Muslims missing their trade in Christian Artifacts

[beso]

Palestinian artisans are having a tough Christmas. Chinese imports of Christian artifacts such as statues of Mary and Jesus are undercutting their business.

[jomifl]

Statues of holy characters such as Jesus and Mary made by artisans in Palestine constitute 'graven images' and are forbidden by 'god' The Chinese products however are made with injection moulding machines using CNC machined moulds so are in no way 'graven'. Until the Israelis allow the Palestinians to import modern machinery they will always be at a theological (and economical ) disadvantage. :-)

[ummmm]

AB is wonderful....

You get information you'd never get in real life, no matter how hard you tried :-)

[jomifl]

^
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

[ummmm]

Oh...errr....I take that back..

I'll just think it instead :-)

[Mosaic]

..thou shalt not adore them nor serve them.....to complete jomifl's quote from the KJV.
We can debate for hours the difference between a souvenir that you are fond of and an idol before which you slay goats. And contextualise it in the ancient tribal rivalry and associated cultural shibboleths that grew up between the hebrews and 'everybody else' around them.
One man's holy of holies is another man's pagan shrine.
But hey - it's christmas!
BTW nearly everything you the tourist is offered for sale anywhere now originates in china, which is one reason why tourist tat is beginning to look strangely similar the world over.

[ll_billym]

This reminded me of the excellent film Dogma, gotta love Buddy Christ.

http://old.shipoffool...adgets/Autos/108.html

[beso]

In one enormous gaff the Buy Australian campaign had their promotional material made in China.