Argentina expels Holocaust- denying bishop

[bemildred]

Source: Reuters

Argentina has given a Roman Catholic bishop 10 days to leave the country or be expelled after he caused an international uproar by denying the extent of the Holocaust, the government said on Thursday.

Bishop Richard Williamson, an ultra-traditionalist who headed a seminary near Buenos Aires until earlier this month, has said he believes there were no gas chambers and that no more than 300,000 Jews died in Germany's Nazi concentration camps, rather than the 6 million figure that is widely accepted.

The Vatican ordered him to retract his comments and the British-born Williamson responded that needed more time to review the evidence.

"The interior minister ... orders Richard Nelson Williamson to leave the country within 10 days or be expelled," Argentina's government said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2009/02/20/europe/OUKWD-UK-ARGENTINA-BISHOP.php

[davidinalameda]

1. expel his ass

maybe the Vatican will take him in

[rpannier]

2. ultra-traditionalist

That's the new word for 'fringe, crack pot, lunatic'

[peacetalksforall]

3. Good for Argentina!

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Okay, I'll play Devil's Advocate.

He's a loon and a slimeball, and his head is filled with spaghetti noodles where his brains should be.

But even people like that must have the liberty to express their absurd ideas. Otherwise, freedom of speech is meaningless.

[TygrBright]

5. Agreed, and if the Argentine government had the leverage to make the Church...

...yank him out of his public pulpit where he can spew this toxic waste with the symbolic authority of his position behind him, I'm sure they might have chosen that route.

Unfortunately, they DON'T have that leverage, and the only way to deny him an authoritative pulpit for spreading this excrement in their country is to boot him.

Shame, that.

ironically,
Bright

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. "people like that must have the liberty to express their absurd ideas" - I dunno about that

.
.
.

There must be a limit to what is acceptable

people can be influenced by what others say

what if someone calls your wife/girlfriend/daughter a slut?

is that ok?

[DavidDvorkin]

8. Yes, it is.

I might react more violently than is prudent, but that doesn't mean the government should.

[provis99]

10. he's a foreigner; he has no inherent right to be in Argentina

so if they want to expel him for being an ass, or for any other reason, they have the right to do it. The right of a country to control its borders trumps the rights of a bishop to be an ass.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. He's a foreigner. He's not entitled to staying there. -nt

[defendandprotect]

6. Lovely . . . Popey a little late on his turn around . . .but good for Argentina-!!!

[xchrom]

9. +4