More "Religious Tolerance" Hypocrisy 

A little while ago, I read this post at Tongue Tied, and just now, I finally got around to reading the article it was referring to, which you can see here.

This is ridiculous. It's absolutely, positively, unfathomably ridiculous. Here are just a few choice selections from this story:

Church officials in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, were told by the town's public library last week that their posters could not be displayed because they pertained to a "religious preference group". It emerged yesterday, however, that a party to celebrate Eid, the breaking of the fast of Ramadan, had been held there less than a week previously.

Well, at least this didn't happen in America, for once. I'd expect this kind of thing in Europe. However, it's still ridiculous. If you can't advertise for one religious event, how can you justify celebrating another one? Oh, but wait, it gets much better.

Bridget Adams, 57, a school teacher and a member of the choir at All Saints church, High Wycombe, asked to display a poster stating the dates and times of its Christmas services. She was refused permission. 'I was told the council had a policy of allowing no religious material from any faith,' she said.

Apparently, she doesn't understand the lingo of anti-Christian PC types. You see, "religious" means "Christian," and "faith" usually means either "gullibility" or "fanaticism." Unless it applies to Muslims, of course. They're just misunderstood and oppressed. Did that seem a little exaggerated? Read on.

Margaret Dewar, the councillor who is responsible for libraries, said: "I am appalled at the attitude of these so-called Christians making such a fuss about this policy. The way they have reacted to the children's party is just shocking."

No, what's shocking is your complete lack of comprehension concerning consistency, you frickin' moron. What's with the "so-called Christians" crap, anyway? Oh, now I remember, faith is a personal, private thing and should never be spoken of, displayed, or even alluded to for fear of offending the sensibilities of those around you. Idiots. Here's the hilarious money quote:

"It is quite a different thing having a party organised by a library to promote cultural understanding and accepting notices for religious services.

Hmmm...let's see...cultural understanding...so you're saying that it's okay as long as the religious festival is part of a culture? Have you heard of a thing called the FRIGGIN' CHRISTMAS SEASON?! How can she possibly summon up enough cognitive dissonance to say that advertising an event at another building is wrong because it promotes religion, but actually holding an event in the library is okay because it promotes cultural understanding?

This is what happens when you take multiculturalism too far. You lose the ability to separate religion from culture in every society except your own. This makes no sense, and I'm going to continue to waste space ranting about it. I really don't understand how she can say any of this with a straight face (maybe she didn't, actually). They can host an event that's obviously religious, but they can't even advertise another one at a different building. Do people even realize that Islam is a religion anymore, or do they just assume that Muslims are some sort of ethnic group? Wait for it...it gets even better.

"The policy is that we do not display posters on our noticeboard. If we accepted one poster, we would have to them from everyone. We have to draw the line somewhere."

Wait...just...a...freaking...minute. First, they can't display it because it's religious, and all of a sudden they can't display it because it's a poster? I bet if it had been any other kind of poster, they would've accepted it. Or, alternately, if the Christians had come back with a regulation message, they still would've been denied.

This reminds me of another story I saw somewhere a few days ago. Apparently, a child brought a Bible to school to read during quiet time, but he was told to put it away. However, the school said that he couldn't read it because it was "too thick," or some crap like that. So, the next day, he brought a smaller religious booklet, and he was still forced to put it away. Why? Because it might offend other students.

By the way, another part of the article I just responded to mentioned that the "multicultural" Muslim party "...was advertised with leaflets distributed at the library." Isn't that strange? So they were even allowed to advertise that? Fascinating.

Here's one more question I've been meaning to ask for a really long time: HOW IS THE DISPLAY OF CHRISTIAN MATERIAL OFFENSIVE TO OTHER RELIGIONS? That whole "offense" argument never made sense to me. I'm a Christian, but I don't get offended when I see things related to other religions. Is my religion somehow more offensive than others? Am I offending people right now just by saying that I'm a Christian? OH NO! I'M SORRY! I'LL NEVER MENTION MY BELIEFS AGAIN! THAT WOULD BE SO INTOLERANT OF ATHEISTS, BUDDHISTS, MUSLIMS, JEWS, SCIENTOLOGISTS, UNITARIANS, PAGANS, WICCANS, JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, MORMONS...and so on.

Does that make sense? Out of all the religions I just listed, none of them offends me simply by existing or making its presence known. I may disagree with them, but they have a right to be acknowledged, and Christians should have that same right.

By the way, try going through that story and flip-flopping it so that all references to Muslims refer to Christians, and vice versa, and think about whose side the library would take. I'm pretty sure the library would display the Muslims' poster for fear of being called Islamophobic.

Think about it.

Posted by CD on December 15, 2003 11:03 PM
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