A PRIVATE publisher in New Delhi is to face charges of “offending religious sentiments” for publishing a picture in school textbooks depicting Jesus holding a holding a fag and a bottle of beer.
In the textbooks, for use in handwriting classes, the Sacred Heart of Jesus picture, which is regarded as one of the holiest in the Roman Catholic faith, accompanies the word “idol” and is used to illustrate the capital letter “I”.
According to this report, police in Meghalaya state – where more than 70 percent of the population is Christian – have seized the textbooks and are prosecuting Skyline Publications.
Is this is the image that caused Catholics to throw a tantrum in India? We can't be sure because reports refer to a "bottle" and here he's holding a can.
And the authorities are now proposing an anti-blasphemy law to prevent a repeat of of such material. Ampareen Lyngdoh, the state of Meghalaya’s education minister, said:
The proposed law will help the government take action against such publishers. In the absence of such laws, officials are unable to take action against publishers who commit such offences, which leads to public outrage.
The publisher has apologised to the people of Meghalaya and recalled all copies of the textbook.
The picture has enraged Christians in northern Punjab state and sparked protests.
The Indian Catholic Youth Movement in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, wailed:
The publication of the picture has deeply hurt our religious sentiments, and (the) publisher has violated the provisions of the constitution of India.
And Dominic Jala, the Archbishop of Shillong asked:
How can one show such total disrespect for a religion? Just think how this would impact on students at such a tender age?
The Catholic Church in India has banned all textbooks by Skyline Publications from its schools. Said Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India spokesman Babu Joseph:
We have told all our member schools across the country to ban this publisher. Jesus Christ is central to the Christian faith and Christian life. The attempt to tarnish his image is highly objectionable and goes against the spirit of religious tolerance in India.
Christians make up 2.3 percent of India’s 1.1-billion-plus population. Hindus make up 80 percent, followed by Muslims at 13 percent, Sikhs at 1.8 percent and Buddhists at 0.8 percent.
There are a surprising number of images on the internet of of Jesus drinking. This is just one.
In 2007 a newspaper in Malaysia was shut down for a month for publishing a picture of the “messiah” in smokin’, boozing’ mode.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
February 28th, 2010 at 11:51 am
I have spoken with Fundies in the USA – natch, where else? – who insist that Jesus was white. I guess these pictures prove their point. As one of them said with that ineluctible logic which is so irrestible: “Have you ever seen a black Jesus? Even the greatest artists paint him as white.” He also insisted that the bible was written in English.
February 28th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
The king on the poster looks as though he’s downed quite a few of the beers, down the years. Definitely not the desert-living ascetic!
February 28th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
I must admit to not being shocked or outraged by either of these images. Must not be religious enough. Well maybe not religious at all……but you gotta see the funny side – a picture of the late jc as the poster boy for “idols”……..now there’s truth in publishing.
BTW Broga: of course jc was white what else could he have been? and according to the religio-fascists here in the USA not only was the bible written in english but ONLY the KJV is authentic – all other versions in english are works of the devil. You can’t talk them out of it. Like Simon and Garfunkel sang “a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest”.
February 28th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Good grief, religious fundies….Get over yourselves! There’s much more important things to address in the world then how someone has offended you or Jesus, Allah, Mohammad or anyone! There are hungry and homeless people in the here and now that need our care. Why not join the rest of humanity and make the earth here and now a better place to live in?
With all your holy wars and persecutions, you have made this world and the lives of billions a wasteland. Human beings are capable of so much better than this, if they just use their reason and their evolved sense of compassion and love.
February 28th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Mountaintop removal offends my sentiments, and so does dumping toxic wastes into my drinking water, but so nobody cares: my sentiments aren’t religious. I often wonder if environmentalists or anti-war protestors shouldn’t just declare themselves to be religions. Imagine what Erin Brokovich could have done, when there’s this much uproar over a stupid picture.
February 28th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
I don’t see the problem.
What’s wrong with JC enjoying a fag and a pint? He had to unwind sometimes I’m sure.
Seriously though, we need more religious images and cartoons that belittle all the various superstitions. When people are able to laugh at them it’s the beginning of the end of faith.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHsbwY4EPyA
February 28th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
sailor1031, the Doobie Brothers have an apropriate line too, “What a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away”. It is hard to believe that anyone can be so ignorant and stupid as to think that a book that is a compendium of writings the newest of which were written in the second century in the Middle East, was written in sixteenth century English.
