Time magazine issued a flowery piece on the glory of self-immolation on Wednesday, complete with a dose of anti-Catholic bigotry.
Authors Solcyré Burga and Simmone Shah used as their starting point the tragic death of Aaron Bushnell, a U.S. airman who died after setting himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington to protest the “genocide” of Palestinians in Gaza.
The Catholic Church teaches that suicide—including what the article describes as “self-immolation”—is a gravely sinful offense against the dignity of human life. And let’s be clear: It is in no way equated with martyrdom.
And yet.
Right in the middle of a rambling history of “self-immolation,” Burga and Shah drop a casual claim that “self-immolation was also seen as a sacrificial act committed by Christian devotees who chose to be burned alive…
