Has he got off lightly?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph....r-insult-to-Pope.html

Religious or not, wasn't this an absolute disgraceful insult to be aimed at the Pope, and should the Senior Official be identified and sacked?

/// “The individual responsible has been transferred to other duties. He has been told orally and in writing that this was a serious error of judgement and has accepted this view.///

[boxtops]

I agree it's disgraceful but it is SOOO easy to hit "send" on an email when you didn't mean too, and so hard to backtrack when it's already been sent. I've it, although admittedly nothing as ghastly as this.

[boxtops]

^ oops - I've done it, see how easy it is...

[mollykins]

Did he have no respect to the catholic churches views, or is he completely ignorant.

Even if i don't agree with a religion's or other group of people's views, i wouldn't do something that would offend them so much, something that completely goes agaisnt what they believe in.

[boxtops]

The report on the radion said that the communication was a write-up of a brainstorming session, when all sorts of things would be thrown forward by those present - silly and sensible - but anyone with an ounce of sense would not have recorded the stupid suggestions, and kept the report only to those activities possible to be put forward to the Pope. One person may have released the report but it sounds like to group activity was pretty inappropriate in content, too!

[boxtops]

^radio - not doing well today in the typo department

[mollykins]

who was that directed at helen? I don't intend to ever go to a muslim country. . .

[Kathyan]

It's not against their religion for muslim women to show their faces.

[boxtops]

I don't think it was directed at anyone Molly, it's a frequently expressed view. Are you really never ever going to Morocco, or Tunisia, or Turkey, or Egypt, or Dubai, on your holidays? You would be missing an awful lot, there is so much to be learned from living or mixing amongst people from other cultures.

[boxtops]

Agree helen, and also a lot of the clothing the women (and men) wear is cultural as well as (or instead of) religious. Not many people seem to complain about male Hassidic Jews' ringlets and hats - people can be very selective!

[mollykins]

boxtops, those places are expensive to go to anyway. We holiday in the uk mainly and occaisonaly go ot cyprus and stay with my aunt or go somewhere cheap like the canaries for a week.

If the job requires me to go there, i supose i'd have to, but i wouldn't choose to.

[anotheoldgit]

redhelen

Your analogy doesn't hold water, it has been stated on numerous occasions that for Muslims the showing of one's face is a personal matter not religious.

Now if you had said that a top Muslim leader, on a visit to this country, was asked to visit a brewery and sample it's products, or to join in London's Gay Parade, then that would have made for a much better argument.

[mollykins]

As in i wouldn't choose to go there for a holiday, but if i had to go for a job there i would. My brother(who has more money than us) suggested going to egypt for a holiday a couple of years ago, and my dad looked and said it was all too expensive.

[boxtops]

I'll argue price with you molly, but that's not the point - you can get just as cheap holidays in Cyprus as you can in Tunisia, so I think you lose on that argument. Turkish Cyprus is Muslim, much of Spain has so much Moorish influence and we would be far worse off without all the influences which have come from the Muslim peoples over the years - algebra comes from the Arabic, alcohol is an Arabic word, to name just a couple. The "Persian" civilisation was streets ahead of ours in the Middle Ages. You will not know who is Muslim and who is not who you are dealing with in daily life - not everyone goes round dressed in black gear or with beards.

We are however digressing from the original question, but my own view is that it's not right to makae public fun of any religion in an official capacity. Equality and diversity is (whether we like it or nor) enshrined in law, and whether or not the views of the Catholic church are everyone's cups of tea is another matter.

[Connected]

Good to see someone at the Foreign Office with a sense of humour.