Media misreport bishop’s comments on Love Parade, God’s punishment
August 09, 2010
Two weeks after a stampede killed 21 people participating in the Love Parade in Germany, an Austrian auxiliary bishop said that it is rash judgment to state that the victims’ deaths are an act of God’s just punishment of the youth. “God alone is the judge, not men,” said Auxiliary Bishop Andreas Laun of Salzburg.
At the same time, said Bishop Laun, it is an altogether different thing to state that participation in the Love Parade is “a kind of rebellion against creation and against God’s order.” God punishes sins, he added, not because He is cruel and vengeful, but because He loves us.
In the days following Bishop Laun’s August 6 column on the stampede, some media outlets misreported his comments; for example, the Times of India stated he he had said that the “Love Parade tragedy was God’s punishment.”
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Further information:
- Love-Parade, Sünde und die Strafe Gottes (kath.net)
- Bishop says Love Parade tragedy was God's punishment (IANS)
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Posted by: New Sister -
Aug. 09, 2010 9:52 AM ET USA
No shock that the media misreports (intentionally or otherwise) on the Catholic Church... I hope Bishop Laun holds his ground denouncing Austria's acceptance of grave sexual immorality (sounds like he is) and doesn't cave to "don't judge" rhetoric that is so misunderstood in the West.
