Jesus vs Che Guevara: A man who laid down his life for us … or a murderous ‘rock-star’ rebel?

PETER-HITCHENS:

We now have to be pleased that a man has not been sacked from his job for putting a small cross on the dashboard of his company van.

Please forgive me if my joy is muted this Eastertide. The real meaning of the Wakefield Palm Cross Affair is not specially happy.

Colin Atkinson would have been fired if it hadn’t been for the might of the Mail on Sunday – and the dogged courage of a union official, Terry Cunliffe

Colin Atkinson would have been fired if it hadn’t been for the might of the Mail on Sunday – and the dogged courage of a union official, Terry Cunliffe

And as it’s Easter, I’d like to focus on the fact that the manager involved, Denis Doody, had a picture (perhaps I should say ‘icon’) of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara on his office wall.

Interesting.

Why? Well, what we recall at Easter is the show trial and judicial murder of Jesus of Nazareth. A mob is manipulated into calling for his death. The judge, who knows he is innocent, feebly gives in. Such things are common in the real world, to this day.

The resurrection, which some of us still celebrate today, symbolises the ultimate defeat of cruel and cynical human power by a far greater force. Among other things, Easter enshrines the idea that what we do here matters somewhere else, that there is an absolute standard by which our actions are judged.

Down 20 centuries, this idea has restrained the powerful. They do not like it. Never have. Never will.

The worship of Christ, victim of a lynch mob and a crooked judge, is dangerously radical. What about the cult of Comrade Guevara, embraced by Mr Doody?

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