It is not meant to offend but it does, but it does deeply.
Brighton's Jubilee Library is selling sweets that are clearly aimed at ridiculing and mocking the Saviour, not only that but also trivialising the believes of thousand of the inhabitants of its citizens. Brighton Jubilee Library is of course paid for by local Council Tax Payers like me and you. We are paying to be insulted!
Here's that Jesus fella again – and this time he's spreading minty freshness into the mouths of the masses.
He can’t feed the 5,000 with this cute little tin of peppermints, but you’ll feel a whole lot better after your hearty banquet of fish and loaves!
If you find this objectionable contact Sally McMahon by mailto:libraries@brighton-hove.gov.uk?subject=From%20the%20Library%20Website/Contact%20us%20page Simply supply a link to this story and ask, "Is it true?"
Unleash the power of the blog!
Maybe othe bloggers could put up a link.
By the same token if you google" "Brighton Messiah Mints" you get the story of the library refusing to advertise to advertise a children's workshop held at a local Church, in the interests of "fairness" of course.
You could also contact any or all of the city's councilors by clicking here. I contacted all of them, possibly they will comment here. Councillor David Smith is responsible for libraries: david.smith@brighton-hove.gov.uk
26 comments:
Dome it! I'll do the Councillors tonight.
I just quoted the URL and said:
Ms McMahon,
http://marymagdalen.blogspot.com/2009/07/not-meant-to-offend-christians-but-it.html
Is it true? I'm offended.
I have emailed the person you have detailed in your post Fr Ray. I suspect she'll have a rather full 'in-box' very shortly - bearing in mind how popular your great blog is and how deeply offensive this Mint Sweeties nonsense is, as it clearly mocks Our Blessed Lord!
Hopefully they'll see sense and discontinue this line forthwith if not fifthwith perhaps even as of immediate effect!.
Anyone know who manufactures the sweets and/or commissioned the tin-can design? Worth finding out and giving them a 'bit of an ear bashing'.
Just a thought - I bet the library would have second thoughts about selling mints in a Prophet Mohammed box!
The secular world just gets more brazen by the minute!
How much longer Lord?
'How dare you sell a product, which is intentionally aimed at ridiculing the Son of God, you just stated that you do not promote a particular religious view point. Please remove these mints from your shelves and put up a poster with a public apology to all those you have offended'.
Well, that's part of what I wrote, the rest I will leave them to chew over.
Thank you Father for bringing this to our attention. Long live the blogs.
Fr, slightly off-topic from the mints: I did follow your link, which has another link to The Argus regarding the poster story, and there seems to be some doubt about its veracity, as one commenter on the story claims to have been there and gives a different version. Obviously I have no way of telling which one is true (particularly as the commenter is clearly anti-religious), or if they even refer to the same event, but thought I should point it out in case you hadn't seen it:
'This story is complete fabrication for starters. This was not about a poster, the deluded woman was handing out leaflets to kids, so basically recruiting for the jesus army. She had no right to do this, especially to impressionable young children - you wouldnt allow a parlimentary candidate or paedophile to do it would you??
I know this for fact as I was in the library on the same day. She was not told that she could not put a poster up in the library, she was merely advised where to put it and that she needed permission to hand out leaflets.
...
Clearly this woman just wanted to complain about anything and the Argus should be ashamed to print such rubbish with out solid facts.'
Just received this official electronic response within minutes from the library:
"Thank you for contacting Brighton & Hove Library Service.
Your message has been passed to one of our staff and they will get back to you as soon as they can".
Well, let's see what 'one of our staff' has to say on the matter. Watch this space.
I just sent the following email to her.
Dear Sally McMahon,
These mints and their packaging are very offensive to the name of Jesus Christ,my Saviour.I see that your own surname means 'son of the bear'. Are you proud of your surname? Is it your parent's surname?
.Are you proud of your father's name? Would you be offended if someone were to use it mockingly to sell something? I expect the Father of Jesus may feel this way,right now.
If you have any power,stop this.It may be the most honourable task you ever accomplish.
Jesus Christ died in agony for you,and me.His existence is more historically provable than Caesar's.His Name should not be used in this way.Would the library make some mints with the name of the Prophet Mohammed(peace be upon him) on the tin? If not,why not? Please answer that question Sally McMahon.(sorry to use your name again)Brighton libraries have acted before to stop offense.Do so again.Stand up and be counted,and you will be among the counted.
then I signed off,with my real name.
