Credibility Hari Kari?
Johann Hari, a homosexual columnist who writes a column for The Independent and whose credibility has been called into question on several occasions by others working in the field of journalism, has written an anti-Christian rant in which he asserts that, "There is now overwhelming evidence that Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope, was involved for over twenty years in an international criminal conspiracy to cover up the rape of children by priests in his Church." See here for full article.
And what is this "overwhelming evidence" Mr. Hari refers to? He doesn't say. Five years ago I challenged attorney Daniel Shea when he said essentially the same thing. Mr. Shea asserted that "Ratzinger and company" were engaged in an "international conspiracy to obstruct justice." And after five years, he still hasn't produced the slightest shred of evidence to corroborate his claims.
This is the mark of the fanatic. It was the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel, a man whose thought so greatly influenced my own, who said that, "Fanaticism is essentially opinion; opinion pushed to paroxysm; with everything that the notion of opinion may imply of blinded ignorance as to its own nature...whatever ends the fanatic is aiming at or thinks he is aiming at, even if he wishes to gather men together, he can only in fact separate them; but as his own interests cannot lie in effecting this separation, his is led...to wish to wipe his opponents out. And when he is thinking of these opponents, he takes care to form the most degrading images of them possible - they are 'lubricious vipers' or 'hyenas and jackals with typewriters' - and the ones that reduce them to most grossly material terms. In fact, he no longer thinks of these opponents except as material obstacles to be overturned or smashed down. Having abandoned the behaviour of a thinking being, he has lost even the feeblest notion of what a thinking being, outside himself, could be. It is understandable therefore that he should make very effort to deny in advance the rights and qualifications of those whom he wishes to eliminate; and that he should regard all means to this end as fair. We are back here again at the techniques of degradation...fanaticism is, of its very nature, incompatible with any regard for truth; and as truth itself is not really seperable from our regard for it, we need not hesitate to say that the fanatic is the enemy of truth..." (Man Against Mass Society, pp. 149-150).
I challenge Mr. Hari to produce his "evidence" of criminal conspiracy just as I challenged attorney Daniel Shea five years ago. I likewise challenge The Huffington Post to publish this "evidence." Failure to do so will be seen for what it is: an admission that no such "evidence" exists.
The credibility of The Independent*, The Huffington Post, and what little credibility Johann Hari might still enjoy, now hang in the balance.
Johann Hari, a homosexual columnist who writes a column for The Independent and whose credibility has been called into question on several occasions by others working in the field of journalism, has written an anti-Christian rant in which he asserts that, "There is now overwhelming evidence that Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope, was involved for over twenty years in an international criminal conspiracy to cover up the rape of children by priests in his Church." See here for full article.
And what is this "overwhelming evidence" Mr. Hari refers to? He doesn't say. Five years ago I challenged attorney Daniel Shea when he said essentially the same thing. Mr. Shea asserted that "Ratzinger and company" were engaged in an "international conspiracy to obstruct justice." And after five years, he still hasn't produced the slightest shred of evidence to corroborate his claims.
This is the mark of the fanatic. It was the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel, a man whose thought so greatly influenced my own, who said that, "Fanaticism is essentially opinion; opinion pushed to paroxysm; with everything that the notion of opinion may imply of blinded ignorance as to its own nature...whatever ends the fanatic is aiming at or thinks he is aiming at, even if he wishes to gather men together, he can only in fact separate them; but as his own interests cannot lie in effecting this separation, his is led...to wish to wipe his opponents out. And when he is thinking of these opponents, he takes care to form the most degrading images of them possible - they are 'lubricious vipers' or 'hyenas and jackals with typewriters' - and the ones that reduce them to most grossly material terms. In fact, he no longer thinks of these opponents except as material obstacles to be overturned or smashed down. Having abandoned the behaviour of a thinking being, he has lost even the feeblest notion of what a thinking being, outside himself, could be. It is understandable therefore that he should make very effort to deny in advance the rights and qualifications of those whom he wishes to eliminate; and that he should regard all means to this end as fair. We are back here again at the techniques of degradation...fanaticism is, of its very nature, incompatible with any regard for truth; and as truth itself is not really seperable from our regard for it, we need not hesitate to say that the fanatic is the enemy of truth..." (Man Against Mass Society, pp. 149-150).
I challenge Mr. Hari to produce his "evidence" of criminal conspiracy just as I challenged attorney Daniel Shea five years ago. I likewise challenge The Huffington Post to publish this "evidence." Failure to do so will be seen for what it is: an admission that no such "evidence" exists.
The credibility of The Independent*, The Huffington Post, and what little credibility Johann Hari might still enjoy, now hang in the balance.
* The Independent has published an article written by Johann Hari which asserted that, "It is now an indisputable fact that the Catholic Church systematically covered up the rape of children across the globe." See here.
Indisputable fact? Why then has this lawsuit been dropped.
