Sunday, February 8, 2009

My Letter [Email] to Bishop Williamson: You Asked for Proof?

[Edited 8:7 a.m. See note at end]

In the face of demands by Pope Benedict that he recant his denial, Bishop Williamson says he is going to wait until he finds "proof" of the Holocaust.

In that spirit I have sent the following letter [email] to the Bishop. I promise to let you know if I get an answer.

YourExcellency@dinoscopus.com

It has come to my attention that you are looking for "proof" of the Holocaust. Let me assure you that such proof exists in reams.

The most expeditious means for you to determine that all the "claims" you have made both on your webpage and in interviews are completely bogus would be to read, in its entirety, the verdict of Judge Charles Gray who presided in David Irving v. Penguin UK and Deborah Lipstadt. The judgment can be found at http://www.hdot.org/trial/judgement

You will see there that each of your arguments is shown to be based on bogus documents, fabrications of evidence, or misinformation. This is what we call in common parlance: lies.

Other links can be found on my blog where we have prepared an extensive, point by point, refutation of your claims. This will also take you the Myths and Facts section of www.hdot.org, where you will find even more refutations of your various claims about the gassing process.

You may also want to visit to the Holocaust History Project, where you will find yet additional refutations.

Finally, I also suggest you read the expert report of Robert Jan van Pelt who carefully demolishes the various claims you and other deniers make about the gassing process.

You will see that your arguments are based on false and mistaken suppositions. In short, sir, there is no dearth of evidence. There is only a dearth of willingness to remove the blinders from one's eyes.

Professor Deborah E. Lipstadt, Ph.D.
Emory University
Atlanta, Ga.
* Since first posting this my email has bounced back. I have sent a copy of the letter to the Argentinian headquarters of the SSPX, where Williamson is apparently currently based. I will also send one to the headquarters.

11 comments:

MACNEALON said...

Dr. Lipstadt:

Your letter is great! I hope Williamson and others read it. At least they should start with reasonable doubts about "historians" like Irving, Leuchter and others.

Best wishes,

M.N.

MACNEALON said...

Dr. Lipstadt:

I think you are not working without results...

Check this:

The SSPX has expelled an Italian priest who recently said he believed gas-chambers at Nazi death camps were only used to "disinfect" inmates and cast doubt on the veracity of the Holocaust. The Italian branch of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) said Father Floriano Abrahamowicz was expelled due to "serious disciplinary reasons," the ANSA news agency reported citing a SSPX statement issued Friday.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/254658,italian-holocaust-denying-priest-is-expelled.html

StGuyFawkes said...

Dr. Lipstadt’s letter is good enough.

My suggestion: call your local Archdiocese. Ask for the director of Interfaith Relations. Express concern about the annulment of Bp. Williamson’s excommunication.

If you are jewish, or protestant, emphasize that you understand that this is an internal Catholic affair. Say that you know that members of the same religion may indeed make strange bedfellows. Joke about how Jimmy Swaggert and Jerry Lee Lewis were both cousins and members of the same Assembly of God. Then insist, nonetheless, that the mortal danger presented by holocaust denial obligates you, a concerned non-Catholic to ask: ask:

1.) If the SSPX is regularized by means of their becoming a “Personal Prelature”of the Pope, who can a Jew complain to locally if he discovers anti-Semitic texts are being sold or taught at SSPX parishes?

2.) Tell the Archdiocean director that you intend to visit your local SSPX chapel. Let him know you will be listening to the sermons. Visiting the bookstore.

3.) Go to the local SSPX fish fries in Lent. Be respectful. Walk around and tell everyone that you are just happy as hell to hear they have finally signed onto Vatican II. Listen to what they say. Write it down. If you hear something strange go tell the Vicar General of the Archdiocese. And when you write be sure to CC: the local Bnai Brith.

4.) Do everything with respect and love. Remember these SSPX guys are human too. Most of them have just been in formaldehyde for a long time. Treat them as Catholics who have just come out of cryogeneses.

5.) Lastly, don’t worry. Benedict XVI has been working on these guys since they bolted in ’86. He was the last Pope’s point man on this case. He was all over it then. He’s all over it now.

6.) And don’t take too, too seriously the stories you hear about Benedict being “out of touch”, or that he has lost control. Remember, he’s an old Vatican hand. He’s been walking past that obelisk in the middle of St. Peters square for a long, long time. He’s full of what citizens of the Vatican city state call “Romanitas”. He knows his way around the secret catacombs. He's as "out of it" Obi-wan Kenobi.

