The accusations against Bishop Williamson, as reported in the world press, was that he had the temerity to “deny that six million Jews died in Nazi gas chambers”(NewYorkTimes (1/25/09) [http://www.nytimes.com /2009/01/25/ world/europe/25pope. html].) However, no reputable historian or legal tribunal has ever claimed that six million Jews were gassed. Subsequent reports have since back-pedalled from their own absurdist assertions and have fallen to parsing and re-parsing the bishop’s statements -- in the most culpable light possible. This process suffers from the viciousness inherent in all prosecutions for thought crime whether carried out by the Spanish Inquisition, Salem Witch Trials, or Nazi and Stalinist tribunals. Bishop Williamson holds to some idiosyncratic opinions and can assert no immunity for criticism on the merits. But that is not what this campaign is about.
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