First, the author of the article on Hiroshima and the fire bombings of Europe and Japan did not imply or state that WCS had anything to do with the decision to drop the "bomb." The author was merely applying Thomistic theology and logic to analyze the events. I think his statement regarding WCS is wrong, and betrays his lack of knowledge. It does not however indicate some anti Churchill catholic conspiracy. Second, the Witherspoon Institute is not a front organization for the Vatican. It is an organization of scholars, some from Princeton ( hardly a pro fascist Jesuit haven) some from other Universities. Yes, there are number of Catholics there (many fans of WSC) who take their faith seriously. Having been baptized Catholic hardly guarantees expertise on the Church or being a good Catholic for that matter. Third, the book, Hitler's Pope, is hardly the definitive work on the Catholic Church and WWII. Recently, a Jewish author, whose name I have forgotten, has debunked the aforementioned book. JCD In a message dated 8/15/2010 10:08:51 P.M. Central Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
The book, Hitler's Pope, about how Pius XII sympathized with and facilitated the Third Reich, discusses these issues in detail. I forget the author's name and am too sleepy to look it up at the moment. CES ----- Original Message ----- From: Antoine Capet <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:23:34 -0000 (UTC) Subject: [ChurchillChat] Witherspoon Institute on Churchill's guilt Dear John, I have been to the site of the Witherspoon Institute, of which you claim to be a fan. To me, it looks very much like a front organisation for the fundamentalists of the Vatican, if you excuse me saying so as a baptised Roman Catholic. And the Society of Jesus (Jesuits in plain English), of which Fr. Ford was a member ("S.J."), is not known for its objective look at historical facts, to say the least. The doubtful role of a prominent Jesuit, Tacchi Venturi, between the pro-Fascist popes Pius XI and Pius XII and Mussolini, is well summed up on Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacchi_Venturi No credit on 20th century history (let alone more remote times) can be attached to what the openly or objectively pro-Fascist Jesuits said. It is clear that in Italy, France and Spain, they fondly hoped for a victory of the Axis forces - hence their vindictive stance against Churchill, an ally of "Godless Communism" after June 1941. The number of "Institutes" of that kind, run by religious fundamentalists of all description, must be infinite on the Internet . . . If you would like to have a look at a more dispassionate, academic discussion, the scholarly H-Diplo network (based at Michigan State University) published a dual review of Jörg Friedrich's book _The Fire_ (which largely expounded the theses taken up in the Witherspoon Institute article which you mention) : http://www.h-net.org/~diplo/books/PDF/TheFire-DualReview.pdf As for the idea that women were "innocent", there are two answers: -In Germany they got the right to vote after the Great War. Weimar Germany no longer was a medieval country in which women were not consulted over national affairs! How many voted for and against Hitler in the crucial election of 1932 ? -Have you ever seen newsreels of the period 1933-1941 ? Can these thousands of ecstatic women hailing their Fuhrer at Nuremberg and elsewhere be all hired actresses ? Best wishes, A.C. ============= From: Jdanie1776 Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2010 8:07 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [ChurchillChat] bombings On August 3rd, Prof. Christopher O. Tollefsen wrote a piece entitled, "The Abiding Significance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" in the Witherspoon Institute's online publication, Public Discourse. In it, he says that WSC "is today considered a great hero of the war, despite considerable evidence that he was a major architect of the policy of terror bombing," in Europe. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2010/08/1485 I'm a fan of the Witherspoon Institute, but in this instance I think some uninformed conclusions were drawn. Through a friend at the Institute I have attempted to direct the author to the Churchill Centre and the piece on the bombing of Dresden. Any thoughts? John Danielsin -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to churchillchat+uns [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en.
