THE MCJ

NOTES FROM A JUVENILE RELIGION

I would really like to have respect for Muslims again seeing as how I have none whatsoever for them now:

British prison officers who wore a St. George’s Cross tie-pin have been ticked off by the jails watchdog over concerns about the symbol’s racist connotations.

The pins showing the English flag -- which has often raised hackles due to its connection with the Crusades of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries -- could be "misconstrued," Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said in a section on race in a report on a jail in the northern English city of Wakefield.

The banner of St. George, the red cross of a martyr on a white background, was adopted for the uniform of English soldiers during the military expeditions by European powers to recapture the Holy Land from Muslims, and later became the national flag of England.

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding, said Tuesday the red cross was an insensitive reminder of the Crusades.

"A lot of Muslims and Arabs view the Crusades as a bloody episode in our history," he told CNN. "They see those campaigns as Christendom launching a brutal holy war against Islam.

"Muslim or Arab prisoners could take umbrage if staff wore a red cross badge. It’s also got associations with the far-right. Prison officers should be seen to be neutral."

Doyle added that it was now time for England to find a new flag and a patron saint who is "not associated with our bloody past and one we can all identify with."

Then there's this:

Novelty pig calendars and toys have been banned from a council office — in case they offend Muslim staff.

Workers in the benefits department at Dudley Council, West Midlands, were told to remove or cover up all pig-related items, including toys, porcelain figures, calendars and even a tissue box featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

Bosses acted after a Muslim complained about pig-shaped stress relievers delivered to the council in the run-up to the Islamic festival of Ramadan.

Muslims are barred from eating pork in the Koran and consider pigs unclean.

Councillor Mahbubur Rahman, a practising Muslim, backed the ban. He said: “It’s a tolerance of people’s beliefs.”

And this:

Police here in central England seized a collection of porcelain pigs from a house’s window sill after Muslims complained that they were offensive.

"I just couldn’t believe it, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry," Mrs Nancy Bennett, the owner of the 17 miniature pigs, told the Sun tabloid newspaper.

The porcelain figures were held at the local police station, while Mrs Bennett was threatened with prosecution if she replaces the collection. Her house is located in the same street as the city’s main mosque, meaning that Muslim worshippers often passed by her front window where the pig figurines were on display.

"Muslims find pigs highly offensive," explained police officer David Griffiths. "That is why the complaints were made".

Given the sometimes violent intolerance of other faiths in Muslim countries and given the number of people murdered by Muslims around the world, these complaints and others like them are infuriating.  But as arrogantly idiotic as these complaints are, what is just as disturbing is that authorities in Britain have taken them seriously and haven't told the Muslims to look away if they're so "offended" and stop bothering them with trivialities.

Oh and Doyle?  You do know that adherents of the Islamic religion are a minority in Britain, don't you?  And while we are well aware that devotees of that sect think the world revolves around them, the unpleasant fact is that no country anywhere lets a minority get a country's symbols changed so that minority won't be "offended."

But I want to be constructive here so as far as your proposal for a new British patron saint is concerned, how about this?  Until the early 1800's, when Napoleon forced them to relinquish it, the British monarch had a claim to the throne of France.  Why doesn't the Queen of England formally reestablish the claim?  Then Britain could have this man as its patron saint.

Posted on 10/4/2005 3:45:14 PM , 35 comments