To think the parish newsletter is not appropriate

[NikoBellic]

I'm not talking about the notices regarding the horticultural society, nor am I referring to the village "300 Club", or Gwen's amazing contribution to the village hall this month...

...I realise that unless you live in a rural area, much like fibre broadband, you won't get this...

Each month the parish council post a newsletter through my front door. A quaint little wedge of folded paper with some useful information on local gas safe engineers and who is raising what for which charity, interspersed with reminders to pick up dog poo. The outer cover is usually a lot quality 1995 clip art file along religious lines, printed onto coloured paper of some sort. This month, for the start of spring and the Easter period, its a sort of yellow. Its the cover that I'm not completely comfortable with...

We always hear, particularly from the type of person who lives in a village and reads the parish newsletter, that children should not be subjected to images of violence, sex, and general "bad stuff"...

SO WHY IS OK TO POST A PICTURE OF A BLEEDING MAN BEING CRUCIFIED THROUGH MY LETTERBOX!? (Even if it is in 1995 clip art form).

If I were to post an image of a man being hung through someone's front door I'd have to face, at the very least, a police caution. Seems like double standards from where I'm sat.

In an area where Nigel Farage gets a pat on the back (a man who is offended by seeing a breastfeeding mother in a pub...) why does religion get special dispensation?

Is it OK because its, you know, Jesus?

Am I being unreasonable?

You lost me at linking Nigel Farage and UKIP to Christianity.

Jesus on the cross is hardly an unusual image, yabu.

The Parish Newsletter is created by the erm...church...you know...the place where people go to worship Jesus and God and all that. If your village had a Mosque then no doubt they'd also have some missive to offer.

If you don't like it then tell them and they won't offer you the newsletter any more.

God alive, you'd hate living here, then, as we get all kinds of shite through on a daily basis. At least ten new takeaway menus a week (no dead fellas on those though, yet), all manner of advertising shite, two window cleaning company tickets, those plastic charity bags to fill with old tat, and at least one copy of the Watchtower a week, which usually asks pertinent questions like "Does God care if we are clean?". We also get loads of charity door-knockers, so I invariably tell them I'm just the au pair and that the homeowners are wankers.

Dead folk on a cross would be lovely in comparison.

Sorry, I should clear that up, I wasn't linking UKIP to Christianity, I was linking my local area to him. He did very well at previous elections here.

I think the clue is in the term "parish"

I agree with you OP.
And am suitability enraged on your behalf.

Yes, YABU, a clip art of a crucified man is not an image of violence.

My point was that I have a small child, too young to see "mild peril" at the cinema (according to "the man") yet death scenes are ok??

Yes, it is a shocking image, one that has unfortunately been watered down through the ages, but SHOULD shock us.

Yanbu to feel shocked. YABU to insist that the church parish magazine should not contain such images.

Sublime to ridiculous.
Badly drawn black and white image on PC magazine is not equal to a cinema film.

Crucified man is an every day image, in the context of Jesus. Him and his cross get around

Do you understand what a parish is?

Oh please Niko ...is it your first child by any chance?

You wouldn't want to live in my village OP. We have a real life 'Jesus' who carries his cross through the village while dripping with fake blood. The kids think it's great. Gruesome little buggers.

YANBU- we have a similar image on our parish newsletter, and I was thinking exactly the same thing earlier. Our parish newsletter is useful in that it tells you about local events etc- but why it has to be so linked to the church, I have no idea, can't we just have village newsletters? Although to be honest, i'm all in favour of a completely secular society- so maybe i'm not best placed to comment! Although if we must have a parish newsletter, can they not just put a picture of Jesus alive on the cover, it would be a much less shocking image?

You do realise that it is nearly Easter, and that this is a magazine produced by a church don't you?

Churches are full of these images - it's hardly something new.

Yanbu. It is a violent image. Who do they think they are posting violent images through letterboxes? Children could pick them up. I would rather my child was not privy to the Crucifixion or to Christianity when it is taught as fact.

The kids think it's great. Gruesome little buggers.

That is my experience of teaching children about Easter. I think most of them manage to not be scarred for life.

Just tell your dc that's what happens if you're really really naughty like my auntie used to tell us.

Never did us any harm.

can't enter a church without mild feelings of panic mind

Yes, I do understand what a "parish" is, as some posters seem to doubt...

According to the newsletter the are local advertisers for small businesses.

I think you're missing the point. I often hear the argument that children shouldn't see certain things (like a gay couple holding hands - the church tends to frown on this). In fact, if I distributed a load of pictures of two men or two women holding hands, I'm pretty sure I'd have people banging on the door.

So I ask... outside of a religious context, which is more offensive? Two men holding hands, maybe even having a quick snog, or the body of a man, nailed to a wooden cross, with a spear stuck in his ribs and thorns cutting his head? Taking religion out of the equation

What Cheese and Loxley said. Yawn. Don't you have more important things to worry about?

If you want to see a secular newsletter then crack on and produce one! Otherwise wind your neck in. Yabu.

Ah, and there is the rub

"Churches are full of these images - it's hardly something new"

Does that make it right?

It is the church magazine! Easter is a big church festival. If you don't like it ask not to have it delivered.

Good idea, Northernlurker, I'll print a secular newsletter with a clipart image (if I can find one) of a man being executed by firing squad on the cover. We'll see how that goes down