Angel, that's terrible.  But I suspect most Catholics won't do what the 
Moslems did.
Vinny
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 5:50 PM
Subject: Another interesting article


> In view of this article I will bet Christians won't go around blowing up
> things.  We have been made fun of and persecuted for millennia.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Katherine Schulz
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 10:37 AM
> Subject: [romancatholicchat] Article
>
>
> Open Season on Christianity
>
> A Little Respect Is Harder to Find
>
> CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, FEB. 25, 2006 (
> Zenit.org).-
> The recent publication of cartoons satirizing the prophet Mohammed brought
> many calls for greater respect of Islamic beliefs. Christians could 
> rightly
> wonder
> when they, too, will receive some respect.
>
> As controversy over the drawings continues, a television station in New
> Zealand chose this moment to show a "South Park" episode ridiculing the
> Virgin Mary
> and the Pope.
>
> The "Bloody Mary" episode of the animated series has scenes showing a
> bleeding statue of Mary, whose spurting blood covers the Pope, reported 
> the
> New Zealand
> Herald on Monday. Plans by the C4 TV channel, owned by the Canadian media
> chain CanWest, to show the episode brought strong protest from New 
> Zealand's
> Catholic bishops.
>
> The bishops issued a pastoral letter, read at all Masses last weekend. 
> "The
> way in which Mary is portrayed in this episode is derisive, outrageous and
> beyond
> all acceptable standards of decency and good taste," stated the letter.
> "Pope Benedict is also insulted in this episode."
>
> The bishops observed that last year the same company was responsible for
> screening "the offensive 'Popetown' series." The Broadcasting Standards
> Authority
> has yet to deal with the complaint made by the bishops.
>
> In their pastoral letter the bishops explained that they wrote to CanWest
> several weeks ago, asking the company not to screen the "South Park" 
> episode
> "because
> of the grave offence it would give to all Christians, including Catholics,
> and people of other faiths and cultures." Leaders of the Anglican and
> Presbyterian
> churches also signed the letter, along with figures from the Muslim and
> Jewish communities. Even New Zealand's prime minister, Helen Clark, a
> declared
> agnostic, commented that she found the cartoon offensive.
>
> CanWest responded to the protests by bringing forward the screening of the
> episode, from May 10 to Wednesday this week. According to Wednesday's 
> issue
> of
> the New Zealand Herald, the company informed the Catholic Church's
> communications director, Lyndsay Freer, of the decision at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
> She was asked
> to comment on it for the 6 p.m. news bulletin on one of CanWest's 
> channels.
>
> "Given that by far the majority of those involved in the debate have not 
> had
> the opportunity to view the episode, we feel it is important to give the
> public
> of New Zealand that chance," said Rick Friesen, chief operating officer of
> CanWest-owned TVWorks.
>
> The Church has called for a boycott of the television station. And
> Wednesday's Herald article reported that Patrick Quin, owner of the agency
> Max Recruitment,
> has withdrawn advertising worth about $4,300 a month from CanWest.
>
> Insulting Jesus
>
> The New Zealand case is far from an isolated episode. Last Nov. 8 the
> British newspaper Guardian reported that a French paper had won a court
> battle giving
> it the right to show a cartoon of a naked Jesus wearing a condom.
>
> The daily Liberation was taken to court by a Christian organization after
> printing the image in April. A court in Paris described the portrayal as
> "crude"
> but said it did not contravene any laws.
>
> Last Sunday another British newspaper, the Observer, published a 
> commentary
> by Nick Cohen, headlined "It's So Cowardly to Attack the Church When We
> Won't
> Offend Islam."
>
> Cohen described his visit to an art exhibition in London's East End by
> artists Gilbert and George. The exhibition is entitled "Sonofagod 
> Pictures:
> Was Jesus
> Heterosexual?" The catalogue described the works as "an assault on the 
> laws
> and institutions of superstition and religious belief."
>
> "This isn't a brave assault on all religions, just Catholicism," explained
> Cohen. "The gallery owners know that although Catholics will be offended,
> they
> won't harm them." He added: "If they were to do the same to Islam, all 
> hell
> would break loose."
>
> Another case is that of popular Swedish jeans, which come with the logo of 
> a
> skull with a cross turned upside down on its forehead, the Philadelphia
> Inquirer
> reported Jan. 15.
>
> "It is an active statement against Christianity," explained Bjorn Atldax,
> the designer of the jeans. "I'm not a Satanist myself, but I have a great
> dislike
> for organized religion." Atldax said that he wants to make young people
> question Christianity, which he called a "force of evil" that had sparked
> wars
> throughout history.
>
> The jeans have been shipped throughout Europe and to Australia, and there
> are plans to introduce them to the United States and elsewhere, the 
> Inquirer
> said.
> Around 200,000 pairs have been sold since March 2004.
>
> Parody abounds
>
> Attacks on Christianity also abound in the United States. Among the 
> examples
> noted Feb. 15 by the Washington Post were: the latest cover of Rolling
> Stone,
> featuring rapper Kanye West wearing Christ's crown of thorns; "South 
> Park's"
> "The Spirit of Christmas" short, featuring an obscenity-filled fistfight
> between
> Christ and Santa Claus; a radio show featuring comedian J. Anthony Brown 
> and
> his "biblical sayings" from the Last Supper, in which disciples make
> outrageous
> quips.
>
> The newspaper also recalled the 1999 controversy when then New York Mayor
> Rudolph Giuliani tried to shut down a museum for featuring a painting of 
> the
> Virgin
> Mary covered with elephant dung.
>
> And, at the same time Christianity is held up to ridicule, believers face
> obstacles in proclaiming their own faith. A recent case is the decision on
> Christmas
> displays in New York's public schools.
>
> The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it is constitutionally
> permissible for the schools to ban the display of the Christian nativity
> during
> Christmas, while permitting the display of the Jewish menorah and the
> Islamic star and crescent during Hanukkah and Ramadan. The Thomas More Law
> Center
> reported on the decision in a press release dated Feb. 3.
>
> City authorities defended the policy by arguing that the menorah and star
> and crescent were permissible symbols because they were "secular," whereas
> the
> Nativity scene had to be excluded because it was "purely religious." The
> court judged that this argument was fallacious, stating that the policy
> "mischaracterizes"
> the symbols. But it still upheld the ban on the Nativity scene.
>
> Further examples abound. In Britain a council-run crematorium removed a
> wooden cross from its chapel, for fear of offending non-Christians, the
> Times reported
> last June 9. Torbay Council in Devon also announced that the chapel would 
> in
> future be known as the ceremony hall.
>
> A local Anglican vicar, Anthony Macey, observed that the cross had been in
> the chapel for nearly 50 years. And Father Paul Connor, the Catholic 
> priest
> for
> Brixham, said: "If the cross offends people they can cover it up. What 
> about
> the Christians who are offended by its removal?"
>
> Respecting beliefs
>
> The Second Vatican Council's pastoral constitution "Gaudium et Spes"
> addressed the question of contemporary culture and freedom. Culture, it 
> said
> in No.
> 59, "has constant need of a just liberty in order to develop." For this
> reason it has "a certain inviolability," which is, however, not absolute. 
> It
> is
> limited by the common good and the rights of individuals and the 
> community,
> the document said.
>
> And concerning these limitations, Benedict XVI commented on the importance
> of respecting religious beliefs, during his speech Monday to Morocco's new
> ambassador
> to the Holy See. "It is necessary and urgent that religions and their
> symbols be respected," the Pope said.
>
> He added that this implies that "believers not be the object of 
> provocations
> that wound their lives and religious sentiments." A principle valid for 
> all
> religions, Christianity included.