A SILLY apology was issued yesterday to a bunch of sensitive souls in South Africa who refer to themselves as “Christians”.
Like “Christians” in other parts of the world, they cling fast to a set of quirky, and sometimes very funny beliefs (see a book called “The Bible”). Members of the zombie-worshipping cult think they are very special, and that their delusions should never be made fun of.
Unfortunately, there are some cowardly cretins out there who apparently agree that “Christians” need special treatment. So yesterday we had the sorry spectacle of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town and its Rag chairperson begging forgiveness for a “blasphemous” slur on Christianity in the rag magazine Sax Appeal.
UCT students selling Sax Appeal - inset, an old Sax Appeal Cover
Rag Chairperson Cameron Arendse said in a statement issued by the university:
We believe that, in our honest intention to raise funds for the needy, we overstepped the mark.
He said it had become clear that many people of the Christian faith had been “hurt and insulted” by the magazine, which has a tradition of toilet humour.
Among the material that caused most offence was a piece entitled:
Top ten atheist retorts to fundamentalist Christians.
The retorts included:
Jesus died to save us from our sins – I bet he feels like a tool now.
In one picture a man with a megaphone shouts to passing people “I love God”, while the caption above him reads:
Fuck off to heaven and leave the rest of us alone.
In another picture, a women lifts her leg saying: “pervert” while the caption reads:
God sees everything.
“Prominent” Cape Town Christian leader and troublemaker Errol Naidoo sent out a mass email asking Christians to protest against what he described as an “outrageous” attack on their faith.
If UCT attempted this despicable attack against any other faith group there would have been a major outcry by now and perhaps even violence.
Naidoo also took issue with a full page of cartoons which he said:
Mock the Levitical injunction against homosexuality.
In a statement issued along with Arendse’s UCT vice chancellor Max Price said the outcry was justified:
Many of us, regardless of religious affiliation, have been offended by aspects in the publication … let me add my apology.
He had asked that the Sax Appeal editorial team meet with UCT management as soon as possible.
We will revisit the role of the editorial advisory board that should work with students to advise on the publication’s content.
It gets worse. Earlier on Friday, the Christian Democratic Alliance said it would ask the SA Human Rights Commission to look into the contents of Sax Appeal. The CDA felt the matter should be examined by the Commission for the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Language Communities. But it wasn’t holding its breath:
This commission is dysfunctional at the moment, and according to information obtained from the media, has not found in favour of Christian complainants in a single case.
Pick ‘n Pay, long-time sponsor of the magazine, has withdrawn copies of the magazine from its shelves following protests.
This is not the first time Sax Appeal, launched in 1933, has offended the godly. According to the mag’s entertaining on-line history, its 1971 issue was banned by the Publications and Entertainments Control Board and publicly burnt by students in a Christian society. All the fuss was over a joke about St Peter, God and Jesus playing a game of golf. One of the book-burners told a journalist:
It is completely unallowed to joke about Christ.
To which Sax Appeal says:
Why so? I bet he’d joke about you.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
February 21st, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Exactly how weak would a Christian’s faith have to be to take offence at a rag mag joke?
As for the CDA – I’d have thought they need to drop the word ‘democracy’ from their title. Mind you, South Africans historically had a lot of problems understanding that word.
February 21st, 2009 at 8:18 pm
The Holy Pasta weeps profusely every time He has to sentence a heretic to be tortured with flamethrowers for eternity. So in His infinite love He is giving you the chance to save your souls.
Abandon your hunchbacked dwarf Jesus, your terrorist pedophile Mohammed, your extinct volcano Yahweh, and your confidence swindler L. Ron Hubbard. Accept the Flying Spaghetti Monster as your personal saviour and devote your life to Him. Contribute a generous share of your income to Him, and if you are not posthumously admitted into Cloud Cuckoo Land, the Holy Pasta will refund your contributions in full. I state this ex cathedra, invoking the infallibility granted me as the Holy Pasta’s vicar of planet earth.
By me, Scudder.
February 21st, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Don’t suppose they would like the jesus and mo cartoons either. Note how Mr Naidoo did the old mass email trick to garner support; a tactic often used by the fundies.
February 21st, 2009 at 8:46 pm
It is very unusual in South Africa for anyone so much as to dare to make fun of any religion at all. Thus, I was very surprised and not a little amused to learn (from “Freethinker”), of the risk taken by “Sax Appeal”, and will look out to see if any of it is reported in the Sunday papers tomorrow – nothing has been mentioned on TV. I knew the late grandparents of Dr Max Price on his mother’s side, who came to South Africa as Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany.
With national and regional elections on their way in a few months’ time, the CDA today stated that much in the current South African scene is not in accordance with Christian dogma, the implication being that, in the unlikely event of their ever beating the ANC and forming a government, they would eliminate the offending aspects in South African law. Some of these aspects, of course, are enshrined in the highest law of the land, the Constitution.
February 21st, 2009 at 8:49 pm
To any True Believer reading this site in a genuine search for knowledge (there is bound to be one sometime — surely!):
You have no hesitation in acknowledging that Wind in the Willows is a fantasy novel, since you agree that a book in which animals such as Rat, Mole, Badger and Toad talk MUST be fiction. Yet you deny that a fantasy novel in which a snake and a donkey talk is fiction. Ask yourself, why? What is the difference?
You claim to believe that your bible is revealed truth. Yet even though your bible states unequivocally in 14 places that the earth is as flat as a dinner plate, you simultaneously believe that the earth is round like an orange. Are you aware that National Health maintains institutions for people who believe that “A” and “not A” can both be true?
