I'm Sorry Some People Can't Understand a Simple Analogy

The Curt Jester (seen via The Dawn Patrol) recently commented on a German bishop who recently apologized for comparing the current abortion holocaust to the German part of the collectivist Holocaust of the mid-20th century. According to Haaretz:

Joachim Meisner, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Cologne, said he would have left out the reference Adolf Hitler in his Epiphany sermon Thursday at the Cologne cathedral "had I had any inkling it would be misunderstood."

During the sermon, Meisner cited what he said were examples of humans taking on unlimited powers: "First Herod, who had the children of Bethlehem killed, then, among others, under Hitler and Stalin, who had millions of people exterminated, and today, in our times, millions of unborn children are killed," he said.

The head of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Paul Spiegel, called the comparison "unspeakable and offensive."

I'm offended that he's offended. This makes us Red-Sea pedestrians look like people who can't understand analogies. (The analogy is worth nitpicking on the grounds that the collectivist Holocaust was run by large governments and most abortions aren't. That's one reason I think human sacrifice is a better analogy.)

Meanwhile …

The Curt Jester first responds by pointing out that the comparison is valid:

I am not quite sure what would be "unspeakable and offensive" about the statement. It shows no diminishing of the horror of Hitler and Stalin and only puts abortion in the context of the escalation of evil. Those children killed by abortion world wide in the last 30 years overwhelms the number of deaths under both Hitler and Stalin. Those who work in abortion clinics and those who worked in concentration camps relate similar stories of dealing with what they saw and did and how those under their charge became less than human to them.

He then backs off and says:

Their are many ways to proclaim the truth and not all of them are fruitful. So on further reflection I can now understand why the Bishop would apologize for a statement that was truthful.

Uh oh… This sounds like the reasons given for the lack of public condemnation of the Nazis in World War II (that it would not be helpful).

In any case, from the point of view of us Pharisees, he should have stuck to a condemnation. Sometimes a clear statement can shift the debate.