Lesson for Muslim haters
by Hyderabad Contact on Nov 23, 2007 12:00 AM
From The TimesNovember 3, 2006
Priest burns himself to death over Islam From David Crossland in Berlin A retired priest committed suicide by setting himself on fire in a German monastery in protest at the spread of Islam and the Protestant Church%u2019s inability to contain it. Roland Weisselberg, 73, poured a can of petrol over his head and set light to himself in the grounds of the Augustine monastery in the eastern city of Erfurt, where Martin Luther spent six years as a monk at the beginning of the 16th century.
Witnesses said that Weisselberg climbed into a building site next to the monastery church, where a Reformation Day service was being held. He shouted %u201CJesus and Oskar%u201D before the flames engulfed him. The latter name was an apparent reference to Oskar Brüsewitz, a priest who burnt himself in 1976 in protest against the Communist regime in East Germany. Monastery staff tried to put out the flames and Weisselberg was still conscious as a nun prayed with him before he was taken to hospital. He died a day later, on Wednesday.
Media reports said that he had tried to kill himself inside the church but changed his mind when he found the side door was locked.
The Provost of Erfurt, Elfriede Begrich, told reporters that Weisselberg%u2019s widow had said that he killed himself because he was alarmed at the spread of Islam and the Church%u2019s stance on the issue.
