Thursday, November 02, 2006

German Vicar Immolates Self to Protest Islamization of Europe

From The Brussels Journal:
On Tuesday a Lutheran vicar set himself alight in the German town of Erfurt. The 73 year old Roland Weisselberg poured gasoline over himself and set fire to himself in the Erfurt monastery, where Martin Luther took his monastic vows in 1505. Bystanders rushed to extinguish the flames. The man later died of his injuries.

In a farewell letter to his wife the vicar wrote that he was setting himself on fire to warn against the danger of the Islamization of Europe. During the past four years the vicar had frequently expressed his concern about the expansion of Islam, urging the Lutheran Church to take this issue seriously. As the fire started the vicar cried: “Jesus and Oskar!” Oskar Brüsewitz was a 47-year old German vicar who died after setting himself on fire 30 years ago, on 18 August 1976, in the market square of the German town of Zeitz in protest against the Communist regime in East Germany. Both Erfurt and Zeitz are situated in the former East German province of Saxony.

Axel Noack, the Lutheran Bishop of Saxony, said he is shocked by the tragic event in Erfurt. Bishop Noack emphasized that the motive for the suicide complicates matters. He said he hopes that the affair and the question of how Christians should relate to Muslims will not lead to unrest. The Bishop emphasized that Christians reject a culture war. “Fear of other cultures is the result of our own insecurity,” he said, adding that since there are not many Muslims in what was once East Germany, there is not much of a debate about Islam there.


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My Comments:
So, would you say he got a little hot under the collar over Islamization?

1 Comments:

At 11/04/2006 8:34 PM, Blogger RBlaber said...

I deeply regret the loss of this man's life at his own hands, whatever his motives. I can only think that his mind was disturbed.
As for the issue of whether or not there's a kulturkampf going on in Europe (or the US, for that matter) - there certainly is, as I have been arguing for some time. It's Christianity v. Islam and Christianity v. secularism, and we have to win both battles. We don't do that by pouring petrol over ourselves and turning ourselves into Roman candles.

 

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