Engaging Holocaust Deniers is Betraying Truth, Friends

I can appreciate Pope Benedict's desire to heal divisions that have taken place in the past within the Catholic communion. But on the issue of Christian unity, some breaches are impossible to reconcile without sacrificing our integrity. Our disagreements with Holocaust-deniers are just that sort of breach. Their refusal to face the facts of the horrendous crimes against the Jewish people means that we cannot hold out an olive branch to them without betraying our Jewish friends. That seems obvious to me as a Christian.

A willingness to engage in tough negotiations with the Iranian President, however, seems to me to present a somewhat different challenge. If those negotiations might present a plausible reduction of international tensions, we should be willing to talk with the enemy. Indeed, these sorts of conversations might actually reduce serious threats to Israel's well-being. But they cannot be pursued in a manner that compromises our deep and unalterable convictions about the evils of the Holocaust.

By Richard Mouw  |  February 6, 2009; 2:00 AM ET  | Category:  Morality
Share This: Technorati | Del.icio.us | Digg | Facebook
Previous: Grace & Truth: Hand-in-Hand | Next: On Pitying the Fool: Dealing with Holocaust Deniers

The comments to this entry are closed.