Thus a hefty title in one of the leading Croatian newspapers. I could not but look a bit more closely. The pronouncement comes from no-one else but the bishop responsible for the Croatian armed forces. His photograph in full Catholic regalia shows a very angry man. Indeed, he is beside himself. The pronouncement was delivered in a holy mass, as well. In short, the war that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia had nothing to do with Catholics, Orthodox Christians, or Muslims. Atheists were the only ones responsible. By extension, they are responsible for all wars past or present. By implication, all atheists should be converted to one religion or another, and war would vanish from the face of the earth. Amen! Now, who says that the Catholic church is retrograde? Who says it is incapable of an irrefutable argument? Only damned atheists could come up with such a horrific travesty. Convert them as soon as possible! Or else.

Addendum (January 18, 2012)

Searching for this amazing proposition on the World Wide Web, I quickly found out that one of its variants is credited to Pope Benedict XVI, of all holy people. A couple of years ago he associated atheism with Nazi atrocities, and he was swiftly criticized for it across the globe. Of course, he was much more careful with his wording than the Croatian bishop. One way or another, the latter still picked up the divine message pretty well and transmitted it in no uncertain language. After all, the pope is his boss!