BB FANS

Tuesday, 1 November 2005, 13:38 GMT

A Christmas stamp depicting a Hindu couple worshipping baby Jesus has been criticised as "disrespectful" but Royal Mail has refused to withdraw it.

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The stamp, featuring a man and woman with Hindu markings, is one of six depicting images of Madonna and child from around the world.

The Hindu Forum of Britain has asked for it to be re-designed without the Hindu markings or withdrawn.

Royal Mail, while apologetic, said it was not possible to amend or withdraw.

A Royal Mail spokesman apologised for any "unintentional offence" caused to the Hindu community by the 68p stamp, taken from a 17th century picture.

The image features a man with a "tilak" marking on his forehead, identifying him as a Vaishnava Hindu, while the woman has the traditional "kumkum" mark on her forehead identifying her as a married Hindu woman.

From the BBC

Ahhh, yet another Religious cult trying to control every aspect of UK western society.
Now we must ban all pictures that are deemed potencially offensive. They have a damn cheek demanding products/services be banned.

Can you imagine if an Englishman went over to India and then said "hey, I find your religious shrines offensive..I demand you bulldoze them".

One rule for one...and another rule for another. New Labour has a lot to answer for.

Calrissian: Happy xmas

I feel I have to agree here - while I am not disrespectful of what other faiths may believe, and welcome the chance to appreciate them etc..I know that if I (as a Christian) was to go to a Muslim/Hindu country and ask for a church to be built I would probably be shot at dawn - the pluralistic society we have here does not seem to be prevalent throughout the world

If Christians were portrayed as worshiping a foreign god / idol they wouldn't be best pleased either. Reading the full article does put a different light on it, though, and it is a piece of art. Do Hindus living in this country not "do" Christmas at all? Can anyone enlighten me?

My fiance is Hindu and he 'does' Christmas. I mean he never celebrated Christmas when he lived in India of course, but bcz he lives here now he enjoys the celebration and he buys Christmas cards and presents for his British friends and he loves to decorate the house with me and the Christmas tree. It's not an official thing for him but he enjoys the fun of Christmas Carols and stuff. He even wants to come to Midnight Mass with me and ask the priest about Catholisism. He's not offended by this at all and I'm very surprised to hear that some Hindu's are. It seems a bit over-the-top to me.

the only thing that I can think of is that a vast number of Indians are Catholics or Christians these days. It's partly bcz of the Caste system. Defining people according to their 'Caste' is a fecking disgrace. But Christian Indians can legitimately deny their caste if they follow a religion that doesn't accept the institution of a caste system. Therefore they can deny that they are a dalit (out-caste, someone with no caste) if they are in a religion that doesn't recognise caste anyway).

http://www.dalitindia.org/caste/caste.htm

SKY News
Updated: 21:26, Wednesday November 09, 2005

Christmas stamps that sparked religious outrage have been partially withdrawn by the Royal Mail.

The company started receiving complaints after picking the image of a couple with Hindu markings worshipping the infant Christ for its seasonal collection.

The Royal Mail said its 14,500 UK post offices will now be issued with replacement 68p stamps, when the current offending stock runs out.

The Hindu Forum of Britain had slammed the first release, based on a 17th century picture, as "disrespectful" and "insensitive to their feelings".

It described the stamp as "the equivalent of having a vicar in a dog collar bowing down to Lord Ram (a Hindu deity) on a Diwali (a Hindu festival) stamp".

The Royal Mail had initially refused to withdraw or amend the image before backing down.

The forum's Ramesh Kallidai said: "At least they have made some changes in the way the stamp is being sold but, of course, we would have been more pleased if they had stopped the sale in its entirety."

A Royal Mail spokesman said the company apologised for any upset the image might have caused.

"We apply a rigorous research process to all our stamp development and in this instance we sought and acted on the advice we were given," he said.

"With hindsight we now recognise that we should have consulted further and we are currently reviewing processes to improve and reinforce them."

you know...
I'm tempted to launch a complaint against ANY xmas stamp on the following grounds...

The Christian Church - on which the xmas festival is presently based, savagely launched genocidal raids on pagan villages during the dark ages.
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Naturally, that would be laughed away. However, seems its one rule for one religion...and another set for the 'minorities'. The good thing is that all such uptight people get what they deserve sooner or later.

Calrissian: chearing on the French 'anti-riot neighbour militia'

Oh FFS!

This topic is getting old. Can't we all just live and let live? I'm wondering if this Xenophobia is infectious bcz it seems to be spreading! it's there every time I turn on my tv these days!

There are several more weeks before the CHRISTMAS Festivities start Molly so you can bet that there will be lots more stories regarding this subject. Just WATCH THIS SPACE

Gaaah! When I worked in a Jewish old peoples home we only decorated the staff-room at Christmas but several of the residents gave Christmas cards to the staff - even tho, being Jewish, they didn't celebrate Christmas. Mine had a fiver in it!