.

We don’t like to think about hate crimes. They are a disappointing reminder of parts of our history we would just as soon forget.

While the story about the white judge who denied an interracial couple a marriage license is slightly distressing, most of the comments about the New Orleans justice of the peace, have been along the lines of “Hey, our country has moved past that.” The justice said he wouldn’t marry the couple because he didn’t think interracial kids were a good idea.

Governor Bobby Jindal said “Disciplinary action should be taken immediately - including the revoking of his license.” The couple did get married, but now have a sad story to tell.

Much more inconvenient and terrifying is getting shot for your religion.

Two men were shot in the legs on their way in to the Adat Yeshurun Sephardic Congregation in Los Angeles the other day, and the gun man neither spoke to…

At the height of the Swine Flu panic, a curious connection began to emerge: a rhetorical line was drawn between the outbreak of flu and illegal immigrants.  An interesting article in the Minnesota Independent has outlined the connection well, and is worth the read.  And it wasn’t just professional media hysterics like Michael Savage or Glenn Beck who were leading the charge; according to the article in the Independent, a Democrat from New York, Rep. Eric Massa, began pushing to have the borders with Mexico closed.

We all remember that in the days after September 11, 2001, it became physically dangerous to be, or even to appear to be, a Muslim in this country.  Such prejudices, once publicly unleashed and given some modicum of respectability or reasonableness, become very hard to reverse.  (I would welcome comments from Muslims and Arabs in this country, or anyone else who even appears to be…

Some days ago when The pope, the Holocaust & the Lefebvrists appeared on these pages, fellow blogger Khalid Shah, a Muslim, commented:”It is always good to find out when we are wrong and this story helped correct one of my opinions. I have always thought that though the Jews suffered a lot during WW2 that they play the Holocaust sympathy card a bit too much and are a bit paranoid on this issue. Thank you for correcting this wrong opinion of mine…..”

Mr. Shah’s comment stunned me — he is a highly educated man –  much as Lefebvrist Bishop Richard Williamson’s downplaying of the Holocaust had astonished me days earlier.

How could anyone not know the full extent of what happened to the Jews in WWII?

Bishop Williamson has been booted from Argentina back to England – shoving a reporter along the way — and he has issued a cheap apology — a typical 2009-style…

Anne Frank

If you would like to get beyond the  NPR headline “Anger & Dismay as Pope Reinstates Holocaust Denier” you may be interested in George Weigel’s recent articles, one published in Newsweek and another in our Catholic archdiocesan newspaper, the St. Louis Review.

Over at GetReligion, blogger E. E. Evans critiques various media coverage of this story, including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and Catholic  News Service:

It’s always interesting when writers take a controversial story and approach it from very different angles.

Such was the case today in the continuing and complicated drama of the Pope’s move to lift the excommunications of the four traditionalist Society of St. Pius X bishops.

Warning for mature audiences-the two mainstream press stories contain the “r” word (rehabilitate), one deemed inaccurate by some folks in the comments pages. The Catholic News Service story does not.

Let’s start with the lede of today’s article from the Los Angeles Times:

The Vatican stood firm…

A bagpipe in Jewish culture credit: www.hotpipes.com

Tyree is a Scottish name, one I married into, and also Scottish is the maiden name of my paternal grandmother, MacLean.

The windy Isle of Tiree, the outermost of Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, is mighty close to the Isle of Mull, the seat of the MacLean Clan.

I questioned MacLean Clan historian Detta MacLean when I took on the Tyree name and she said my new husband was probably a MacLean. “I grew up on Mull and knew everyone on Tiree. They are all MacLeans!”

Detta MacLean’s point might be a stretch, but it’s very Scottish thinking. Very clannish.

As it happens, the Scots have a good deal in common with the Jews, according to Duncan A. Bruce, author of the 1996 history, The Mark of the Scots. And the parallels, taken together, have landed these two groups a good deal of trouble throughout the ages. Take a look at…

So I know it’s kind of old news at this point, but I just read another article about “Hit A Jew Day”. This one from The Jewish Light.

I’ve heard the news reports and read numerous other articles. I read Tim’s post about it and the comments. And seriously, are you kidding me?

The “are you kidding me?” is directed at the people who think this is not a big deal or just immaturity. Yes, many sixth graders are immature. And no, I don’t believe that the incident is deeply rooted in anti-Semitism. I’m not calling it a hate crime either. But come on. What better way for children to learn that it is ignorant and inappropriate to single others out based on religion then calling them out on it. Let them feel embarrassed and stupid for what they did. And maybe, just maybe, they won’t do it again.

I know some people are saying…

credit: incentraleurope.radio.cz

In 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Council on World Affairs, St. Louis Chapter, planned a May, 1990 tour of Poland, Hungary and the then-Czechoslovakia. By the time the invitations were sent out, the wall — and much else — had fallen and those of us keen on the tour knew we had no time to waste. Within hours the trip was entirely booked.

The tour had a tight schedule, so I was gratified to learn that our Austrian guide agreed to add a visit to the Warsaw grave of Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, the Solidarity priest who had been kidnapped, tortured and killed in 1984. An estimated 250,000 had attended his funeral.

Father’s grave impressed us all, including the Jews among us who had been expecting signs of anti-Semitism along the way. It is a solemn yet cheerful site, on the grounds of St. Stanislaus Kostka  church, awash in…