Bishop angers Anti-Defamation League by comparing Obama to Hitler, Stalin

Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel Jenky said President Barack Obama’s policies, particularly the health care law, are similar to policies imposed by leaders like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. The Anti-Defamation League has demanded an apology from Jenky for his inappropriate comments.

During a homily delivered on Sunday, Roman Catholic Bishop of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria, Daniel Jenky, attacked Obama’s health care policies saying that Obama is following the footsteps of Hitler and Stalin.

“Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care. In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, President Obama – with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path,” Jenky said, according to a report on MSNBC.

Jenky said that the church would continue to survive the corruption of these people in Obama’s administration. Two days later, the regional director of Chicago’s Anti-Defamation League, Lonnie Nasatir, declared Jenky’s remarks as “outrageous, offensive and completely over the top,” demanding an apology from him.

"Clearly, Bishop Jenky needs a history lesson," Nasatir told the Chicago Tribune. "There are few, if any, parallels in history to the religious intolerance and anti-Semitism fostered in society by Stalin, and especially Hitler, who under his regime perpetuated the open persecution and ultimate genocide of Jews, Catholics and many other minorities."

While some are of the view that the Bishop did the right thing for making a stand, most of the people find his remarks irresponsible and inappropriate. Comparing mass murdering of Jews and people from other ethnicities to an insurance coverage policy for contraception is not only absurd, it’s insane.

Jay Bookman, journalist at Atlanta Journal Constitution, said that dragging Naziism into the matter reminded that while the individual clerics of conscience and various governments stood up to fight against the injustices in those times, the church as an institution did not; rather, it bowed down in silent acceptance to the actions of Hitler and Stalin, voluntarily surrendering itself.

The Democrats are as shocked with the remarks as the Anti-Defamation League, since this might further widen the distances between Obama and the conservative voters his campaign is trying to reach.