But El Reg complained first!
See title
Budget Brit pastry purveyor Greggs has been forced to apologise after substituting a sausage roll for Baby Jesus in its limited-edition advent calendar. Each door behind the £24 promo features a traditional festive scene, such as kissing a Festive Bake under the mistletoe, a Christmas tree adorned with mini gingerbread tree …
The Sky Fairy should care more about the blatant usage of a nativity scene not described in the Gospels (regardless of the sausage roll replacing baby Jesus).
The 3 wise men/magi/kings were in the Matthew version of the nativity story. In that they follow a star to what is definitely a house, not a stable. There is no 'manger' (actually the Greek word for manger and crib was the same so that is probably a mis-translation anyway) and Jesus was not described as a baby but a child.
The Luke version of the story has shepherds, angels, an inn, a BABY Jesus and possibly a manger (see above) but no wise men.
Mark and John don't describe the events.
Greggs at least need to move their pastry into one version of the story not some hybrid/reboot.
We need more companies to take the piss out of religion
I'd like to agree, but apart from (to an extent) Buddhists and Christians, most world religions have huge numbers of primitive, sky-fairy devotionalists who would consider that such piss taking deserved a violent response, and often random and exceptionally violent responses at that.
Attacking Christianity in Britain is like kicking a child in a wheelchair.
Rubbish. A child in a wheelchair is a human being and has the same value as you and I. Christianity is a religion, a man-made concept which is open to question and criticism however much a number of people might value their belief in some particular one.
Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't want me to take your claim literally? Then try to think of a better simile, one which doesn't confuse the apparent powerlessness of a power structure with sympathy for the plight of a disabled person.
Rich 11 replying to flatpackhamster's comment that "Attacking Christianity in Britain is like kicking a child in a wheelchair."
"Rubbish. A child in a wheelchair is a human being and has the same value as you and I. Christianity is a religion, a man-made concept which is open to question and criticism however much a number of people might value their belief in some particular one."
I may be wrong, but I think you're actually making the same point flatpackhamster was, rather than countering it. I don't think he was likening the two different things, but making a point about the attitudes of the sort of people who complain about a sausage roll in a nativity scene.
And deciding not to take the piss because of that is giving in to them, which is exactly why they do it. The only way to stop them is by not being intimidated.
Exactly. I follow the South Park philosophy: either everything is OK to make fun of, or nothing is. As soon as you bow to one group who take offense, you will have to back down to more and more (if you are not being hypocritical) until you cannot take the piss out of anyone or anything.
I think it was the network that censored it rather than the south park creators themselves. I'm assuming you're referring to the prophet Mohammed here too as he was the most prolific paedophile by our modern civilised standards. His youngest wife, Aisha was just six when they were married but to be fair he did wait until she was nine before he sealed the deal.
Not that other religions are any better, but are there any worse?
I'd like to agree, but apart from (to an extent) Buddhists and Christians
News from across the continent:
Did you hear the one about the women in Spain who reported the nun who stole her when she was a baby to the police? She got fined €43,000 for "insulting the nun" and when she couldn't pay got five months prison. She appealed to the government to pardon her and they decided not to. link (Spanish)
Never give religion a free pass. Not even Christianity.
""Jack the Ripper (British) was apalling. Never give the British a free pass, never.""
Well, your spelling is appalling, but whatever. The point was that she gets five years in prison for being a victim, and this is because the Church is a corrupt institution. See also, massive paedophilia cover-ups.
Not quite sure how Jack the Ripper was a case of institutional corruption on the part of the British.
Never give religion a free pass. Not even Christianity.
I wouldn't.
I was just making a point that (certainly in Britain) quite a few religions DO have a free pass. Personally I'd stamp on all religions that have a built in inferiority and extremism, and that's most of them.
Bit of a bugger that - so are you going to create a new religion / law / credo that says exactly what? I don't disagree with the principal I just can't see the implementation working. You could try complete separation between church and state like USA but I see an awful lot of Congressmen and Senators still quoting the bible as if it were the literal word of God - who we all know spoke and wrote in a Southern USA drawl and style.
Nah - when society signs up to fascism in the name of God then Lieutenant Heinlein's response to Nehemiah Scudder is the only rational action; albeit fictional.
"You should only own yourself".
Ah, if you mean the muslims then why not just have the balls to say it?
Because it isn't just Muslims.
If I carry a dagger around, or rode a motorbike without a helmet, I'd be prosecuted, but that's A-OK for Sikhs. If I killed an animal by slitting its throat, the RSPCA would have me in court ASAP - unless it was ritual slaughter for both Jewish and Muslim communities.
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The Coca-Cola Company
Still, their stupid red truck visits across UK etc should be boycotted.
A really nasty company that targets poor, 3rd world and tries to make their drink addictive. Even the sugar free version may promote diabetes.
Their marketing is unethical. Ever wondered why so many fast food places, even independent, only have Coca-Cola branded soft drinks, fridge and signage? That bears an investigation by Competition Authority in UK, Ireland and other places.
A major purveyor of diabetes, tooth decay and obesity. Possibly even part of American Cultural Imperialism? The Coca-Cola Company, McDonald's, Disney, Budweiser, Google, Apple, Facebook, KFC, Starbucks, Nike, Levi are not signs of Democracy. We outside USA have enough stupidity of our own without importing it.
"Any particular reason why you omitted Microsoft from your list of American Cultural Imperialists?
(Linux FTW (which of course is essentially international as an ecosystem))"
Jeezzz Louise
even for a Penguinista, dragging Microsoft into it and bigging up Linux in a forum post about Sausage rolls.....
OH PLEASE GET A LIFE.
I was following up to someone else's previous comment which referred to (among others) Apple as an example of American Cultural Imperialism, but, oddly (in my opinion), did not include Microsoft in their list, which I thought was rather unusual, as I know which one I'd regard as the worse, that's all.
I think the best way to think about the offence taken by religious people is this:
How would you feel if this was your mother?
I mean, even if there is no god (I'm an atheist myself), religious people genuinely feel filial love for their figures of veneration. Thus, think about whether you would insult someone's mother that way.
Now before anyone says "it's a delusional feeling", well yeah... I personally agree with you, but it makes no difference: they feel it, and making them offended doesn't free them of the belief -- it just offends them. So what is the purpose?
So let's get back to the sausage roll.
If someone replaced my mother with a sausage roll, how offended would I be? Not very. Unless it was presented explicitly as an insult. So I do think it's a bit of a silly overreaction, but guess what...? A handful of Twitter users is nothing. You're talking about the overreaction by a tiny number of people... so aren't we also guilty of overreacting.