Disgrace.
No other word does justice to Pope Benedict XVI’s inexplicable decision to lift the excommunication against Holocaust-denying Roman Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson. Among the more disgusting comments made by Williamson is that historical evidence is “hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler. I believe there were no gas chambers. I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but none of them by gas chambers.”(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5585738.ece) Williamson has also said that “the Vatican is controlled by Satan and that the Jews are bent on world domination”.
Williamson was welcomed back into the fold along with three other bishops from the Society of St. Pius X–a schismatic group led by former French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre that rejects the changes installed by Vatican II. In 1988 Pope John Paul II excommunicated the society. An Associated Press article reports that the Vatican refers to Williamson as “a recently rehabilitated bishop.” (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gpbkisgs-EZ40shoCodJd4rfBNwAD95V35RO0) There is nothing rehabilitated about this man. According to the Times of London, the comments cited above were made just one week ago on a Swedish television station.
Word is that Pope Benedict XVI lifted the banishment as a way to heal the separation in the Church. But no desire to heal rifts within the Church can justify accepting a member of the clergy who espouses these antisemitic views. This is a man who claims to have devoted his life to the Lord Jesus Christ? If his views weren’t so evil, the irony of him recognizing a Jew as God-incarnate while believing this filth would be laughable.
You would think this Pope more than any other would understand the implication of accepting Williamson back into the clergy. As a German who knows first-hand the atrocities committed by the Nazis, it is inexcusable for him to ignore the hurt his actions have caused. Pope Benedict XVI’s actions are an insult not only to Jews everywhere today, but also to the memory of Holocaust victims and even to those who liberated the concentration camps and personally witnessed the inhumanity inflicted on much of European Jewry.
The Church has been accused of antisemitism for centuries. How can it deny this charge when actions like these are taken? Pope Benedict XVI could have easily lifted the excommunication against the Society of St. Pius X while leaving Williamson exiled. It would have sent the dual message that the Church wants to reconcile with its own but will not accept those who are unrepentant.
Shame on you, Pope Benedict XVI..
Donald Tremblay
Catholic Agenda
Catholic Agenda
Showing posts with label Jews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jews. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
With Friends Like These...
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have had full diplomatic relations since the early 1930s. Each year the two nations exchange billions of dollars through trade in goods such as oil, machinery and transport vehicles, food and live animals, etc . . . (http://www.saudia-online.com/saudi.htm) During the Gulf War (1990-1991) the Saudi kingdom allowed the U.S. (and its coalition partners) to use its territory as a military base to deploy forces against Saddam Hussein. In 2006, the NY Times reported that the U.S. “maintained its role as the leading supplier of weapons to the developing world,” and that one of the three biggest buyers was Saudi Arabia.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/us/01cnd-weapons.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)
Clearly, the 75-year relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia has been mutually beneficial, which is why economic cooperation between the two nations continues to expand.
Yet, it is difficult to reconcile the image of Saudi Arabia as a western ally with the stark reality of the kingdom’s enforcement of Wahabism, “an austere form of Islam that insists on a literal interpretation of the Koran.” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/analyses/wahhabism.html)
During a Frontline investigation of Wahabism a few years ago, PBS interviewed several Islamists about the Saudi religion and its teachings. One person named Ahmed Ali who was raised in Saudi Arabia gave an example of what is taught to ninth-grade students:
“’The day of judgment will not arrive until Muslims fight Jews, and Muslim will kill Jews until the Jew hides behind a tree or a stone. Then the tree and the stone will say, 'Oh Muslim, oh, servant of God, this is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him.' Except one type of a tree, which is a Jew tree. That will not say that.’ This is taught for 14-year-old boys in Saudi Arabia.” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/analyses/wahhabism.html)
Why do I raise this issue today? CBS News reports that Saudi Arabia’s “top judiciary official [Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan ] has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content.” (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/12/world/main4443857.shtml)
During a radio program recently al-Lihedan stated the following to his listeners:
“’What does the owner of these networks think, when he provides seduction, obscenity and vulgarity?’ he said.
‘‘Those calling for corrupt beliefs, certainly it's permissible to kill them,’ he said. ‘Those calling for sedition, those who are able to prevent it but don't, it is permissible to kill them.’"
This fatwa will come as little surprise to anyone who has followed the Saudi religious police.
In June 2005 Christian World News reported that “over the past three months, close to 100 Christians—all of them guest workers in Saudi Arabia —have been arrested by Saudi religious police. The guest workers’ crime? Worshipping Jesus Christ.” (http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/CWN/061005SaudiArabia.aspx) That’s right.
Non-Saudi’s prevented from freely worshipping their religions. But if you think that is bad, it’s even worse if you are a Saudi who rejects Islam: “Recently, a Saudi member of the religious police cut his daughter’s tongue off and burned her to death for converting to Christianity.” (http://viktorb.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/christian-persecution-saudi-arabia/)
Politics do makes strange bedfellows and it is naïve to believe that we can only trade with those who agree with us on cultural and religious issues. But shouldn’t we be doing more to object to this mistreatment of others on religious grounds? At some point a nation has to look at itself and wonder whether it is slowly selling its soul for material benefits and comforts. We need to speak out more against this inhumanity. And although things won’t change overnight, we need to remember an ancient Chinese proverb: “Even the longest of journeys begins with a single step.”
Donald Tremblay
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/us/01cnd-weapons.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)
Clearly, the 75-year relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia has been mutually beneficial, which is why economic cooperation between the two nations continues to expand.
