Irish leader ridicule decision banning Catholic-bookstore radio ad

[KathleenElsie]

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Irish leader ridicule decision banning Catholic-bookstore radio ad
December 05, 2008

**The decision by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) to bar a radio advertisement for a bookstore operated by the Catholic bishops has been criticized as “ridiculous” and “plain silly” and “a bit crazy” by a Catholic theologian. The BCI ruled that by suggesting a Christmas gift that “means more,” the ad was promoting religious faith. Senator Rona Mullen said that the BCI ruling pointed to a “values vacuum” that would logically lead to the banning of all Christmas advertisements. “People of faith now feel that they are being treated like some mad person in the attic, who if given access to advertising would start assailing all and sundry and start launching crusades and jihads all over the place.,” he said. **

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

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• [Banning of Veritas radio advert ridiculous, says theologian (Irish Times (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1205/1228337449665.html)**

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The Irish don’t seem very tolerant of religious freedom IMHO.

 

[ora_pro_nobis]

Don’t worry, the BCI don’t speak for all Irish people, only for themselves. Don’t rush to generalisations based on this story.

 

[mdgspencer]

Ireland is no longer a Catholic country, the faith remaining strong in the western part of it, not in the urban centers. The government can no longer be considered Catholic as well. What is the cause? I am not sure. The result at least is an entrenchment in its national institutions of the sort of secularization prodominant in Western Europe as a whole.
I always very greatly admired Ireland as a Catholic country, and I wish this has not been happening there.

 

[NPC]

The vast majority of Irish people still identify themselves as Catholic - I can’t remember the most recent census figures, but over 80% (maybe 85%) identified themselves as Catholic. Granted, in 1990, nearly 95% called themselves Catholic, but given the huge influx of Eastern European and Asian and African people (and the cultures they bring) it is not surprising that the relative number of Catholics in the country has declined. For example, there is an ever-growing Muslim community in Ireland. They are most welcome, and certainly all the major faith-communities in Ireland seem to co-operate very well with each other. While this figure of 80-85% doesn’t show how many are practicing Catholics, in terms of numbers Ireland is very much a Catholic country. Europe has not been the only cause of the growing secularisation of Ireland - Ireland has opened itself to the whole world, and as far as I can gauge people are at least as much influenced by the US as they are by Europe. Sometimes - even more and more frequently - there are encouraging signs from the Catholic Church in Ireland. Our bishops are speaking out more now following the terrible scandals of the last decade, with Cardinal Brady being quite vocal on certain topical issues. On Mass attendance, I was amazed yesterday to see a full cathedral for the Mass of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception - on a weekday! To top it all off, three Irish priests have shot to number one in the music charts with their superb cd - “The Priests” - a cd of only religious music - perhaps that’s saying something about the spiritual longings of the people at the present time…

On the topic of the Veritas ad being banned - I think it’s a disgrace, and I’m sure most Irish people would agree. This is truly political correctness gone mad - and it’s not the ordinary people who are responsible. It’s not really even the government - it’s the Broadcasting Commission taking broadcasting guidelines to the absolute extreme. However, we’re told there’s no such thing as bad publicity, and I think Veritas will only benefit from this argument - personally, I will be buying some of the wonderful gifts from Veritas… Especially the gift of the olive tree - such a simple gift, but the symbolism behind it is beautiful! I hope this argument doesn’t abate until Veritas are permitted to broadcast their ads…

 

[wynnejj]

Thanks, NPC, for your encouragement. I was disheartened to hear of this ban, and wondered what was going on when Ireland looks like it might be going for PC madness. Your insights lift my spirits. Somehow as I see world events unfolding, I feel like I’m living through the Lord of the Rings story where Sauron has his hold on different countries. I keep hoping that nothing has happened to the Shire (Ireland and other small outposts of Catholicism),

 

[Yellow_Belle]

On the topic of the Veritas ad being banned - I think it’s a disgrace, and I’m sure most Irish people would agree. This is truly political correctness gone mad - and it’s not the ordinary people who are responsible. It’s not really even the government - it’s the Broadcasting Commission taking broadcasting guidelines to the absolute extreme. However, we’re told there’s no such thing as bad publicity, and I think Veritas will only benefit from this argument… I hope this argument doesn’t abate until Veritas are permitted to broadcast their ads…

While I agree that the banning of the Veritas ad is taking the broadcasting guidelines to an extreme - and that seems to be the opinion of a majority of people here - it is only fair to point out that the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland is tasked with the responsibility of enforcing legislation that requires advertising not to promote one religion over another. Remember, the ‘special position’ of the Catholic Church was removed by the Irish people from the Irish Constitution by referendum in a four to one majority in 1972, so even the Church of the majority is not exempt from subsequent equal treatment legislation.

