Atheist Campaigner Plans UK Arrest of Pope

[Gary L]

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.

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.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/com...cle7094310.ece

[Derek]

Part of me wants to see him rushing towards the pope with a set of handcuffs if only to see how many bones the papal security would leave intact.

[Russ]

Ah good old Dicky Dawkins. Bless 'im.

[Gary L]

I'm sure someone will warn them. so they don't think he's just any old mad man rushing up to the pope.

[Raistlin]

Given that the arrest of the Pope within the UK is not an absolute certainty I've amended the title to make it slightly more accurate ...

[Sirius]

Let him do it. I cannot wait to see how many years he gets for attacking a person in broad daylight. I am an atheist myself but i cannot condone this action.

If we are going to get to the bottom of the child abuse that was rampant in the catholic church then its needs to be done legally and correctly. That's how it would be done for any other organisation so why not the church that was involved. Problem is that it was covered up and is still being covered up. One rule for the pope and his cronies and one rule for the kids that were abused.

Its child abuse not matter how they try to rap it up and hide it. Therefor it should be dealt with by the law not some old git with a pair of handcuffs

i think there are a lot more people within the catholic church that should be arrested before the pope

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by martyh

i think there are a lot more people within the catholic church that should be arrested before the pope

Agreed, But its not going to happen as they will close ranks and prevent it.

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Sirius

Agreed, But its not going to happen as they will close ranks and prevent it.

Yep. they'll compare themselves to another group that were victimised. thus creating a guilt barrier where you think twice about if going after them will be seen as a bad thing.

[Sirius]

Personally i don't see this as a religious thing. Its just a bunch of dirty old pedophiles that think they can get away with child abuse.

[Angua]

Actually think the fact that atheists are proposing this is somewhat irrelevant. The Catholic Church needs to be properly held accountable for the damage some have caused to many.

Gotta love Professor Hawkins and The Hitch, fully 50% of The Four Horsemen of the Atheist Apocalypse.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Angua

Actually think the fact that atheists are proposing this is somewhat irrelevant. The Catholic Church needs to be properly held accountable for the damage some have caused to many.

Agreed

Originally Posted by Angua

Actually think the fact that atheists are proposing this is somewhat irrelevant. The Catholic Church needs to be properly held accountable for the damage some have caused to many.

Agreed

[downquark1]

Originally Posted by Richard Dawkins

Needless to say, I did NOT say "I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI" or anything so personally grandiloquent. You have to remember that The Sunday Times is a Murdoch newspaper, and that all newspapers follow the odd custom of entrusting headlines to a sub-editor, not the author of the article itself.

What I DID say to Marc Horme when he telephoned me out of the blue, and I repeat it here, is that I am whole-heartedly behind the initiative by Geoffrey Robertson and Mark Stephens to mount a legal challenge to the Pope's proposed visit to Britain. Beyond that, I declined to comment to Marc Horme, other than to refer him to my 'Ratzinger is the Perfect Pope' article here: http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5341

Here is what really happened. Christopher Hitchens first proposed the legal challenge idea to me on March 14th. I responded enthusiastically, and suggested the name of a high profile human rights lawyer whom I know. I had lost her address, however, and set about tracking her down. Meanwhile, Christopher made the brilliant suggestion of Geoffrey Robertson. He approached him, and Mr Robertson's subsequent 'Put the Pope in the Dock' article in The Guardian shows him to be ideal:
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5366
The case is obviously in good hands, with him and Mark Stephens. I am especially intrigued by the proposed challenge to the legality of the Vatican as a sovereign state whose head can claim diplomatic immunity.

Even if the Pope doesn't end up in the dock, and even if the Vatican doesn't cancel the visit, I am optimistic that we shall raise public consciousness to the point where the British government will find it very awkward indeed to go ahead with the Pope's visit, let alone pay for it.

Richard

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