I watched a clip this morning of a debate between a representative from the Catholic Church and a representative from P.E.T.A. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) which has been bothering me ever since. At the crux of the showdown was a recent ad from PETA which featured a nude, curvacious woman carrying a large crucifix, which conveniently, and narrowly, covered her erogenous zones. The highlight of the debate for me was when the PETA representative claimed not to see anything wrong or offensive with the ad, which prompted the Catholic guy to chime in (and I paraphrase) "Why not do it with a star and crescent then?" obviously referencing symbols of Islam.
"What's offensive is the slaughter of blah, blah, blah..."
C'mon lady! Really?!?!
I thought that guy landed a knockout punch right there. PETA would never use Islamic Symbols in that way as they did the crucifix. Can you imagine? The response from the Muslim world to such an ad would make the reaction to that Danish cartoon look pretty mild. People would die- I have no doubt (PETA probably wouldn't be concerned about that though, anymore than exploiting women to advance their misguided views, after all they're just people.). At first I was mad at PETA for their insensitivity, double standard, and moral confusion, but then I realized that I was mostly disappointed and frustrated with Christendom. Here is a flagrant act of desecration, a wildly innapropriate thing to do, and this arouses no outrage. Apparently, there is no price to pay for PETA to run this ad, and that is on us. I'm not saying we should stage violent protests, or threaten to bomb their offices, or anything like that, but the fact they don't view alienating Christians through their ads as prohibitively adverse, and counter-productive to their goals, is chilling to me and a very sad commentary on the church's standing within western culture these days. Frankly, my heart burned with outrage when I saw the ad, but what can be done? I feel impotent. "Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord."
LAKE CHAMPLAIN
THOSE WHO LIVE IN VERMONT, AS ME AND MINE DO, HOLD THE EASTERN SHORE IS THE BETTER OF THE TWO, BUT EVEN WE CONCEDE NEW YORKERS HAVE THE BETTER VIEW
3 comments:
When they hurled their insults at him he did not retaliate, when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 1 Peter 2:23
Hi Josh, I don't think that PETA would use Islamic symbols or even Jewish symbols because it doesn't hit enough people in the gut. Also the star of David and the Crescent moon aren't as literally fraught with serious symbolism as the cross. I am a pretty far leaning Lefty in the political spectrum but these PETA people are just flat out jerks who want to change things through fear and shock techniques. They don't like to listen to anybody for any reason because they're too busy shouting their opinions. Ooh they can be Jerks! --you're definitely not alone in this rage.
Thanks Alexae- appreciate the comment.
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