As for these perpetually offended goons, ImagineATeapot and uzza hit the nail, there are so many more important issues facing humanity and the world at large.
February 28th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
sailor1031 Sorry, should have mentioned the KJV. Nothing else will do. As for bibles in other languages? Forget it. As it happens I was obliged, as a child to memorise chunks of the KJV including “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels…………” bit and I never regretted that. The language is often wonderful – ignore the bits such god showing his arse for a reason I now forget – but you have to be careful. Say you admire much of the language and next thing you are identified as a crypto Christian.
February 28th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Is there a time in life when the most entertaining thing to do is sit back and laugh at the insanity of the human race? As contributers have already pointed out, Jesus probably looked more like an Egyptian than a cracker. I never read anything regarding his opinion about having a smoke, but, he being a traveler, one thing is for sure, that the only way to preserve water in goat skin bladders is in the form of wine. Pure water would go bad and rot the bladder as well. So, one can assume that Jesus probably didn’t ever have a cold brew, but damn sure drank his weight in wine.
And since it was brought up, there are hundreds of Judeo-Christian writings that were not included in the King James Version of the bible, such as the writings of the Macabees and the Gnostics, because that version was commissioned to prove the “divine right of kingsâ€. Yet, mental midgets believe it to be the one and only “inspired word of godâ€. Ignorance like that needs to be measured on the Richter scale.
But, as long as we’re all quoting songs, why not Ozzy: “I’m just a rock and roll rebel, I’ll tell you no lies. They say I worship the Devil, they must be stupid or blind.†LOL
NeoWolfe
February 28th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
I am meeting Jesus in Amsterdam. We will share a Heineken and a vaporizer. I will let you know what we talked about IF he shows up.
February 28th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
This may not be quite an appropriate answer, but I wanted to share it with you. Apologies to those who know it:
An atheist was walking through the woods.
‘What majestic trees!
‘What powerful rivers!
‘What beautiful animals!
He said to himself.
As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him.
He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.
He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing in on him.
He looked over his shoulder again and the bear was even closer.
He tripped and fell on the ground.
He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him…
At that instant the Atheist cried out,
‘Oh my God!’
Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.
As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky.
‘You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don’t exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident.’
‘Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?’
The atheist looked directly into the light, ‘It would be hypocritical of me suddenly to ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian?’
‘Very well,’ said the voice.
The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head and spoke:
‘For what I am about to receive, may the Lord make me truly thankful, Amen.’
February 28th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
What’s the big deal? He drank wine in the Bible so who care’s if he might sling back a brew or have a smoke? People need to get over this idolatry crap.
March 1st, 2010 at 12:55 am
“What’s the big deal?” “WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?” I’ll tell you what the big deal is: He’s depicted as drinking fucking BUDWEISER! All the crap we Americans get over our beer comes from those guys (well, MOST of the crap we get). The blasphemy comes from this guy’s clear lack of taste buds.
March 1st, 2010 at 9:08 am
@uzza: I like your suggestion.
Since theocrats offend me on a regular basis, we might be able to do something with what you propose.
A form or neo-wicca/planet-worship. Rhea-dists or similar?
Any form of soil-poisoning or environmental rape would of course be blasphemy.
Then, just to ensure that we are taken seriously as a religion, a few laws that make no sense to anyone else:
Burying dead bodies (Ugh!) everybody has to be cremated and the ashes spread in the rain forest.
March 1st, 2010 at 9:44 am
Smoking is a Godly Pastime that even gets a mention in The Bible.
Of course, it has to be American brand to be any good……….
Genesis 24:64
And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.
Cigarette Lighters have many uses too………….
Joshua 15:18
And it came to pass, as she came unto him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wouldest thou?
March 1st, 2010 at 12:00 pm
I wonder if they’re angry because of portrayal of human “vices” or if it’s really because they used the image to illustrate the word ‘idol’?
Talking about it going against the “spirit of religious tolerance” is pure cheek. Given the choice, they’d still have us all in chains and burning people at the stake. Just look how they reacted to “Crackergate“