Richard Dawkins is totally going to arrest the Pope

[SAUSAGEMAN]

RICHARD DAWKINS, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”.

Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

The pair believe they can exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998.

The Pope was embroiled in new controversy this weekend over a letter he signed arguing that the “good of the universal church” should be considered against the defrocking of an American priest who committed sex offences against two boys. It was dated 1985, when he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which deals with sex abuse cases.

Benedict will be in Britain between September 16 and 19, visiting London, Glasgow and Coventry, where he will beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman, the 19th-century theologian.

Dawkins and Hitchens believe the Pope would be unable to claim diplomatic immunity from arrest because, although his tour is categorised as a state visit, he is not the head of a state recognised by the United Nations.

They have commissioned the barrister Geoffrey Robertson and Mark Stephens, a solicitor, to present a justification for legal action.

The lawyers believe they can ask the Crown Prosecution Service to initiate criminal proceedings against the Pope, launch their own civil action against him or refer his case to the International Criminal Court.

Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, said: “This is a man whose first instinct when his priests are caught with their pants down is to cover up the scandal and damn the young victims to silence.”

Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great, said: “This man is not above or outside the law. The institutionalised concealment of child rape is a crime under any law and demands not private ceremonies of repentance or church-funded payoffs, but justice and punishment.

Last year pro-Palestinian activists persuaded a British judge to issue an arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni, the Israeli politician, for offences allegedly committed during the 2008-09 conflict in Gaza. The warrant was withdrawn after Livni cancelled her planned trip to the UK.

“There is every possibility of legal action against the Pope occurring,” said Stephens. “Geoffrey and I have both come to the view that the Vatican is not actually a state in international law. It is not recognised by the UN, it does not have borders that are policed and its relations are not of a full diplomatic nature.”

 

[Fuddlemiff]

I'm surprised Dawkins would go that far, seems particularly direct action, even for him. Will be very interesting to see what transpires.

 

[Cassie]

I hope he does.

 

[Yub]

It would be elegant "proof" that there is no God. He arrests the mediator between God and men and gaols him. The Catholics are thrown into disarray. Some would question their faith. Atheism wins.

Too bad the plan has two flaws:

• God has little to do with the Catholic Church
• Jesus himself was arrest and sentenced

All the same, Ratzenburger needs to front up for the shit he has done.

 

[Mentalist]

God has little to do with the Catholic Church

Or anything else...


Frankly I think this is a stupid idea. Getting atheism further accepted and legitimized is always a good thing but I fail to see how this will achieve that in any way. This has nothing to do with science or ideology. Fuck it doesn't even have anything to do with religion.Its pure sensationalism and publicity seeking.


Meh.

 

[Cassie]

I think if they were able to do this, it would be one of the most important things to happen since the Catholic church came into existence.

I'm not anti-Catholic, or anti-Christian. I am anti-child rapist. The Church aided and abetted criminals, and should be held responsible.

 

[Robert "Monkey" Loggia]

I love it.

 

[CaptainWacky]

I was sure this was going to be an Onion article.

 

[Fuddlemiff]

I'll of course defer to the judgement of those who know the bible better, but I don't recall Jesus being arrested or sentenced for aiding and abetting a child rapist, so it's really apples and orange territory. hpneutral:

 

[Robert "Monkey" Loggia]

I'll of course defer to the judgement of those who know the bible better, but I don't recall Jesus being arrested or sentenced for aiding and abetting a child rapist, so it's really apples and orange territory. hpneutral:

It happened during that 18 years we don't know about.

 

[Dirk Funk]

I'm certainly no defender of Catholicism, but srsly, doesn't this clown have anything better to do? If it's a troll, it's a long shot. Maybe I should send him a nice badminton set or a Parcheesi board. The man needs to do something productive with his time.

 

[Dirk Funk]

SAUSAGEMAN:

Yes, he should certainly be playing badminton instead of trying to have sex criminals brought to justice. Think of the c...

Dual:

^Agreed.

