Sorry, Darwin

Hat sie schon, tut sie's noch - oder sollte sie bloß?

Charles Darwin hat mit der Church of England noch eine Rechnung offen, und die will das 150-Jährige des "Origin of Species" nutzen, sich bei ihm zu entschuldigen.

Laut Telegraph sind die Nachkommen Darwins not impressed:

"Andrew Darwin, a great-great grandson of the scientist, said: 'Why bother? When an apology is made after 200 years, it’s not so much to right a wrong, but to make the person or organisation making the apology feel better.'" (Quelle)

Ich verweise bei der Gelegenheit auf den inzwischen auch schon älteren, klassischen Text von Mary Ann Glendon: Contrition in the Age of Spin Control (Reue im Zeitalter der Meinungsproduktion):

"'What you actually seem to demand is that the Church put the kingdom of heaven on earth right here now. Christ was crucified on earth and the Church is crucified by all of us, by her members most particularly, because she is a church of sinners. . . . The Church is founded on Peter who denied Christ three times and couldn’t walk on the water by himself. You are expecting his successors to walk on the water.' [Ein Zitat von Flannery O'Connor; scipio]

Truly, it is right that we confess our sins and do penance. We never 'tire of repenting' because we and our pilgrim Church are on a trajectory—climbing Jacob’s Ladder, striving to "put on the new man," trying to be better Christians today than we were yesterday. Probably the best way to show that we are moving forward on that trajectory is simply, as the Pope says, to 'offer to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of faith.'

But so far as our public acts of repentance are concerned, let us be vigilant to prevent them from being hijacked and exploited. Let us join with our sisters and brothers of other faiths to resist all those who peddle the poison of collective guilt. Let us make sure our expressions of sorrow are never permitted to denigrate the role of the Church in history as an overwhelmingly positive force for peace and justice. And above all, let us remember what they are not: they are not apologies for being Catholic."