This article really warms my heart. Alan Dershowitz writes a great defense of the Catholic Church, which is currently under assault by Tranzi Progressives forces. This is the second such great defense of my church by a Jew and what is especially amazing, one who is a Liberal Democrat. It is obvious that the current attacks are emanating from the same sources that despise Israel. Obviously Alan Dershowitz gets the big picture and rather than throw us under the bus in revenge for the history of blood between the Catholic Church and Jews, he comes out with a strong defense.
Having criticized particular Catholic cardinals for blaming everything–including the Church’s sex scandal–on “the Jews”, let me now come to the defense of the Pope and of the Church itself on this issue. To begin with, this is an extraordinarily complex problem, because the Church has at least five important traditions that make it difficult to move quickly and aggressively in response to complaints of abuse.
The first tradition involves confidentiality, particularly not exclusively the confidentiality of the priest with regard to the penitent. But there is also a wider spread tradition of confidentiality within the Church hierarchy itself.
Second, there is the tradition of forgiveness. Those of us outside the Church often think, perhaps, that the Church goes too far in forgiving. I was shocked when the previous Pope immediately forgave the man who tried to assassinate him. But this episode and other demonstrate that the tradition of forgiveness is all too real.
Read the rest: In Defense of the Pope
The Child abuse scandal is wrong and the Church did drop the ball on it. That said, the attacks on the Catholic Church have nothing to do with the scandal. It is an attempt by the Tranzi Progressives to destroy a pillar of Judeo-Christian/Roman-Greco Civilization. Alan Dershowitz sees the big picture and rather than dwell on historical grievances, he stands for what is right. Anti-Catholicism is just a despicable form of bigotry like Anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, Catholic bashing is acceptable in American society and it’s time to confront this bigotry.
Mr. Dershowitz sums it up perfectly here.
Most important, this tragedy should not be used as an excuse to attack a large and revered institution that does much good throughout the world. Blame must be placed with precision and praise should be given with precision as well. The eleventh Commandment, Thou Shalt Not Stereotype, must never be forgotten.
Thank you Alan, for coming to our defense in our time of need!
(Hat Tip: Iron Fist)
Update: The House Pope Benedict was born in was vanadalized. This is another example of howAnti-Catholicism is acceptable in society.
Update II: Addition by Speranza
Although I appreciated his support during the Iraq war, Christopher Hitchens (just like “Snowball” who turns 57 today), reverts to his Trotskyite and/or left wing past. There has been an attempt to target Israeli politicians and military personnel with arrest in Great Britain but as many have warned in the past, this “universal jurisdiction” will go a “bridge to far” one day. Let’s see them try the “universal jurisdiction” against Ahmadinejad.
by Robin Shepard
If I have said it once, I have said it a hundred times. The one great hope for those of us calling for sanity over the state of Israel in particular and the western world in general is that the group hysteria that inspires our opponents will ultimately render them so ridiculous that they will lose all credibility outside the lunatic fringe.
Well, vindication may be just around the corner. Now it emerges that the universal jurisdiction laws that have been used to effectively exclude prominent Israelis from Great Britain for fear of war crimes indictments may be used to launch a prosecution against, wait for it, the Pope.
This is not a theoretical idea. Two prominent atheist writers, Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion) and Christopher Hitchens, announced over the weekend that they are consulting lawyers with a view to prosecuting His Holiness when he comes to Britain in September. Charges, being considered by high profile human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC, would relate to Pope Benedict’s alleged cover up of abuses by paedophilic priests. The alleged cover up is said to amount to a crime against humanity. If, on that basis, a prosecution is launched the universal jurisdiction procedures would provide the route to do it.
Where to start? Perhaps firstly by pointing out that any such prosecution could (and probably would) be taken by Catholics around the world as a declaration of war against them by a Protestant judicial system. (The Queen is the titular head of the Anglican church and also of the English courts).
Apart from anything else, this would thus amount to an abrogation of the Peace of Westphalia — the treaties which followed the Thirty Years war (1618-1648) and which sought to bring an end to religious conflict across Europe.
[...]
If Stephens is right, what this all means is that the universal jurisdiction laws are almost certain to be amended beyond recognition in the very near future since the mere possibility they could see the Pope hauled before a British court is something the UK authorities will swiftly move to forestall.
[...]
Read the rest here: The U.K. “Universal Jurisdiction” insanity continues
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