It may seem to some like ‘PC madness’ when, as in this case, the legislation is applied to Christianity but it should be remembered that this cuts both ways: adverts for non-Christian religions would also have to comply with the legislation.

Further, rather than ban the Veritas advert outright, the BCI did invite Veritas to a meeting to discuss alternative scripts, an invitation which Veritas did not take up. Of course, by not turning up to discuss the script, Veritas got publicity far wider than any advert could, so who is the real winner? Perhaps the Children of Light are learning valuable lessons from the ‘wiser’ Children of this World ??

Like NPC, I too am encouraged by signs of resurgence in the Catholic Church in Ireland (I had a similar experience on December 8th!) and also by the growing number of vocations irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1124/1227293467863.html. Of course, we now have to face into the publication of the report on clerical sex abuse in the Dublin diocese, but we have been through worse in our history.

 

[NPC]

Further, rather than ban the Veritas advert outright, the BCI did invite Veritas to a meeting to discuss alternative scripts, an invitation which Veritas did not take up. Of course, by not turning up to discuss the script, Veritas got publicity far wider than any advert could, so who is the real winner? Perhaps the Children of Light are learning valuable lessons from the ‘wiser’ Children of this World ??

I didn’t realise that the BCI had invited Veritas to a meeting to discuss alternative scripts… But in all honesty, what could they realistically have changed - there was absolutely nothing in the script which said that Veritas was an organisation of the Catholic Bishops. There are several other similar ad’s on Irish radio and television at the moment - one which takes a similar line as Veritas (the idea of something being missing at Christmas) is that of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service Board… This ad seems quite neutral, though one wonders if they were to take political correctness to the extreme as they did with the Veritas ad, it would have been pulled from tv and radio for fear of causing offence to Jehova’s Witnesses!

I know, as you say, Yellow Belle, that the BCI guidelines must cut both ways, but I am still absolutely baffled since the only word in the Veritas ad which refers to religion is the word “Christmas”. You may have seen the ad for the “Chant - Music for Paradise” cd which was released last June by some Austrian monks - the ad which is now showing is promoting the cd as a Christmas gift. It not only plays exerpts from the cd, but it shows the monks in their abbey singing and walking around the cloister - that, to me is infinitely more explicit in terms of religious expression than the Veritas ad is. At any rate, it seems to me that the BCI’s guidelines need to be reviewed urgently. It is clear that as it stands at the moment, it does not represent the views of the Irish people - I don’t mean the majority (i.e. Catholic) - but the complete populous who are actually very respectful towards other denominations and religions.

 

[wynnejj]

Yellow Belle, I beg to differ from your opinion because I don’t think “PC madness” is off the mark at all. These free speech oppression laws hark back to the Conventicle Act in England. With sports the most predominant religion, you won’t be able to talk with pride about your favorite team in public places. Why, pray tell? Because we know team pride can lead to fights in the stands. So, you ban team pride and what becomes of the life of sports whose purpose is to highlight superiority of competing styles of play? You are left with a sports arena that is more like watching sports on TV without sound.

We are talking about suppression of culture, and oppression of pride in one’s heritage, in order to make one’s culture one bland multicultural soup. If someone says to me “May Allah be with you”, I don’t want to live in a society that says “You can’t say that to me. I’m reporting you to the police” because I know the person is wishing me his best in his most reverent manner. If someone says to me “Happy Hannukah”, I don’t want to live in a society that reports and incarcerates the Jew. If someone says “Merry Christmas”, I don’t want the atheist to slap the Christian in irons. Let him say “Bah! Humbug!” and let that be that.

It is “PC madness” and, maybe re-fried Communism.

 

[Yellow_Belle]

I didn’t realise that the BCI had invited Veritas to a meeting to discuss alternative scripts… But in all honesty, what could they realistically have changed - there was absolutely nothing in the script which said that Veritas was an organisation of the Catholic Bishops. There are several other similar ad’s on Irish radio and television at the moment - one which takes a similar line as Veritas (the idea of something being missing at Christmas) is that of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service Board… This ad seems quite neutral, though one wonders if they were to take political correctness to the extreme as they did with the Veritas ad, it would have been pulled from tv and radio for fear of causing offence to Jehova’s Witnesses!