Brighton Council are corrupted by Activists representing a LOUD bunch of IDIOTS.
Next Saturday the City will come to a STANDSTILL for the biggest GAY PARADE in the whole World.
If they offended the Islamics,which they would never dare something would be done.
This is highly offensive and I am going to re-post this on my blog ASAP. I cannot believe this.
God Bless,
Thomas
It is equally offensive to us Coptic Orthodox Christians
I have e-mailed all of the councillors and Ms McMahon.
I have also e-mailed His Eminence Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor’s office about this matter!
If anyone else wishes to contact him his e-mail address is srdamian@rcdow.org.uk
Done. I got an autoreply saying "thank you" for the letter and they will assign it to a staff memember. Believe me, they wouldn't have said "thank you" if someone had read it. :-D
The squeaky wheel usually gets the grease.
[Toads on this side of the pond try and pull that crap here too. But that's a lot of nerve on the one hand proclaiming to be "fair" about NOT advertising an event held at a church group, but then to turn around and do this shows the lie. You can bet they wouldn't have offended the Mohammedans, for fear of THEM burning down the library. But they know Christians are "too nice."]
TA. The Card has retired and on holiday at this time normally.
I wrote:
Hello
Is it true that you are selling "Messiah Mints" ?
I have seen some pictures of them on http://marymagdalen.blogspot.com/
I'm a little bit surprised by this.
I'd consider myself a liberal person with a wide range of tolerance
for all creeds and beliefs, and I am hugely in favour of freedom of
expression and speech, however I would like to exercise my right of
freedom of speech to register my distaste for this product with you.
It may not be immediately apparent to you why this product is
offensive to me, and I think it would trivialise to make comparisons
to contrast with the care that goes into avoiding offending advocates
of the prophet Mohamed, however I can assure you that this is
offensive. I would strongly ask you to reconsider if a public library
is an appropriate venue to promote something which shamelessly uses
the image of Our Lord merely to sell a "personal hygiene" product. It
utterly debases and corrupts the saviours message of love with a cheap
and tacky "kiss-me-quick seaside hat" style jokey-ness.
I have great faith that libraries are a place that are there to
promote understanding,tolerance and ultimately respect for one another
through education and knowledge. I cannot see how selling this product
can achieve this. It appears to me to be something more suited to the
end of the pier than a place of learning. In fact I doubt that the end
of the pier would wish to insult and offend as grossly as this
perverse creation offends me.
Dear Blogger
Religious posters and ‘Messiah Mints’
Thank you for your correspondence on this issue. I am sorry if you have been offended by the Messiah Mints’. I can assure you that the mints are no longer for sale in the library shop.
A lot of things have been said in the press about the issue over the poster which distort the facts, so I would like to let you know what actually happened.
Some weeks ago, a member of Jubilee Library staff found a woman handing out leaflets to parents and other children in the children’s library. This was being done without prior permission being sought from the Library Manager, and so the woman was asked to stop. We have real concerns for the safety of children using our library, so do not allow anyone unknown to us to approach children in this way on our premises.
Contrary to the report in the media, we did not refuse to accept the religious poster. The staff member offered to (and did) put the poster into the Parents Information folder so that parents looking for local information about local activities would see it, which is what we do with all leaflets and posters that we are given. We do not have the space to display very much in our libraries, so do not put up any posters other than mainly library and council posters, and other public service notices. The poster policy was explained to the woman, and she appeared satisfied and left.
The poster policy makes it clear that we give priority to Library and Council information on our notice boards, and then to other public services (such as health and education) or government information. We rarely have space in any library for anything more than these. We encourage community groups and other organisations to put an entry on the Community Information database, which is widely used by local people, and we will put one copy of a poster or leaflet in the Community Information file in the local library.
Whilst we are unable to display posters from many organisations, including local church groups, we do make their information available to the public through our Community Information files available in every library. Libraries also have books and other materials available for information and for loan on wide-ranging and diverse viewpoints, religious, political and philosophical, as this is clearly part of our role.
I hope that this has clarified the situation for you. Please do not hesitate to contact me again if you have any further concerns.
