Good grief francais. A gentle "lighten up" might be in order here. Most people I know are Christians, we have several Christians on Board, we even have a pastor (Father Steve) and I know of no one that would take exception to Bill’s joke…and it was that, a joke.
Please tell me what you find offensive about it.
In the Christian faith, hell is believed to be the place where the soul of a sinful person resides in eternal misery because of the evil things he did (sins he committed) while he was alive. The person chose to be there by disregarding the rules of Christianity. It is a bad place true, but how can you compare it to Auschwitz.
The people that were in Auschwitz did not go of their own accord. They did not choose, nor deserve to be treated that way. As a people, it is understandable that Jews would find no humour in jokes about Auschwitz for many reasons. Most can trace back to a family member, a friend, a neighbor or an acquaintance that was killed or lost in the war. Auschwitz is representative of the Holocaust and how easily inhumanity and cruelty can run amok when an evil power is left unchecked.
Jokes about Auschwitz are as unacceptable as jokes about black people or handicapped people. Those jokes are signs of bigotry.
I don’t know how you can compare the two.
Normally, I would have sent you a personal note however, since you felt the need to reproach Bill publicly, I believe it is the right thing to do to publicly take a stand in Bill’s defense.