I know, as you say, Yellow Belle, that the BCI guidelines must cut both ways, but I am still absolutely baffled since the only word in the Veritas ad which refers to religion is the word “Christmas”. You may have seen the ad for the “Chant - Music for Paradise” cd which was released last June by some Austrian monks - the ad which is now showing is promoting the cd as a Christmas gift. It not only plays exerpts from the cd, but it shows the monks in their abbey singing and walking around the cloister - that, to me is infinitely more explicit in terms of religious expression than the Veritas ad is. At any rate, it seems to me that the BCI’s guidelines need to be reviewed urgently. It is clear that as it stands at the moment, it does not represent the views of the Irish people - I don’t mean the majority (i.e. Catholic) - but the complete populous who are actually very respectful towards other denominations and religions.

I believe that the phrase that caused the problem was ‘the true meaning of Christmas’ - I know, it seems very innocuous but clearly the BCI could see that it would breach the broadcasting guidelines in some way. And, of course, if I remember correctly, this is not the first time Veritas has had problems with its radio advert scripts. I think the reference to ‘a crib’ caused problems on another occasion. And Trocaire got into trouble because of the perceived political tone of its Lenten campaign adverts. But I agree totally: the BCI guidelines need to be reviewed urgently. It is counter-productive having to enforce guidelines that create ludicrous situations like the Veritas one and that leave the BCI and its legitimate function open to ridicule.

BTW I cannot resist quoting a letter in today’s Irish Times that satirises the situation perfectly:

The leadership given by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland in protecting us from narrow religious references at Christmas should now be followed by other State agencies.

The medieval collection of the National Gallery, with its overwhelming focus on Christian themes, is inappropriate to post-modern Ireland and should be replaced by an abstract collection designed not to give offence to anybody.

The National Museum also needs to shed its out-of-date obsession with high cross replicas, old croziers, chalices and bells, all too narrowly sectarian for the sophisticated new Ireland…

The countryside is littered with old religious and monastic sites, disgracefully declared to be heritage sites, whose heritage and legacy must surely be offensive to some. These should be bulldozed so that our landscape will present a more progressive, forward-looking neutral image.

Trinity College should give urgent consideration to its insensitive display through the Book of Kells of material which might give offence to somebody somewhere.

 

[Yellow_Belle]

Yellow Belle, I beg to differ from your opinion because I don’t think “PC madness” is off the mark at all. These free speech oppression laws hark back to the Conventicle Act in England. With sports the most predominant religion, you won’t be able to talk with pride about your favorite team in public places. Why, pray tell? Because we know team pride can lead to fights in the stands. So, you ban team pride and what becomes of the life of sports whose purpose is to highlight superiority of competing styles of play? You are left with a sports arena that is more like watching sports on TV without sound.

We are talking about suppression of culture, and oppression of pride in one’s heritage, in order to make one’s culture one bland multicultural soup. If someone says to me “May Allah be with you”, I don’t want to live in a society that says “You can’t say that to me. I’m reporting you to the police” because I know the person is wishing me his best in his most reverent manner. If someone says to me “Happy Hannukah”, I don’t want to live in a society that reports and incarcerates the Jew. If someone says “Merry Christmas”, I don’t want the atheist to slap the Christian in irons. Let him say “Bah! Humbug!” and let that be that.

It is “PC madness” and, maybe re-fried Communism.

The topic under discussion is very specific: the guidelines and legislation with regard to broadcasting in Ireland, so I’m not sure how your comment relates to that?

Freedom of speech in Ireland is guaranteed by Article 40.6.1. of the Irish Constitution but unlike the US, it is not an absolute right. For example, free speech may not be used to undermine “public order or morality or the authority of the State”. Furthermore, the constitution explicitly requires that the publication of “blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter” be a criminal offence. You may think that quaint or even curtailing of freedom but it’s clearly acceptable to people in Ireland who recognise that with any right comes responsibility and that legislation may sometimes be required to ensure that there is censure of those who reject this notion.

Personally, I have never felt that my freedom of speech has in any way been curtailed in Ireland. I am free to greet people at Christmas in any civilised manner I wish without fearing that they will be offended or that I am breaking some kind of unwritten PC law or even a written one. And I’m free to say anything I wish about my hurling or Gaelic football teams without any legal or PC restrictions. Dare I say it, I experienced more PC madness in the US, for all its freedom of speech advocacy, when I lived there than at any time in Ireland.