You cite Jesus as the poster boy for perfect morality. Does that mean you endorse his sermon in Luke 16:1-9 that can be summarized, “Cheat those who are no longer useful to you, and use the stolen money to bribe those who are in a position to do you good”?
If even the tiny amount of evidence cited above does not (after verifying its accuracy) cure you of the god delusion, there is a bed waiting for you at Bedlam.
February 21st, 2009 at 9:20 pm
‘If UCT attempted this despicable attack against any other faith group…’
Blimey, even in South Africa their strongest defence is ‘You wouldn’t do this to Islam/Hindus/Buddists, wah, wah.’
Except that if you look for it you will find that people do. Quite a lot.
February 21st, 2009 at 9:40 pm
“It is very unusual in South Africa for anyone so much as to dare to make fun of any religion at all.”
Well, Ziggy, in the bad old days of apartheid I had a satirical column in a Johannesburg-based entertainments magazine called Time Out in which I would mercilessly take the piss out of decisions made by the Publications and Entertainments Control Board, headed by a crazy old Calvinist called Dr Jannie Kruger.
Thousands of books and magazines (including the Freethinker), posters of Michelangelo’s David, and even miniatures of the classical Greek statue, The Wrestlers, were banned after the board found them “blasphemous” or in breach of Christian notions of “taste and decency”.
The Board got so angry over having their decisions exposed in this way that they then banned Time Out – and the Government brought in a law making it a criminal offence to satirise the workings of the censors!
February 21st, 2009 at 9:41 pm
I believe that I can speak with some authority here seeing as my family originally came from Africa*.
Yeah. What Dr Harwood says.
*According to Dr Leakey.
February 21st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Same sh*t as always. They can dish it out in buckets but can’t take it by the teaspoon. Whiney hypocritical twats.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:13 am
This from the country whose ex-president denied that HIV caused AIDS.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:41 am
Makes me proud to be South African and living in this great, great country where Jesus has just been resurrected as a fat, eminently corruptible, slightly retarded, sleazy politician who goes by the name of Jacob Zuma.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:08 pm
For Dawkins’ sake, it’s a RAG magazine! No one other than students read RAG magazines anyway! These Christians should just take a deep breath and unclench their buttocks once in a while. Do them some good.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:31 pm
In reply to Dr William Harwood.
I am a Christian and believe that the Bible is a true and honest account of history.
Yes, it can be difficult to understand and sometimes I wonder if the author’s may have been smoking their socks or something. (They were around sheep and goats a lot those days and who knows what types of grass were available then.) ïŠ
But, in all honesty, when I pray and ponder over these difficult passages I often realize that Divine Truth does not come cheaply. Sometimes God wants us to think real deep about His word. I knew a pastor once who said if you really can’t understand the passage try and read it backwards. Yeah right.
Neverthless, your blog entry intrigued me. Why would Jesus side with the unscrupulous and encourage us to cheat and then use the money to buy friends? You have to agree that this does not match His character as portrayed in the rest of the Bible. I mean, even unbelievers have to agree that He was portrayed as a good guy. Hey, He could enjoy a party and was not shy to turn the water into blooming good hooch just to avoid embarrassment to His mom. He did all the good things and performed miraculous healing amongst the people.
He was humble yet bold enough to trash the tables of the merchants who were trading on the steps of the temple and He was man enough to be beaten half to death and to hang on a cross to die in order that we, who merely believe in Him would be forgiven our sinful ways and gain entry into an afterlife with Him and His Father.
William, take a careful look at http://www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/16_1-15.htm
The author makes a few very good observations here. Jesus was referring to the way the world wheels and deals with money. That accountant used a shrewd way to gain some friends while cheating his equally shrewd boss in such a way that his boss could not get at him. Jesus is not condoning that behavior but, what He is saying, is that perhaps if the good folk were to use their good gifts, money and talents in order to serve the poor with the same effort that the bad people screw one another for gain, the good people would be rewarded by God at the end of the day. Remember Jesus was a forthright man and was not shy to use unpopular terms while making his point. I mean He often spoke about pigs and stuff to astute jewish priests etc. Yuk! That’s what He does! He even used you to get me off my lazy butt and do some bible study. Fantastic.
William, bless you bro. I’m going to get into the talking snakes and donkey studies now.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
“These Christians should just take a deep breath and unclench their buttocks once in a while.”
Gosh, Rozi, they do it all the time – in what other manner do you think they can articulate their ideas?
February 24th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Well said Richard. Anyone who is bothered to actually look into who Jesus was realises there’s more historical evidence supporting his existance than Gandhi and that his teachings reveal more about the human need for love than Lennon (who was also senselessly killed). And before you pour bile on me or other Christians do yourself a favour and find out who this man was rather than just regurgitating shallow wise cracks you pawned off someone else. Have some balls. Research your conviction and anything that apposes it for yourself with an OPEN mind.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
It is not so unusual in South Africa as you may think. There is really a growing network of youngsters who has had enough of Christians advertising their doom and gloom to us. You can follow the blogs and discussions on various Afrikaans and English online communities to see that there is a growing irritation amongst the non – religious for the way that the Christians whine about everything that goes against their militant approach. At least we do have a constitution that backs us, but I think a lot of the critism is done in an anonomous matter, using online communities etc. So hats off to the UCT students who went public.
If I had money I would personally sponsor a blasphemous advertising campaign and put Billboards right next to every single mega Church in Johannesburg. HAHAHA
February 24th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Frank, It would be much appreciated if you could give us a few of the website addresses where non-religious South Africans are indicating their irritation with Christians.
February 27th, 2009 at 12:45 am
“Anyone who is bothered to actually look into who Jesus was realises there’s more historical evidence supporting his existance than Gandhi”
And I have the photographs of Jesus to back this up.