If you are unhappy with my reply to your correspondence, you should write to us stating why you are not happy with the reply you have received and what you would like the council to do to put things right. The address to write to is Brighton and Hove City Council Standards and Complaints Team FREEPOST SEA2560 BRIGHTON BN1 1ZW or by email to complaints@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Sally McMahon
Head of Libraries and Information Services
Brighton & Hove City Council
01273 296963
sally.mcmahon@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Fr Ray, it seems to me that Brighton is a bit of a cesspit these days. I haven't emailed Brighton & Hove Library Services yet as I'm still fuming. If I jump in now I may say something which would harm our cause.
Da robur, fer auxilium.
Just received an email from David Smith stating that the mints have been withdrawn. Result!
Ms McMahon,
I think Madame Evangelista has enlightened us about the poster, we are concerned about the policies which led to these mints here.
I also got an e-mail from her and from David Smith saying the mints have been withdrawn.
But I didn’t ask about the poster issue so why have they been explaining about that I said I was concerned and offended by the 'Messiah Mints'.
But at least they have been removed!
They have been withdrawn but no-one has explained why they were put on sale.
Brighton has so many PC policies in place, but they seem to exclude, deliberately one suspects from these incidents, Christians.
I sent the email below to her last night and this morning received the same reply as her Dear Blogger, 8:52 am comment.
Ms McMahon
Ref: http://marymagdalen.blogspot.com/
If the report on the above blog is true, in the interest of "fairness" would
it be too much for us to expect a sale of Brighton mints with Mohammed on
the tin cover, or would you be too afraid of the reaction from members of
the religion of peace?
Why not ask them if in the interests of equity they also market Mohammed Mints, Buddha Bon-bons, and Sikh sweets? Of course in none of these cases would they have any intention of offending, so it would be OK.
I forgot to add that they might also advertise Dawkins Doughnuts - although that might lead to complaints from Trading Standards that the product was lacking in substance.
Very clever, independent!
I got the identical response you did to Dear Blogger, but at least the mints have been removed.
Dear Elizabeth
Religious posters and ‘Messiah Mints’
Thank you for your correspondence on this issue. I am sorry if you have been offended by the Messiah Mints’. I can assure you that the mints are no longer for sale in the library shop.
A lot of things have been said in the press about the issue over the poster which distort the facts, so I would like to let you know what actually happened.
Some weeks ago, a member of Jubilee Library staff found a woman handing out leaflets to parents and other children in the children’s library. This was being done without prior permission being sought from the Library Manager, and so the woman was asked to stop. We have real concerns for the safety of children using our library, so do not allow anyone unknown to us to approach children in this way on our premises.
Contrary to the report in the media, we did not refuse to accept the religious poster. The staff member offered to (and did) put the poster into the Parents Information folder so that parents looking for local information about local activities would see it, which is what we do with all leaflets and posters that we are given. We do not have the space to display very much in our libraries, so do not put up any posters other than mainly library and council posters, and other public service notices. The poster policy was explained to the woman, and she appeared satisfied and left.
The poster policy makes it clear that we give priority to Library and Council information on our notice boards, and then to other public services (such as health and education) or government information. We rarely have space in any library for anything more than these. We encourage community groups and other organisations to put an entry on the Community Information database, which is widely used by local people, and we will put one copy of a poster or leaflet in the Community Information file in the local library.
Whilst we are unable to display posters from many organisations, including local church groups, we do make their information available to the public through our Community Information files available in every library. Libraries also have books and other materials available for information and for loan on wide-ranging and diverse viewpoints, religious, political and philosophical, as this is clearly part of our role.
I hope that this has clarified the situation for you. Please do not hesitate to contact me again if you have any further concerns.
If you are unhappy with my reply to your correspondence, you should write to us stating why you are not happy with the reply you have received and what you would like the council to do to put things right. The address to write to is Brighton and Hove City Council Standards and Complaints Team FREEPOST SEA2560 BRIGHTON BN1 1ZW or by email to complaints@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Sally McMahon
Head of Libraries and Information Services
What is described as Fr Ray's 'Internet Campaign' for the removal of these sweets gets a mention in today's 'Argus'.
I've been involved in this story from the start. As soon as I read it I left a comment on the Argus website which focussed on the Council's Equalities and Inclusion Policy, to show it was hypocritical. I also said the mints belonged in a joke shop not the library.
That didn't matter to a mainly atheist audience taking over the site with their comments, mocking me for being Christian and others for thinking the library was wrong. They've sold out of those ghastly mints now!
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