Burning poppies and the threshold of offence
Yesterday, it would seem, a man was arrested for posting a picture of a burning poppy on Facebook. His crime was not to burn it in the first place, but to share his picture of the burning on a public forum. To my mind his act was offensive, disrespectful, and trampled roughshod over the feelings of those for whom Remembrance is a day of raw emotion and barely preserved dignity. It was stupid and hateful, but I am not convinced that anyone gains from an arrest. After all, the freedom for which so many have given so much allows those with whom we disagree to express their feelings.
Then again, maybe I am not offended easily enough. When Serrano Andres made his work pisschrist in 1987 I found it repugnant, but I did not expect him to be arrested. When Cosimo Cavallero’s exhibition including the chocolate Christ ‘My Sweet Lord’ was cancelled I was more disgusted by the death threats from the religious right than I was by the sculpture itself. When a local pub chose to display Banky’s Christ crucified with shopping bags, I suggested that the best way for Christians to avoid being offended by it was not to drink there.
Christians are those who fall in line behind a Christ who led a less than charmed life and died a disgustingly undignified death. In my experience our righteous anger tends to be more anger than righteousness. I hope the man behind the poppy burning won’t do it again. I hope he will think long and hard about the offence he has caused to those who serve with the Forces and those who support them. I hope, too, that nobody will be busy processing his crime when they could be out preventing another one.
Oh God, make me offended today only by the right things…
Beny Sur Mer
I agree Richard.
We seem to have got to a position where doing something which causes someone to be offended is seen as a crime.
Being offended is a subjective experience and to an extent something we have to learn to live with if we’re going to survive in a world where everyone doesn’t necessarily agree with our definition of what is offensive.
There’s a fine line between being resilient and being insensitive of course. But I’m not clear at what point I acquired the apparent right never to be offended by anything.
A good dose of your usual wise common sense, Richard.
So I have re-posted on Facebook under the title:
When and how should Christians be offended?
John
Thanks John. I think sometimes we let the truly offensive things slip past…whilst we rant about the ones which don’t really matter!
I’m not offended by this action as a Christian, because a poppy is not a Christian symbol. It’s a symbol of civic remembrance of those who died in war, particularly those who died in the two World Wars (1914-18, and 1939-45). I regret that someone did it because of the reasons you cite – it gives offence to those for whom Remembrance Sunday is an emotional and poignant experience. If I were to be offended as a Christian it would be because those people have been hurt, and Christians are called to mourn with those who mourn.
I don’t think you ought to castigate yourself for not being offended easily enough. It took a lot to offend Jesus, and he was not offended at all by slights to himself or to symbols of his faith. What offended him was causing hurt to children, being rude and dismissive to those without power, judging others harshly, misrepresenting the love of God, oppressing people with rules and regulations. Those are the only things Christians ought to be offended by, in my opinion.