more than to smear the conservative and religious values of this campus as cruel and bigoted.
Williamson claims that, at most, 300,000 Jews died in Germany, and none by gas chamber. But the fun doesn't stop there.
On March 5, 2008, the Catholic Herald reported that Williamson endorses the fraudulent Protocols of the Elders of Zion (which purports to be a Jewish plan for world domination) as "put into men's hands" by God "if men want to know the truth, but few do."
He accuses Jews of working "to prepare the Antichrist's throne in Jerusalem." Incredibly, he expects us to believe he's not an anti-Semite because - I kid you not -"I once had a Jewish rabbi come and speak to seminarians."
Also, he concedes that not every Jew on earth is part of the Antichrist's welcoming committee. My, how gracious!
(Unsurprisingly, in September 2007 he also told a British audience the World Trade Center twin towers were not destroyed by airplanes, but by guided missiles in a US government conspiracy.)
Make no mistake: Richard Williamson is evil, a disgrace to the Catholic Church. Yet to Mr. Spiotta, he's merely an "outspoken Catholic?" He complains that Williamson is the one who's been smeared?
Show me one shred of falsehood in any of the reporting or commentary on the controversy.
A quick search of YouTube or Williamson's own Web site (dinoscopus.blogspot.com) will show it's no media hatchet-job -just Williamson's own words.
And it won't do to call equating Holocaust denial with anti-Semitism "irrational," or say the historical record of Nazi Germany's crimes is no more than a "received Holocaust tradition," something on which reasonable people can apparently disagree - something "good historians" should actually keep an open mind about.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Raymond Spiotta
posted 3/11/09 @ 2:48 PM EST
Bp. Williamson never said the twin towers were brought down by guided missiles.
Knock it off with the libel.
Calvin
posted 3/15/09 @ 11:13 AM EST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooGBMFShUVo
After reviewing the tape, I admit I made a mistake. Williamson does not specifically say guided missiles destroyed the towers. (Continued…)
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