Applebaum: Papal Criticism Shows Britain's Religious Freedom
In the Washington Post, Anne Applebaum examines the angry reaction to Pope Benedict's visit to Britain:
"In all my years as a campaigner I have never felt such animus against any individual as I do against this creature. His views are so disgusting, so repellent and so hugely damaging to the rest of us, that the only thing to do is to get rid of him." Thus did Claire Rayner, a British journalist, novelist, former advice columnist and professional-campaigner-for-worthy-causes, greet news of the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in the United Kingdom.
Others were more welcoming. Because this was the first papal state visit to Britain, Benedict had a friendly chat with the queen, shook hands with the prime minister and prayed with the archbishop of Canterbury. He said Mass in Hyde Park and beatified Cardinal Newman, a 19th-century convert from Anglicanism. It was the first beatification to take place in England, ever.
Yet Rayner's reaction to him was, at least in some circles, more typical. One prominent left-wing pundit lumped together the pope with the Florida pastor who wanted to burn the Koran; another accused Benedict of manipulating Newman to "serve his own autocratic, homophobic leadership." Others called for protests -- against pedophilic priests, against sexual discrimination, against religion itself. The phrase "aging theocrat" was bandied about quite a bit.
So vicious were the attacks in the run-up to the visit, in fact, that there was talk of cancellation. One Vatican official grumbled publicly about the "aggressive new atheism" in Britain, a country where all religions are protected except Christianity. Whatever your view of the pope, you can see his point: It is certainly hard to imagine liberal British pundits using such words as "disgusting" and "repellent" about a prominent foreign Jewish or Muslim religious leader, particularly one whose visit was intended to honor an Englishman and have tea with Queen Elizabeth II. He wasn't there to instigate violence or terrorism, after all.
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