Demoner i blant oss

Klimaskeptikerne settes nå i samme bås som Josef Fritzl. Den ene "demonen" er like god som den andre. Det er biskopen i Stafford, UK, Gordon Mursell som foretar denne noe aparte sammenligningen.

Fra hans tale kan man lese:

It’s easy to demonize Josef Fritzl. And it’s certainly hard to imagine a more monstrous or revolting crime. The publication of photographs showing him sunbathing in Thailand while his helpless daughter and several young children were locked in his basement is bound to make us ask: how could anyone do such a thing?

And yet Josef Fritzl represents merely the most extreme form of a very common philosophy of life: I will do what makes me happy, and if that causes others to suffer, hard luck. In fact you could argue that, by our refusal to face the truth about climate change, we are as guilty as he is – we are in effect locking our children and grandchildren into a world with no future and throwing away the key. We are right to be disgusted at these crimes. But mere disgust is too convenient. There are lessons for all of us to learn.

At dette har vakt sterke reaksjoner blant annet fra de som er blitt utsatt for overgrep i Guds navn, er mildt sagt.

Margaret Kennedy, chair of Minister and Clergy Sex Abuse Survivors, an organisation that helps survivors of sex abuse by clergy, said: "It is with horror and shock that survivors sexually abused as children or as adults within Christian churches and by Christian clergy and ministers should hear their own bishop declare that perhaps buying oranges from South Africa is the equivalent to being locked into a dungeon and being raped repeatedly for 20 years by an evil father.

Gordon Mursell er et levende bevis på at det er ikke alle som får et embete fra Gud som samtidig får fornuft på kjøpet.