I find it quite curious that Thomas Clark cites anti-Semite and Holocaust denier David Irving to rebut my claim of Hitler's Catholicism. His calling Irving's history "masterful" is an interesting choice of adjective, too.
Clark seems to argue that we shouldn't fume over historical wrongs committed by the Catholic Church, but instead look at present-day human rights linked to Judeo-Christian teaching. Let's do that. Clark mentions Christian hospitals, which undoubtedly do some good. In rural Africa, they'll even treat the HIV your husband passed to you because condom use is such a terrible thing.
Clark mentions defending the unborn, which Christianity inarguably excels at, even denying potentially lifesaving abortions to women whose lives are in grave danger and whose fetuses have nearly no chance of survival, as one unfortunate woman from El Salvador recently discovered (see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/world/americas/salvadoran-court-denies-abortion-to-ailing-woman.html).
Clark mentions defending the aged and weak, which, again, the Catholic Church excels at. Particularly deft is the church's defense of aged priests who are now too weak to stand trial for decades of child-rape after being quietly shuffled from parish to parish.
Is modern day Christianity as violent and amoral as the church of centuries past? I guess one could argue that it is not. Is it a shining example of morality and human rights? Absolutely not.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.