Ha, is Argentina trying to make up for the fact that they harbored Nazis after the war? http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1881346,00.html?xid=rss-world

Definitely seems to be a level of guilt involved, doesn't there?

A country blatantly trampling the concept of free speech is "justice?"  How about an atrocity against human rights?  As an American, I treasure free speech.  I don't care if the person in question is a holocaust denier, a 9/11 conspiracy theorists, a pedophile, or a respected member of the community: they all have the right to say their peace, just as the rest of us have a right to ridicule and ignore them. 

If we start clamoring for "justice" in the form of punishing those who express unpopular sentiments, what do you think is going to happen when the government deems your sentiments too "unpopular" to be allowed within the bounds of your resident country?  If we truly care about free speech, we can't draw distinctions about it: every viewpoint gets its representation, no matter how ridiculous, or else someday none of them well, no matter how well founded.

Why on Warth the Cathiloc church hasn't given this guy the boot is beyond me. What's up with that?

Is quoting Holocaust expert Raul Hilberg's figure of 5.1 million Jews killed to be considered "Holocaust Denial"? Is analyzing the role of "Einsatzgruppen" vs. gas chambers considered "Holocaust Denial"? And, lastly, more depressingly, is questioning/discussing Zionism's role in the expulsion and extermination of 750,000+ Hungarian Jews (Kastner Affair) to be considered a crime? At what point do we mention the words "Academic Freedom" and "Freedom of Speech"?

I find it very interesting that everyone seems to have interpreted this blog entry as a condemnation of Holocaust deniers, when it is blatantly obvious that the primary focus of this is attacking the Catholic Church.

Why is it that people never mention the fact that the Pope's revoking the excommunication was due to something completely not related to this guy's views of the Holocaust?

For those who say that Holocaust deniers should not be included in the Catholic Church, then the same must go for all those who deny the gravity of the Armenian Genocide, the Rape of Nanking, the genocide of the Native Americans, etc.

I am not saying that denying the gassing of millions of people (Jews, Christians, homosexuals, disabled, gypsies, etc) was ok, because it was indeed the worst thing to happen in Western Europe in the 20th Century, but we should not be selective when it comes to the remembering the systematic killings that occured in modern history. Our great country is also guilty of the same crime we accuse others of (e.g. biological warfare against Native Americans, the only country in history to use nuclear warfare against civilians of a foreign country, failing to act to stop the Rwandan genocide, etc). Only when we are not afraid to teach our children the complete history of our country can we claim to have a right to accuse others of crimes against humanity.

Tis a shame you can only send a "thumbs up" compliment and not a "thumbs down" for some posts.

The article specipically reads "“Williamson has had public notoriety following his anti-Semitic statements to Swedish media in which he questioned whether Jewish people were victims of the Holocaust". He never mentioned the Russians, Gypsies, Gays, Armenians, Chinese, etc. Why are people upset that this racist is being removed from Argentina for promulgating a thoughtless anti-Semitic lie? Many of our forefathers stood by and did nothing to prevent millions of people being forced into rail cars and then placed into gas chambers. I will agree that whether a person is shot, drowned, or placed in a gas chamber makes no difference when that person ends up dead.

We all know about other atrocities committed last century and some that are occurring today. No decent human would condone those occurrances and to continue to state the obvious facts of other holocausts does nothing to enhance your arguments. For thousands of years the Jews were victimized, persecuted, expelled, and killed because of their beliefs. The atrocities committed upon them in the 20th century was the culmination of the their victimization and we should all learn a lesson from them. NEVER AGAIN!

Get a grip folks --- no one is saying that one holocaust is worse or better than another.  The reason we're talking about this idiot is because he has spoken about a particular holocaust that was brought on by one dictator who singled out groups of people to exterminate.  The primary group singled out were the Jews.  So let's get back to the subject at hand and applaud the Argentinians for taking a stand against an idiot.  Yes, all religions and nations are guilty of atrocities in their past.  If we're all honest we know that is true.  And yes we are stamping on his free speech but with free speech comes consequences and those are what is happening to this idiot now.

Free speech for, even those we don't agree with, why are we so willing to throw our rights away?  We've strayed from throwing them to palm feeding them to Big Brother.  Scary, isn't it?

I have not said that we are throwing away our rights I'm saying that if you yell fire in a crowded theater is that ok?  There are consequences to our actions and our words.

It was obvious from the time that this pope was selected that he was going to be a problem.  Choosing a German who spent his formative years growing-up in Nazi Germany and with his alarming track record as part of the clergy, was a great mistake.  He has none of the previous pope's sensitivity or knowledge which was informed by Pope John Paul's own history of having been a prisoner of the Nazi's.  In the relatively short time which he has been pope, he has already insulted Muslims and Jews several times with his incomprehensible reiteration of ancient, papal encyclicals and a host of foot-in-mouth moments all which belie how he really thinks.  This incident with the appointment of a Holocaust denier really trumps it all though.

In such tense times as these, Pope Benedict has been a voice that unnecessarily adds to that tension, much to the detriment of us all.

Thank you, Michelle for writing (or blogging) the truth about how anti-Semiticism is alive and well. And how human beings can speak out against deniers in the name of those millions whom were killed during the Holocaust. And I'm so happy to hear the French court's recognition of the Vichy government invovelment of the deportation of Jews.

It is sad that in this day and age a person can still deny that any genocide documented so well as those that happened in the Nazi era happened.
I think this points to to issues that we need to face in dealing with genocide in general:
a) the holocaust, or genocide of the Nazi era, is not the only genocide that has happened.  It is an example, but one of many.  And while it has been given great focus and attention, we need to focus on the global problem and not just one.  An example of this is the Holocaust Museum in Washington should really be a Genocide Museum dedicated to all the horrors that man has brought against his fellow man in this particularly disgusting form of horror.
b) legislating against holocaust denial is not worth a darn.  It's a cover up for governments or groups that don't want to tell the entire story of genocide.  What I believe and what I say can always be two different things - and no law or government can change what I think.  In fact, laws against holocaust denial can actually make the situation worse.
c) those who commit genocide need to be dealt with in courts that deal specifically with crimes against humanity and they need to be dealt with swiftly.  The start of trials in Cambodia has dragged on for too long, while the trials in The Hague have moved with a far better degree of reason.  And as with the Nuremberg trials, they should move forward and justice rendered with swiftness.
Thank you.

Closing this to comments --- this is not going to become a forum for hatred. My site, my rules.