A slight correction on the “Celebrity atheists out to arrest Pope” story

Remember the story I just mentioned in today’s Daily Blend where Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens had teamed up to try and build a legal case against Pope Ratzi, all in the hopes of having him arrested during his state visit to Britain in September? Well, I suppose I should hang my “Skeptic” merit badge on the wall in shame for having fallen for a report that, as it turns out, was a bit sensationalistic. As PZ has found out, here is what’s actually going on, straight from Dawkins himself [I’ve parsed the links]:

Needless to say, I did NOT say "I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI" or anything so personally grandiloquent. You have to remember that The Sunday Times is a Murdoch newspaper, and that all newspapers follow the odd custom of entrusting headlines to a sub-editor, not the author of the article itself.

What I DID say to Marc Horne when he telephoned me out of the blue, and I repeat it here, is that I am whole-heartedly behind the initiative by Geoffrey Robertson and Mark Stephens to mount a legal challenge to the Pope's proposed visit to Britain. Beyond that, I declined to comment to Marc Horne, other than to refer him to my 'Ratzinger is the Perfect Pope' article here: http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5341

Here is what really happened. Christopher Hitchens first proposed the legal challenge idea to me on March 14th. I responded enthusiastically, and suggested the name of a high profile human rights lawyer whom I know. I had lost her address, however, and set about tracking her down. Meanwhile, Christopher made the brilliant suggestion of Geoffrey Robertson. He approached him, and Mr Robertson's subsequent 'Put the Pope in the Dock' article in The Guardian shows him to be ideal: http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5366 The case is obviously in good hands, with him and Mark Stephens. I am especially intrigued by the proposed challenge to the legality of the Vatican as a sovereign state whose head can claim diplomatic immunity.

Even if the Pope doesn't end up in the dock, and even if the Vatican doesn't cancel the visit, I am optimistic that we shall raise public consciousness to the point where the British government will find it very awkward indeed to go ahead with the Pope's visit, let alone pay for it.

That does make the situation sound a bit better. While the general point of the story – that Dawkins and Hitchens are trying to have a case built against Pope Ratzi to permit for his arrest come his December visit – one can never truly trust a newspaper not to engage in some unneeded and possibly misleading sensationalism. Allow me to slap myself on the hands for having momentarily forgotten that.