I personally think that Holocaust denial renders a person unfit to hold a position of responsibility, for the same reason that denying the heliocentric theory or the germ theory of disease would; that is, if you can't accept that the Holocaust happened despite the existence of literally mountains of highest-quality historical evidence, then I really don't trust your powers of discernment in any matter more important than what to have for breakfast (and perhaps not even there).
Ecclesiastical responsibility is a considerably different beast than secular authority, which should make Holocaust denial much more severe than those other two examples. Denial of germ theory (for example) doesn't need to be dispositive. Imagine if priest performs a ritual of administering prayer to help a sick person, and a doctor performs a ritual of administering antibiotics to the same person. So long as the priest recognizes that the two rituals are are in two non-overlapping spheres of influence, he's free to think "prayer works!" as much as he likes when the patient improves. It's only if he takes the step to "ONLY prayer works" that trouble begins.
Holocaust denial is another beast entirely, as you pretty much have to willfully disregard the good efforts and testimony of thousands of people -- and conversely, willfully elevate the bad efforts of thousands more -- to get to the conclusion. That's the kind of thing which goes directly against the portfolio of a Catholic spiritual leader.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2009-01-27 11:18 pm (UTC)Ecclesiastical responsibility is a considerably different beast than secular authority, which should make Holocaust denial much more severe than those other two examples. Denial of germ theory (for example) doesn't need to be dispositive. Imagine if priest performs a ritual of administering prayer to help a sick person, and a doctor performs a ritual of administering antibiotics to the same person. So long as the priest recognizes that the two rituals are are in two non-overlapping spheres of influence, he's free to think "prayer works!" as much as he likes when the patient improves. It's only if he takes the step to "ONLY prayer works" that trouble begins.
Holocaust denial is another beast entirely, as you pretty much have to willfully disregard the good efforts and testimony of thousands of people -- and conversely, willfully elevate the bad efforts of thousands more -- to get to the conclusion. That's the kind of thing which goes directly against the portfolio of a Catholic spiritual leader.