• Richard Dawkins: I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI
    821 replies, posted
[url]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7094310.ece[/url] [release]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 The warrant was withdrawn after Livni cancelled her planned trip to the UK.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.”[/release] If this happens, I'll make a Richard Dawkins dildo, use it, and post a video. :siren:[highlight]UPDATE[/highlight]:siren: Dawkins says that the Times, a Rupert Murdoch-owned paper, is pretty much bullshitting. [url]http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5415[/url] [release]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 Horne 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: [url]http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5341[/url] 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: [url]http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5366[/url] 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 [/release]
It's official, I'm gay for a man. inb4 gaybows Seriously, I hope they take the fucker down, really fuck the Pope.
Oh god, this is so fucking badass. Go Richard Dawkins
Oh snap. This should be good. Better make that 2 dildos. :3:
Some how I think he'll fail; the pope will use his Sith mind trick.
That would be kickass to the limit.
I would cry tears of atheist joy if he does.
Good, we need a new pope. One that doesn't let priests get away with sexual abuses and actually does his job properly.
Well yeah, one of the basic rules of such a plan would be keeping your goddamn secret plan secret because the pope's totally gonna be like "There's some people wanting to arrest me, let's go to Britain yay".
I hope he'll succeed.
Man I hope he comes through for us.
Fuck yes
who does this DAWK think he is [editline]06:35PM[/editline] hes also a DICK becuase his first name is RICHARD
He better deliver.
Awesome stuff.
i hope the pope wins
[QUOTE=abcpea;21282909]who does this DAWK think he is [editline]06:35PM[/editline] hes also a DICK becuase his first name is RICHARD[/QUOTE] [img]http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/1777/sasaasf.png[/img] Sorry, seemed appropriate in my head. :v:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkbq18u9sxw&feature=related[/media]
Hooray, now that this has hit the news the pope will find out via word-of-mouth.
That'll be amazing if the pope got arrested because he did something wrong and he needs to be punished. Just because he is the pope doesn't mean shit all only that he is the head of the Catholic religion.
If what the pope is accused of is true, he should be arrested for sure, no matter if he is pope or not. The problem is, that this is probably just a publicity stunt, church hate move, which only uses the child abuse as excuse. [editline]08:50AM[/editline] [QUOTE=keatinator;21283017]That'll be amazing if the pope got arrested because he did something wrong and he needs to be punished. Just because he is the pope doesn't mean shit all only that he is the head of the Catholic religion.[/QUOTE] Even if he did it, it was long before becoming pope.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;21283025]If what the pope is accused of is true, he should be arrested for sure, no matter if he is pope or not. The problem is, that this is probably just a publicity stunt, church hate move, which only uses the child abuse as excuse. [/QUOTE] Or you know the pope is evil evil man and needs to be in jail that could be it too.
[QUOTE=TheManest;21283073]Or you know the pope is evil evil man and needs to be in jail that could be it too.[/QUOTE] Gadzooks! What a preposterous idea!
Watch them arrest them, then they find proof of CP in his quarters or where ever it lives.
[QUOTE=Sprocket Shit;21283084]Gadzooks! What a preposterous idea![/QUOTE] Nonsense! Get this idea to the patent office, post haste!
Sadly, will never happen.
[QUOTE=Vaught;21283124]Nonsense! Get this idea to the patent office, post haste![/QUOTE] Poppycock! Such a concept would surely fail to meet legal approval. After all, a man of such stature like the pope couldn't possibly be by any means what the peasants refer to as 'evil.'
I assure you, it meets all legal standards, and therefore, can and will be approved! And if his actions don't convince you of my plea, then take a gander at that rather gruesome look on his face. That being his actual face. aaaaaaa dead in the dirt
[QUOTE=Sprocket Shit;21283150]Poppycock! Such a concept would surely fail to meet legal approval. After all, a man of such stature like the pope couldn't possibly be by any means what the peasants refer to as 'evil.'[/QUOTE] lol.
If the plans for the arrest actually work out, I bet Eggs chickens out and doesn't come.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.