subtitle

...a blog by Richard Flowers

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Day 2151: Getting Cross

Friday:


By now, I am getting a bit tired of hearing how OPPRESSED the Christians are.

Boo hoo – you think YOU had it bad from the LIONS: try being an ELEPHANT!


At the moment, their whining stems from this FUSS caused by the British Airways who have suspended one of their workers because she wouldn’t stop wearing her CROSS.

It is not THAT harsh – she was not suspended FROM AN AEROPLANE!

Obviously, the British Airways have gotten themselves into a whole lot of nonsense over this jobsworth insistence on sticking to their DRESS CODE.

It seems that they have banned their workers from wearing JEWELLERY and that includes jeweller that happens to be in the shape of a religious symbol. Even though they have now accepted that a cross isn't jewellery after all.

It is not as though it was an INTRUSIVE piece, or some enormous ILLUMINATED NEON thing that flashed crimson messages of DIVINE FORGIVENESS at anyone checking in at the BA counter.

Frankly, there is a time to say the dress code need to be enforced and a time to say look, it's only a little thing let's just ignore it if no one is bothered.

Having said all that, the number of people who have used this case as an excuse to go into one is getting rather ridiculous.

Ms Ann Widdecombe has sworn to boycott British Airways – probably a relief to all their other customers – the commentator Clifford Longley and the chairman of completely un-sinister-sounding pressure group Christians in Politics have weighed in and the Archbishop of York has stuck his oar in to say that BA should think again.

Even Satsuma-skinned surrender monkey, Peter Hain, has weighed in calling the BA decision "loopy" in the vain hope this might persuade some Labour member to vote for him in the deputy leadership contest.

Comparison with headscarves and turbans is not really right. For their own reasons (and no matter how silly I might think those reasons are) Muslims and Sikhs believe they are under an OBLIGATION to wear those things. That is not the same for Christians: they do not HAVE to wear any symbol. And even if they did it would be a FISH and not a CROSS.

Ms Eweida does not believe she HAS to wear a cross – she just believes her religion give her a get out clause from the company's rules.

It all seems a bit much to claim your religion is being oppressed when you get free seats in the House of Lords club and infinity-percent more slots in Thought for Today than (FOR EXAMPLE) the British Humanist Movement.

So ENOUGH with the MARTYRDOM complex!



And now we are going to be getting the whole thing about CHRISTMAS and people not calling it Christmas and the BACKLASH of people complaining about people not calling it Christmas.

If people do not want to call Christmas Christmas than it should be BECAUSE they do not want to call Christmas Christmas and not because of some excuse about not causing OFFENCE.

Causing offence has never worried the religions! Quite the reverse: it is another excuse to wheel out the SOAPBOX!

"We do not get complaints about celebrating Thor every Thorsday," says one commentator on the The Today Programme. No, we don't but then we don't have to put up with some idiot haranguing us for "forgetting the true meaning of Thorsday" either!

"People of other religions are not offended by calling Christmas Christmas," says another, "it is all part of the SECULAR agenda," he adds, accidentally giving the real game away.

Because this is NOT an argument about ETYMOLOGY. Insects do not CARE about Christmas!

This is about a religion defending its power to stick its sticky fingers into our LIVES! It is about them saying no, you cannot have a party in YOUR WAY, you must celebrate in OUR WAY.

It is GOOD to have a time to celebrate life and hope and snowballs! We should all go out and have a GOOD TIME and not worry about what some people with a BOOK say.

The right to boss people around is NOT a human right.

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