Yet, it is difficult to reconcile the image of Saudi Arabia as a western ally with the stark reality of the kingdom’s enforcement of Wahabism, “an austere form of Islam that insists on a literal interpretation of the Koran.” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/analyses/wahhabism.html)
During a Frontline investigation of Wahabism a few years ago, PBS interviewed several Islamists about the Saudi religion and its teachings. One person named Ahmed Ali who was raised in Saudi Arabia gave an example of what is taught to ninth-grade students:
“’The day of judgment will not arrive until Muslims fight Jews, and Muslim will kill Jews until the Jew hides behind a tree or a stone. Then the tree and the stone will say, 'Oh Muslim, oh, servant of God, this is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him.' Except one type of a tree, which is a Jew tree. That will not say that.’ This is taught for 14-year-old boys in Saudi Arabia.” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/analyses/wahhabism.html)
Why do I raise this issue today? CBS News reports that Saudi Arabia’s “top judiciary official [Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan ] has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content.” (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/12/world/main4443857.shtml)
During a radio program recently al-Lihedan stated the following to his listeners:
“’What does the owner of these networks think, when he provides seduction, obscenity and vulgarity?’ he said.
‘‘Those calling for corrupt beliefs, certainly it's permissible to kill them,’ he said. ‘Those calling for sedition, those who are able to prevent it but don't, it is permissible to kill them.’"
This fatwa will come as little surprise to anyone who has followed the Saudi religious police.
In June 2005 Christian World News reported that “over the past three months, close to 100 Christians—all of them guest workers in Saudi Arabia —have been arrested by Saudi religious police. The guest workers’ crime? Worshipping Jesus Christ.” (http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/CWN/061005SaudiArabia.aspx) That’s right.
Non-Saudi’s prevented from freely worshipping their religions. But if you think that is bad, it’s even worse if you are a Saudi who rejects Islam: “Recently, a Saudi member of the religious police cut his daughter’s tongue off and burned her to death for converting to Christianity.” (http://viktorb.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/christian-persecution-saudi-arabia/)
Politics do makes strange bedfellows and it is naïve to believe that we can only trade with those who agree with us on cultural and religious issues. But shouldn’t we be doing more to object to this mistreatment of others on religious grounds? At some point a nation has to look at itself and wonder whether it is slowly selling its soul for material benefits and comforts. We need to speak out more against this inhumanity. And although things won’t change overnight, we need to remember an ancient Chinese proverb: “Even the longest of journeys begins with a single step.”
Donald Tremblay
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Does Blame Have an Expiration Date?
Today the NY Daily News announced that the NY Giants and the NY Jets are considering selling naming-rights to their new stadium to Allianz—a German insurance company with ties to Nazi Germany. Jewish groups are outraged. (http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/2008/09/10/2008-09-10_considering_firm_with_nazi_ties_for_nami.html)
Below are a few facts the Daily News printed about Allianz:
• It was the insurer of the Auschwitz death camp's facilities and personnel.
• Its chief executive, Kurt Schmitt, served as Hitler's economics minister.
• Like other insurers, it refused to pay back Jews' life insurance policies and sent the money to the Nazis instead.
• The company did pay restitution over the years.
The issue raises an important moral question: Are their certain crimes for which people will never be forgiven?
As Christians we are taught to “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Regardless of the crime’s horror or the evil of the injustice committed, our Lord tells us we must forgive.
Yet, in the case of the Holocaust when should the Jewish people be expected to forgive? Is more than fifty years of seeking vengeance against all involved in this crime-against-humanity enough? Or is there no amount of reparation capable of mitigating the anger towards the guilty? Perhaps the crime committed was so evil that all involved should be forced to wear a metaphorical Scarlet Letter for as long as they exist?
Complicating matters regarding the naming rights for the new stadium is that NY Giants co-owner, the Tisch family, is Jewish. Has the Tisch family decided that Allianz has paid enough reparation over the years to warrant acceptance? Or is it simply a matter of economics and the Tisch family is willing to “sell out” for the right price? Considering the Tischs’ reputation as active supporters of Jewish philanthropy the sellout accusation seems highly unlikely.
So when is enough, enough?
I would be lying if I said I had the answer.
Donald Tremblay
Below are a few facts the Daily News printed about Allianz:
• It was the insurer of the Auschwitz death camp's facilities and personnel.
• Its chief executive, Kurt Schmitt, served as Hitler's economics minister.
• Like other insurers, it refused to pay back Jews' life insurance policies and sent the money to the Nazis instead.
• The company did pay restitution over the years.
The issue raises an important moral question: Are their certain crimes for which people will never be forgiven?
As Christians we are taught to “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Regardless of the crime’s horror or the evil of the injustice committed, our Lord tells us we must forgive.
Yet, in the case of the Holocaust when should the Jewish people be expected to forgive? Is more than fifty years of seeking vengeance against all involved in this crime-against-humanity enough? Or is there no amount of reparation capable of mitigating the anger towards the guilty? Perhaps the crime committed was so evil that all involved should be forced to wear a metaphorical Scarlet Letter for as long as they exist?
Complicating matters regarding the naming rights for the new stadium is that NY Giants co-owner, the Tisch family, is Jewish. Has the Tisch family decided that Allianz has paid enough reparation over the years to warrant acceptance? Or is it simply a matter of economics and the Tisch family is willing to “sell out” for the right price? Considering the Tischs’ reputation as active supporters of Jewish philanthropy the sellout accusation seems highly unlikely.
So when is enough, enough?
I would be lying if I said I had the answer.
Donald Tremblay
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