offended? not at all!

uproar? what uproar? don’t exaggerate, please. at least. at least no uproar from the ‘victims’ (christians, particularly catholics).

KUALA LUMPUR: A police report was lodged yesterday against a Tamil newspaper for publishing a front-page picture of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette in one hand and a can of beer in the other.

bob asked "does this offend you?". offended? not at all! well maybe yes, it was not proper for the paper to publish the picture as it was like our (catholic) bishop, bishop murphy pakiam said it was ‘desecration’ of the image of jesus. yes so he was upset and voiced his displeasure. then the paper made a public apology with clarification, and bishop pakiam had accepted the apology and consider the matter CLOSED.

then why did the others made so much noises?

first of all, let me tell you, devotion to the sacred heart of jesus is particularly very strong among the catholics only. if i’m not mistaken, the other christian denominations do not pay homage so much to the sacred heart of jesus. to us catholics (or even not at all). every first friday of the month is devoted to the sacred heart and at mass on every 1st friday, we always sing hymns to the sacred heart of jesus.

thus you see, the ones who will be most affected by the ‘desecration’ of the picture will be catholics…. but here we are, as catholics, we accept makkal osai’s apology and want the matter to be closed.

however, as bob posted:

the evangelical lutheran church asked for the banning of the newspaper, claiming that a precedent had been set in the past with the banning of the sarawak tribune for publishing the caricatures of the prophet muhammad!

bob was shocked and asked "when did two wrongs ever made a right?"

as if that was not enough… ok that came from a christian church (but not catholic), the MIC yough had to step in.

The MIC Youth submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Department asking for the revocation of the newspaper’s publication permit. MIC’s Deputy President, Datuk G. Palanivel, went on the record to say that "The Home Ministry should take tough action against this kind of newpapers to drive home a clear message as religion is something which cannot be made fun of". A police report was also lodged by an MIC member from Puchong against the daily "to prevent a repeat of the publication which insulted Christians".

oh please, MIC. as a christian, i don’t need you to speak for me. i don’t need you to defend my religion as i see nothing to defend… especially after the apology.  i’m not like some UMNOputra who after people apologise, yet want to persecute them (read namewee’s case!). i don’t feel the paper had made fun of my religion. the picture was said to be published with a caption quoting jesus saying: "if someone repents for his mistakes, then heaven awaits them."  i may choose to look at it that the ‘mistakes’ meant was what jesus hold in his hand – smoking and drinking, thus the pictures of the cigarette and beer in his hands. so what’s offensive about jesus telling us to stay away from smoking and drinking? that’s how i would like to interpret it which won’t made me jumped up and down, calling for ban to the paper or go burning down houses. however, i still consider it a desecration of the image… which an apology is sufficient.

oh well, ok ok. you would have thought i’m still in kindergarten if i didn’t mention the reason MIC came into the picture – political agenda of course!! according to the indianmalaysian webstie:

Makkal Osai, the Tamil daily owned by former MIC deputy president S. Subramaniam, is in the receiving end for publishing a skewed image of Jesus Christ. The daily has been very critical of Samy Vellu since Subra’s defeat last year in the MIC deputy presidency. The recent Sujatha’s suicide case provided further ammunition for the daily to whack Samy and his son Vellpaari by highlighting the case in the front page everyday for weeks. Now the table has been turned. Certainly, Samy Vellu is going to capitalize on this.

ayo-yo! engei dei, sami. so i guess MIC youth is trying their best to get makkal osai in deep shit because of doing what their boss wanted them to do. see, this is another case of using religion for political gains again. *sigh*

i would like to think we christians are not sensitive lots who will get insulted at such a picture. i would like to think we are understanding and forgiving to accept a clarification and apology when they were given (at least we know bishop murphy pakiam is… and now you know i am too). yes, makkal osai had apologised so let’s move on.

note:  the picture you see here is the original picture of the sacred heart of jesus (some pictures differs a bit), not the controversial one which makkal osai published. for that, you can go go bob’s blog to have a look… though it was edited (not to show what jesus were holding).
———-

APA ERTINYA 50 TAHUN MERDEKA?… when political parties are making use of religions??