“Thanks, man… I mean God.”
Some people need to be in a snit to be happy. And there are always a few cheap trinkets around to keep them that way.
A pro-life group is protesting Planned Parenthood’s sale of a line of “condom key chains‘ that include a takeoff on Michelangelo’s famous Sistine Chapel image in which the hand of God gives a condom to Adam.
Sedlak also wants “all government officials to stop taxpayer money from going to this organization that makes a habit of blaspheming God.”
Let’s face it, to these people all you have to do to blaspheme God is to have a sense of humor.
Related Link, sorta:
Tulua, Columbia– Proposed: Age 14 and Older Must Carry Condoms
Same attitude as Osama Bin Laden and his cronies. Fundamentalists are fundamentalists no matter what deity they calim to worship (basically themselves).
Get a life and and a smile on your face and become a Buddhist. Anybody heard of an extremist Budhist? Not possible – contradiction in terms! Even though I guess it is remotely possible to love your next to death – but better wear a condom then… 😉
Come on Dvorak, you are smart enough to see what this really is. It’s a potshot at Planned Parenthood’s biggest opposition…the religous community.
John,
This is NOT about having a sense of “humor”. This is obviously offensive to many Christians, on many levels. Why is it that when Christians are offended, they have no sense of “humor”, but when other groups are offended, they are “morally outraged”? There are many Christians who disagree with the idea of birth control, including many Catholics. This ad includes artwork closely associated with the Catholic Church, and it should respect the beliefs of many, many Catholics. There is a difference between being funny and being offensive.
This reminds me of a cheap novel from 30 years ago that described the students at a Mississippi Christian college: “We had the scowlers for God and we had the glad-handers for God. We had the well-dressed for God and then we had the people for God who looked like they had just run out of a fire.” But that’s probably blasphemy – I’ll have to ask my Rabbi.
Wow, I wonder if the pro-life group realizes the irony here. If I’m recalling my art history correctly, in the Sistine Chapel Michaelangelo painted the local Archbishop in hell with a snake coiled around him. All Planned Parenthood did is take an already blasphemous painting and altered it 😉
ncnblog
I find many things offensive.
I find the idea that the “Pope” is somehow divined to interpret the words of God to be very offensive. Only he is capable of this feat?
I find the idea the “celibate” men are somehow experts on marriage. They can rightly tell lay people how to run their lives. How offensive that someone who I have never met knows me better then my wife and family?
I find people like Jerry Falwell and Par Robertson beyond offensive. These self righteous d***heads are so full of themselves. They claim to know what Jesus would want today. Ya, right, Jesus was a liberal, not some self professed hate machine !!! Jesus would never tell us to vote for the money changers or suggest someone should be killed.
I am truly offended that so many “Christians” are so opposed to abortion, claiming that the fetus is a person. Yet they never fail to castigate an unwed mother, rarely give any pre-natal support and never give post-natal support. Yet at the same time it is very seldom that the father is castigated by these very same self serving hypocrites. Who doesn’t get offended by this is off balanced.
I am offended that groups, who are coincidentally “Christians”, try to impose their beliefs on me. Be it their version of evolution, or what I might say as a seasonal greeting.
I am offended that these groups would deny anyone who is homosexual to join them. Jesus embraced ALL people and welcomed them unto God. He didn’t pick the moneyed and deny the lepers.
I am offended that these self righteous fecal depositories would tell me that if I don’t do as they say I should then I am going to spend eternity in hell. Ya, right !!!
I am offended by people like Randell Terry that seek to turn us all into morons of the church. I am repulsed by Terry.
A key chain with a depiction of a painting on it? A message to be safe? An organization that promotes good health both before and after birth? A charity that doesn’t judge? A charity that dispenses medical advise and free or low cost drugs? How could anyone find that offensive?
Offensive to Christians? No. Offending to any Christians who may still be living in the 12th century? Maybe.
Kind of amazing how this just backfires on the people protesting Planned Parenthood. Their store was overwhelmed with orders for the keychain soon after the story ran. ROTFLMAO!
From the article: …series of three key chains “offends all patriotic Americans,”. Jim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League’s STOPP International (a pro life group).
From wikipedia: The word patriotism is used to describe emotions and attitudes, political views, symbolism, and specific acts, with respect to a nation, and to everything that is associated with a nation in the ideology of nationalism – its territory, history, culture, values, and symbols. Positive attitudes and actions towards other nations, or to non-national groups, are not generally described as ‘patriotic’, and they may be referred to by a specific name, such as pro-Greek philhellenism.
This is a very abusive and dubious reference to patriotism by Jim Sedlak. Does patriotic mean to hold in contempt and disgust any parody or mockery of very old artwork?
These pro-lifers need to get a life…
“John,
This is NOT about having a sense of “humor”. This is obviously offensive to many Christians, on many levels. Why is it that when Christians are offended, they have no sense of “humor”, but when other groups are offended, they are “morally outraged”? There are many Christians who disagree with the idea of birth control, including many Catholics. This ad includes artwork closely associated with the Catholic Church, and it should respect the beliefs of many, many Catholics. There is a difference between being funny and being offensive.”