 

[NPC]

BTW I cannot resist quoting a letter in today’s Irish Times that satirises the situation perfectly

Yes - that letter really sums it up… the Irish countryside has so many beautiful reminders of our long Christian heritage.Reading that letter, satirical as it is, one must ask where this will all end. Organisations such as the BCI, even though they may have good intentions of avoiding “cultural clashes”, are ‘protecting’ the population from difficulties and tensions which do not really exist. I’m not saying that one should automatically allow all advertising, but as far as I can see, the feeling of those non-Catholics who have come to Ireland is that Ireland has this Christian heritage which they must respect - and as we know from Muslim and Jewish leaders, for example, there is great respect for that heritage. Similarly, Catholics in Ireland have been very welcoming of other cultures, and would defend to the death the right of these people to practice their religion…

I certainly don’t believe that it’s enough for the BCI to explain the ban by simply telling the public that the ad was promoting a particular religion. I wonder if there is any means by which the Commission could be compelled to give specific reasons as to how it came to its decision. This is what the Irish are demanding of people in government and agencies such as the BCI - accountability…if the BCI could demonstrate explicitly how it arrived at its decision, then it would seem more credible…As you have said, Yellow Belle, this isn’t the first time that a Veritas ad has been banned - the word “crib” was the offending word last year! However, amid all this uproar, it’s interesting that probably the quietest party in the argument is Veritas itself - I’m sure they are doing as well from this situation as they would if the ad had aired, and I hope they are taking full advantage of this free advertising!

 

[Yellow_Belle]

Organisations such as the BCI, even though they may have good intentions of avoiding “cultural clashes”, are ‘protecting’ the population from difficulties and tensions which do not really exist. I’m not saying that one should automatically allow all advertising, but as far as I can see, the feeling of those non-Catholics who have come to Ireland is that Ireland has this Christian heritage which they must respect - and as we know from Muslim and Jewish leaders, for example, there is great respect for that heritage. Similarly, Catholics in Ireland have been very welcoming of other cultures, and would defend to the death the right of these people to practice their religion…

I certainly don’t believe that it’s enough for the BCI to explain the ban by simply telling the public that the ad was promoting a particular religion. I wonder if there is any means by which the Commission could be compelled to give specific reasons as to how it came to its decision. This is what the Irish are demanding of people in government and agencies such as the BCI - accountability…if the BCI could demonstrate explicitly how it arrived at its decision, then it would seem more credible…As you have said, Yellow Belle, this isn’t the first time that a Veritas ad has been banned - the word “crib” was the offending word last year! However, amid all this uproar, it’s interesting that probably the quietest party in the argument is Veritas itself - I’m sure they are doing as well from this situation as they would if the ad had aired, and I hope they are taking full advantage of this free advertising!

I agree completely And perhaps it is a good thing that this controversy should occur at this time.

The BCI seems to guided by four pieces of legislation: the Radio and Television Act, 1988, the Broadcasting Act 2001 the Broadcasting (Funding) Act, 2003 and the Broadcasting (Amendment) Act, 2007. I suspect that these acts need to be revisited and perhaps some common sense brought to bear on their enforcement.

 

[wynnejj]

Yellow Belle, You are right that I am projecting my USA worldview. And I realize that rules of broadcasting do not represent laws of your society. But this trend will soon find its way in law if not checked. The USA as you experienced it is more like what Ireland can expect down the road if the trend to suppress an individual’s cultural identity, instead of celebrating it, in a multicultural country is not fought. So a word to the wise… Buck the trend toward religious & cultural identity theft that is the agenda of PC madness trend or the end result will be forced removal of the concept of God from law and the public square.

I have to say that I have watched my nation lose its identity ever since abortion was legalized federally in 1973. I grew up in the 50s & 60s, and society bears no resemblance to the society of my boyhood. We’ve lost our manufacturing. We’ve lost our morals. We’ve lost our identity.

Whenever I see a “Merry X-mas” sign, I see the symbol “X” as an empty crib. Whenever I think of “God-Less” versus “God-Bless”, I think of the missing letter “B” as in “Baby”. In the last couple of years, the Christmas cards that I have received do not show a Nativity scene. We’ve lost the meaning of Christmas. My best wishes for your nation is that you don’t go the way of the USA. That you always keep Christ in Christmas and the Baby in His Crib.