Cigarette-Smoking, Alcoholic Jesus Pisses Off Indian Church
The Christian Bible says that Jesus Christ turned water into wine, but nowhere does it insinuate that he was a cigarette-smoking beer drinker.
This fact, however, apparently skipped over the brilliant minds at Skyline Publications, a New Delphi-based children’s textbook publisher responsible for planting an objectionable picture of Jesus smack dab in the middle of a primary school textbook for cursive handwriting.
The above picture of Jesus casually holding a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other was discovered at a private school in Shillong, which just happens to be the capital city of one of India’s most Christian states: Meghalaya.
Concerned parents immediately relayed their worries to the Catholic Church of India, prompting the church to hastily ban and confiscate the textbook from all its member schools.
“We are shocked and hurt by this act where Jesus Christ has been portrayed in a highly objective manner,” said Dominc Jala, the Archbishop of Shilong. “We condemn the total lack of respect for religions by the publisher.”
The church was so enraged, in fact, that they requested the government ban all such publications from every school in India. According to Ampareen Lyngdog, the Meghalaya Education Minister, they may “even take legal steps,” as in pursuing the prosecution of Skyline Publications for their total lack in judgment.
Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), agreed, saying, “The government should take strict action against the publisher so that it becomes a deterrent for others doing similar things.”
You may be wondering—especially if you’re either agnostic or atheist—why everyone is throwing a fit over what may just be a cursory mistake, or the result of an obnoxious and soon-to-be-terminated employee.
First of all, consider that the controversial image was uncovered in a Christian school.
Second, keep in mind that young impressionable children were exposed to it.
Last and perhaps most importantly, note that most Indian Christians (if not all) share the sentiment of church leader T. Jrwa, who told ASSIST News Service said that the image was “nothing but blasphemous.”
The question remains, though:
How would you personally react if you discovered an objectionable picture of your religious idol in your child’s school textbook?
By V Saxena on 25-02-2010
