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Atheists can be morons too - probably.

Started by Agelastus, April 11, 2010, 07:49:34 PM

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Agelastus

April 11, 2010, 07:49:34 PM
The last few days has made me think that someone has declared all of April to be "April Fool's Day" without telling me. I know the Vatican City only has observer status at the UN but given the number of countries it has diplomatic relations with I cannot comprehend how anybody would think this is worth wasting any time on.

Maybe one of the lawyers here can tell me what I am missing.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100411/tuk-pope-has-no-uk-arrest-immunity-6323e80.html

QuotePope 'has no UK arrest immunity'

7 hours 38 mins ago
Press Association

Pope 'has no UK arrest immunity'


Atheist authors Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens proposed the action against the Pontiff for his handling of child abuse scandals in the Catholic church.

The writers' solicitor Mark Stephens said applications will be made to courts in the UK and the International Criminal Court for a warrant for Pope Benedict XVI's arrest.

His likely defence would be be that he is immune from prosecution during his visit to Britain in September, according to the lawyer.

Mr Stephens said: "The courts will examine the claim of immunity. I believe that an English court would reject it. If the Pope was here on a state visit, ordinarily a head of state would have sovereign immunity. What I believe is that because he's not a sovereign, not a head of state, he's not entitled to the defence."

He said that the Vatican was declared to be a state by Benito Mussolini, but this had no standing in international law.

The Pope faced criticism after it emerged that he signed a letter which delayed the punishment of a paedophile priest in the US for the "good of the universal church".

Writing in 1985, the future Pontiff said that he needed more time to consider the case.

Mr Stephens, who has represented abuse victims in the past said: "This will require the Pope to deal with the way in which he appears to have prioritised the reputation of the Catholic church over the welfare of children."

Potential charges against the Pope would be crimes against humanity.
"Come grow old with me
The Best is yet to be
The last of life for which the first was made."

Neil

#1
April 11, 2010, 08:13:05 PM
Dawkins is a professional rabblerouser.  Saying shit to anger religious people and win the praise of immature males between the age of 14 and 35 is his job.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

crazy canuck

#2
April 11, 2010, 09:07:56 PM
There has already been a number of Actions commenced in Canada against particular Catholic Priests, Orders, etc.  arising from abuse.   If there is evidence that the current Pope was negligent then he could be made a party.  Its an interesting question about whether his current office, or the office he held at the time, provides him with a defence.

Probably yes.  But such a thing has never been tested in a modern Court.

Strix

#3
April 11, 2010, 09:43:48 PM
Zombie Philip IV is stirring in his grave. Can a zombie still be referred to as 'the Fair'?  :huh:
"I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left." - Margaret Thatcher

DontSayBanana

#4
April 11, 2010, 09:49:54 PM
Interesting, though I thought the point of getting the ICC involved was to get a warrant for a sitting head of state. :huh:

That's also the first I've heard of Vatican City not being recognized as a sovereign. :unsure:
Experience bij!

Neil

#5
April 11, 2010, 09:59:13 PM
Quote from: Agelastus on April 11, 2010, 07:49:34 PM
He said that the Vatican was declared to be a state by Benito Mussolini, but this had no standing in international law.
Well, it has as much standing as any other bit of international law.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

Josephus

#6
April 11, 2010, 10:07:09 PM
Seriously?

No state would ever arrest the pope. Dawkins knows this.
Civis Romanus Sum

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." Jack Layton 1950-2011

crazy canuck

#7
April 11, 2010, 10:23:54 PM
Quote from: Josephus on April 11, 2010, 10:07:09 PM
Seriously?

No state would ever arrest the pope. Dawkins knows this.

Probably the point he is trying to make is that such protection should not be extended...

Berkut

#8
April 11, 2010, 10:51:56 PM
Quote from: Josephus on April 11, 2010, 10:07:09 PM
Seriously?

No state would ever arrest the pope. Dawkins knows this.

The point isn't to get the Pope arrested, obviously.

It is to draw attention to the scandal.
"If you think this has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention."

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garbon

#9
April 11, 2010, 11:22:31 PM
I can't wait until the Pope gets arrested and all of you will be like "no wai!"
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."<br /><br />I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

HisMajestyBOB

#10
April 11, 2010, 11:32:09 PM
Quote from: Josephus on April 11, 2010, 10:07:09 PM
Seriously?

No state would ever arrest the pope. Dawkins knows this.

Ahem :contract:
Three lovely Prada points for HoI2 help

Razgovory

#11
April 11, 2010, 11:43:51 PM
Quote from: Berkut on April 11, 2010, 10:51:56 PM
Quote from: Josephus on April 11, 2010, 10:07:09 PM
Seriously?

No state would ever arrest the pope. Dawkins knows this.

The point isn't to get the Pope arrested, obviously.

It is to draw attention to the scandal Dawkins.

Fixed your post.

I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Alatriste

#12
April 12, 2010, 12:45:33 AM
Quote from: Josephus on April 11, 2010, 10:07:09 PM
Seriously?

No state would ever arrest the pope. Dawkins knows this.

Napoleon did.

Razgovory

#13
April 12, 2010, 12:58:34 AM
And he got exiled to a tiny island out in the middle of the Atlantic.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Queequeg

#14
April 12, 2010, 03:26:09 AM
Atheists can be idiots?  Old news.

Honestly, I probably have less respect for this idiot than I do some radical clerics. 
Quote from: PDH on April 25, 2009, 05:58:55 PM
"Dysthymia?  Did they get some student from the University of Chicago with a hard-on for ancient Bactrian cities to name this?  I feel cheated."
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