Remember, Joe Ratzinger's job, before he took the big one was to run the Congregation of the Faith. That used to be called the Inquisition. That soft old professor could teach Machiavelli a thing or two. He knows his way around St. Peter’s square. And most of all he knows you.

Open your phone book now. Talk to the Archdiocese. I talked to my Vicar General this morning. Yours is waiting to hear from you.

FAIIRPLAY said...

Professor Lipstadt,

Would you allow me to suggest to the Oxford Union [The Oxford University Debating Union] that they invite both yourself and Williamson to debate the merits of your respective cases before the Student body?

Fairplay.

Deborah Lipstadt said...

Whoa, this is not a debate. I have said many times I do not debate deniers. First of all, it suggests that there are two equal sides to the issue. would you expect a scientist to debate someone who believes the earth is flat? Of course not.

Secondly, deniers are notorious distorters and liars. [Some of those who simply parrot what others say -- and Williamson may be in this category -- may not realize the extent of the lies and the distortions.] And it is impossible to debate a liar. It is like trying to nail a blob of jelly to the wall.

for some examples of my position look at the label on the right of C-Span/History on Trial Controversy

MACNEALON said...

Dr. Lipstadt:

I´ve expressed my concerns about the cheap publicity and the image of seriousness that revisionists have in Argentina.

I think that some sponsors should finance:

- the translation of your book, the trial with Irving and Evans´ books in different languages like spanish, french, german, arab et al;

- free versions of those translations, with ebook format, available on the Internet.

I think is very importante to influence not only in the academic world but specially in the mainstream readers.

M.N.

FAIIRPLAY said...

Re: Oxford University Debate:

Professor Lipstadt, I accept the wisdom behind your reasoning and respect it, I'm also shrewd enough to know that the chances of Williamson agreeing to attend are less than my chances of winning the Rhode Island State Lottery, meaning would anyone in their right mind like to stand up before a house full of Oxford or Harvard Students to seriously defend the topic: 'There was no gas chambers in Auschwitz and the Holocaust is lies.

Over the years the Oxford Union have had a large number of guest speakers including Presidents Reagan and Nixon, and no doubt soon President Barack Obama. My understanding is topics can be suggested to them for debate and debates can be sponsered, and if the President is willing he might / might not take it on. It's possible this topic been debated before and I will try to find when and what was the result. Thank you.

FAIIRPLAY said...

Re: Oxford Debate.

Professor Lipstadt, I respect your reasoning, and realise the chances of Williamson attending are zilch [If you were him would you like to debate his views on the holocaust before an housefull of Oxford or Harvard Students?]My views are that Student debating Unions are a valuable way to discredit Williamson and his ilk, and should be pursued. In the meanwhile being a forgiving sort [untrue] may I suggest to Willamson the following prayer written tongue in cheek by myself: BISHOPS WILLIAMSON'S PERSONAL PRAYER.

Lord I am sorry that I have done wrong and ask forgiveness of you. Thank you Lord for allowing your Jew son to die for me on the Cross. Please allow him and his kind to come into my life, to teach me their ways, to improve my knowledge of world history and to help me revise some of the hateful things I have said, and Lord if you can manage it keep me well away from all University Campuses and the Press. Amen.

Unknown said...

You are kidding me?

You mock Rome at its treatment of Galileo, but you throw intellectuals like Zundel in Jail for his research?

If the Shoah is true, then let's have a Canonical Trial where both sides can provide evidence, let's settle this issue objectively.

If you are going to rely on Propaganda, what you unquestionably accepted during your indoctrination period at school, and insult the character of those who would differ from you in opinion, what is the point of an email or debate, or in that matter truth?

There have been far greater systematic persecutions in recent history, for example the Ukraine, but never is that used as an means of political control.

You are sheep, and until you learn to think for yourself, you are no better than sheep.

hockey hound said...

"intellectuals like Zundel"

You must be joking. Zundel an "intellectual"? If Zundel is an intellectual, then I'm the next Pope of the Roman Catholic Church! (You better be nice to me, Guy Fawkes! LOL) Or as my dear Irish-Canadian father would say in situations where incredulity hung in the air like bovine flatulence, "Yeah, and my ass is a star!"

Unknown said...
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