[Membroj] Mort-al Foot in Mouth

[Erin Piateski]

Hi

I didn't really see anything exceptionally anti-Catholic in this
list's recent correspondence.  Every religion has skeletons in its
closet.  It's easy to find it in history.  Yes, we have historic
Catholic persecutions of Jews, the Spanish Inquisition, etc.  We also
have Protestant persecution of Catholics in England (and elsewhere),
Muslim persecution of Christians, going all the way back to the Bible,
where you will find what you might call Jewish persecution of pagans.
Simply mentioning a religion's history of persecuting another
religion, in my opinion, doesn't in any way impugn modern members of
that religion.  Speaking of fundamentalist Islam doesn't mean that the
speaker thinks that all Muslims are fundamentalist.  In the same vein,
speaking of a Catholic who has offensive views is not meant to be a
criticism of all Catholics - even if this person's views are informed
by (their personal interpretation of) Catholicism.

Let's all simmer down and not get offended, folks.  Let's try to
ascribe the best of motives to each other rather than the worst,
because we're all on the same side here.

Erin

2008/10/30 E. James Lieberman <ejl at gwu.edu>:
> Dear Will,
>    I think Ralph's rough treatment of Adler was over the line,
> although I share a milder version of his viewpoint. In no way has he
> co-opted the Esperanto list, and your rebuttals are obviously sincere
> and appropriate. The history of Esperanto is replete with controversy,
> sometimes bitter. Same for the history of religion.
>     Mi esperas ke vi kaj Ralph ambau restas viglaj kontribuantoj en
> la rondo.
>
> Jim L
>
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