Mulling over George Pope to Steve Asher 31 Oct 2005

Hi George,

SA> BRITISH bank bosses are banning piggy banks in case they offend Muslim
SA> customers.

 GP> Notice they never cared a whit about whether they'd offend JEWS
 GP> (who INVENTED the whole don't-eat-pig-as-religious-rule thing!)

Well, on reading Leviticus Chapter 11, it appears that God commanded
Moses & Aaron that the Israelites were not to eat swine (pigs) as
they were unclean to them - cloven footed, but doesn't chew cud.
I can't see any reason for extending that prohibition to images
of pigs, or owning living ones. I'm not a big pork eater - these
days my dietitian would frown on bacon rashers - though I don't
mind it in moderation. Even if I didn't eat it for religious 
reasons, I would still be "guilty" of eating other animals prohibited
to Israelites in Leviticus ... hares (which I assume includes rabbits),
prawns, which I ate today, & things like oysters, cockles & scallops,
squid (calamari) too, I guess. Hmmm.. would Jews in France start
objecting to the French habit of eating snails, or seek to ban art
or images with snails?

According to "Media Watch", an Oz TV show, the original article was
blown out of proportion by UK newspapers - the banks didn't overtly
remove or ban piggy banks - they simply aren't using them in current
promotions. That is possibly true, but it is hard to know what to
believe in the press these days ... World Net Daily today has an
article about Hindus in Britain taking offence to a Royal Mail
Christmas stamp featuring what look like Hindus worshipping baby
Jesus.

It is almost impossible to survive in a "multicultural society"
without unwittingly causing offence to one group or another, and
"hate" laws will make it possible to prosecute "evil doers" who
do nasty things like ... wear crosses, head scarves, worry beads,
rosaries, phylacteries ... etc.

Cheers, Steve..

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