Both you fuckers need to take a step back and see what exactly is going on here. Dual, I'm disappointed in you. You ought to know better. I warned you about this before. And pissing me off right now is not a good idea, especially considering the subject matter. This hatfucker is a known publicity whore. He's no different than Michael Newdow here in California who sued to get Under God removed from the pledge. He's attacking the biggest, most visible target he can find, knowing he doesn't have a chance in hell. Doing it for his own publicity and self aggrandizement all the while claiming it's for "the children". Using the sexual abuse of children for his own financial and personal gain. That's almost as sick as what he's accusing the Pope of. He's grandstanding and using these kids as a podium. That makes my skin crawl. As someone who has had extended family abused in this way, this makes me physically sick and seriously angry. The record of the Catholic Church on a LOT of things, especially this is abysmal. They will eventually have to face the consequences of the things they've done, but this is just plain stupid. He has an axe to grind against religion and people of faith, and he's using the abuse of these kids to do it. He fucking makes me sick. If he really wanted to help stop this, there are a hundred better ways he could go about it. I hope he falls flat on his smug face.

 

[Dirk Funk]

And you too, Dr Dave. Why don't you fucking read the next post before jumping on the bandwagon. You need to seriously consider what you're cheering on here. You must think it's OK to use the abuse of children to further your career. Sick fuck. Why aren't you negging Menty? He said essentially the same thing.

 

[Dual]

Dirk, your interpretation of Dawkins' actions as being purely self serving is entirely subjective. The objective facts of the case are that Pontifex Maximus Benedictus XVI is responsible for the cover up of the rape of children, and I really doubt you know enough about Dawkins on a personal level to make the qualitative judgments you've levied valid to the rest of us.

 

[Dirk Funk]

Dirk, your interpretation of Dawkins' actions as being purely self serving is entirely subjective. The objective facts of the case are that Pontifex Maximus Benedictus XVI is responsible for the cover up of the rape of children, and I really doubt you know enough about Dawkins on a personal level to make the qualitative judgments you've levied valid to the rest of us.

I've read enough of his writings and heard his talks. More than enough to know what he's doing. Especially because I've seen this many times before. I used Newdow as an example because it's the most recent. He used his daughter as a pawn for a personal vendetta regarding perceived religion in the school. He's an opportunist and he's found an angle. Of course the Pope and the Church are guilty of covering this stuff up! I have no respect for that organization whatsoever. But choosing to "help" in this way is ridiculous. It's not doing anything but bringing attention to Dawkins. "Look at me! I'm helping rid the world of the big bad Pope!" For someone who's supposedly so intelligent, he's a fucking idiot if he thinks this will actually work. And what if by some strange chance it does? Somehow he's able to get the Pope arrested without tremendous political backlash. Another Pope will be elected, and nothing will have changed or improved! Except of course, for Dawkin's career.

 

[Yub]

I'll of course defer to the judgement of those who know the bible better, but I don't recall Jesus being arrested or sentenced for aiding and abetting a child rapist, so it's really apples and orange territory. hpneutral:

It really doesn't matter what the crime is, he'd going after the Pope for any crime at all. This is meant to deal a blow to Catholicism as a whole. Arresting the Pope is a grand move, you cannot ignore the theatrics of it. Like Dirk sez, this is an angle to achieve the end goal, derailing organized religion and belief in God or perhaps book sales....and of course fanboys like Dual and El Sausage are eating it up.

And for the record, I'm no Catholic nor do I support it at all.

 

[whisky]

I like boobs

 

[Fuddlemiff]

Oh, I agree that he wouldn't even pass a public comment on the issue if it was anybody else. This is more about Dawkins attention whoring and stepping up his crusade against religion than it is about bringing a criminal to justice.

But I don't want Ratzinger to come here in September. He's not at all welcome as far as I'm concerned, so if Dawkins makes the prospect of a visit to the UK look like a bad idea, then the ends justify the means.

 

[Robert "Monkey" Loggia]

The Catholic church is a corrupt, rotten organization that SHOULD be taken down. And I firmly believe Jesus would support its destruction.

 

[Dirk Funk]

The Catholic church is a corrupt, rotten organization that SHOULD be taken down. And I firmly believe Jesus would support its destruction.

I agree 100% however, that's not what's going on here with Dawkins. I really believe he's using this situation for his own personal gain.