You don’t have to buy one, nor for that matter do I have to buy any brainwashing Catholic stuff, like this….
http://www.softsaints.com/
Without wearing my religion on my sleeve or wherever let me just state that there is a huge difference between being a devout man of God and being a Christian. I have also heard it said, somewhere, that the ancient Romans had the right idea; feed the irritating bastards to the lions.
The danger of all this is that Planned Parent Hood is seemingly paying for attention at the sake of education.
Condoms on a keychain would most likely be exposed to varying temperatures and become rapidly unreliable. Hence the idea of protection become trivialized, and/or the public miseducated about proper useage.
I simply view it as a waste of taxpayer money on a self serving agenda.
I agree with Pat. I find “Sedlak” to be offensive because of his attempt to censor Planned Parenthood. The keychain (which I suspect is just a keychain, not a condom repository) is merely amusing.
How about a key chains with mohammad giving out condoms?
Or how about a key chain with a female version of a buddha getting an abortion (for the record I know for a fact that buddhist are against abortion, my dad is one, and it is a core belive for them)
Oh wait would that not be intolorant? then why is this acceptable?
(For the record I am a Christian, Lutheran, LCMS)
“How about a key chains with mohammad giving out condoms?
Or how about a key chain with a female version of a buddha getting an abortion (for the record I know for a fact that buddhist are against abortion, my dad is one, and it is a core belive for them)
Oh wait would that not be intolorant? then why is this acceptable?
(For the record I am a Christian, Lutheran, LCMS)”
The argument isn’t for/against acceptability, it’s freedom of speech and expression. This is attempted censorship, full stop. If I chose to wear an effergy of an iconic religious figure being tied to a cross in a humialting death, for example, then surely that too would be unacceptable…. oh hang, that’s the symbol of christianity.
After seeing this picture, for the first time I imagined what God would want. I’m not sure I’ve ever done that before. Would he really hand out condoms to people? Imagine God is a guy or a woman, an engineer or architect, sitting at his drafting table in his office. He creates the world. Or creates the laws that lead to our existence. (These are the tenets of our (mostly) common faith, right?) Do you think he had condoms in mind when he made that plan. When he imagined how things would turn out. But he gave us creativity and free will, so he couldn’t have forseen everything.
In recent memory, whenever I think about this issue, I imagined the Church as an institution of men making social decisions for other people. But looking at it from God’s perspective makes some sense out of the many churches’ theologies on reproduction.
I’m not saying anything about gov’t or public policy in a secular world. How we should behave amongst ourselves. Lord knows reading “Best of Craigslist” has opened my eyes. It just seemed like an interesting thought experiment.
Did it occur to any of you that maybe some of these were meant to be offensive?
Think about it. Our current society is infatuated with the ability to offend just about everyone.
Why? Who knows. Maybe if we all loosened up just a little we would be able to look at ourselves and see that we are just as rediculous as those who are trying to offend us.
So they took liberties with a work of art to promote condom use. Well, if it prevents the spread of disease or an unwanted pregnancy…good.
Get over it.
Dan D.
Very good point, thank you. Should we not add the hypocritical contrast between Christ on the cross, in his torment with his crown of thorns, with the houses of worship and priests in all their fine vestments, gold, artwork, and beautiful woodwork?
Maybe it’s offensive because it shows a concrete representation of an ineffable God?
Dan D. well the cross was not put in churchs to offend people key chain is an active attempt to be offencive. Oh well, think what ever bloody thing you want. Rush L. has said their is a war on Christians I did not want to belive it, but now I am forced to belive it becuase of what you all and John has said here.
Pat on what you said about abortion, so you are saying that if 90% of the american public said murder was ok and not immoral then should we make it legal? If some thing is wrong, it is wrong no matter how many people want to do that wrong thing.
When I look at that key chain all I see is a picture promoting the prevention of disease.
Now, it’s been a long time since I left Christianity, but I seem to recall their Christ was a healer of the sick. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that Christ would support the means to prevent people from getting sick and spreading disease in the first place? Reason, yes, but apparently Faith disallows it.
It seems that people are ok with a “Living Constitution” when it comes to their government. Seeing how little many of these ancient religions have really changed, many of the religious do not feel very comfortable with a “Living God”, a god, any god that changes and adapts to a time other than neophyte superstitious historic. A god that would be comfortable and love his homo- and bi-sexual children as much as his heterosexual children is unfathomable to them. A god that is Hidden, Unknowing, and Mysterious is how they prefer their god. Without an unknown god, faith, and as George Carlin put it “spooky language”, men of power would not have the spiritual foundations to control others. I have heard arguments about Christians not being out to control others, but then again, historically, isn’t it a tenant of Christianity to convert everyone whether like it or not? Because if they don’t get converted they are not going to heaven? Otherwise, why would you have to believe a dead man is a god, accept dead man into your heart, believe in the dead man, and confess your sins to a dead man. Christ was a good man. A wise man. A healer. A son of god. But then so are you. We are all god’s creations regardless of race, religion, creed, and sexual preferences. God loves us all.