Hans Christian Andersen vs Jesus Christ?

OutlawPete

Just Google'ing away there, as you do - and notice that today's Logo on the Google hompage is Hans Christian Andersen (he would have been 205 apparently - if he hadn't got out of the wrong side of bed ).

So we know that Google chooses to ignore religious holidays, but should they?

I mean, isn't it disrespectful to Christians, especially American ones to just ignore such an important day, considering America is a majority christian country?

Shouldn't they not at least recognise the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Does this not deserve a Google Doodle like St Patrick's Day did?

Or are they correct with their "Happy Holidays" stance and in fact, quite right to not be observing religious holidays, no matter what the religion?

I myself think they should have a Good Friday, Ramadan, Hanukkah and whatever else Doodle.

These dates are important to people and in my view it would be a positive thing for them to do.

I feel by ignoring all religious holidays they are just adding to religious intolerance when they could be setting a great example here by showing the world that it is possible to respect and tolerate all religions and their individual holidays, without any issues.

So, are Google right to have Hans Christian Andersen as today's logo?

Or should they have commemorated Good Friday and along with all other religious holidays?

abouttobebanned

Is after hours really where you wanted to post this? I think you've raised a good question but you may have to sift through 6 pages of thanks whoring before you get there.

Biggins

Yes, Google is right.

If we started observing every cults religious "day" - we would forever be having to put up with some serious amount of daily crap!

dlofnep

They are right.

Doctor DooM

Uglu Duckling. He's got more range and stamina.


Serious response- no, it is NOT wrong for a company to ignore any given religions traditions. It's not disrespectful. In fact, I would say it's disrespectful for a person of any given religion to demand their religion be respected over any other in the business- or cultural- sphere.

Bloody Nipples

The Catholic Church alone has some saint's feast day on every day of the year.

And back on topic, my money is on the heavy hitter with the beard.

baltimore sun

they certainly should ignore it, actually everyone should ignore it
and as for not eating meat today, i'm gonna buy the biggest fattest steak i can find and eat it raw.

karl marx got the auld socialism wrong but he was right when he wrote about religion

Biggins

Doctor DooM wrote: »

...it's disrespectful for a person of any given religion to demand their religion be respected over any other in the business- or cultural- sphere.

Good point.

rubadub

OutlawPete wrote: »

Shouldn't they not at least recognise the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Maybe they just prefer Andersen's fairytales.

For Forks Sake

OutlawPete wrote: »

I myself think they should have a Good Friday, Ramadan, Hanukkah and whatever else Doodle.

?

1. Ramadan lasts for a month.

2. In light of what happened to the last people to publish pictures of the prophet, what image would you propose using?

pickarooney

They'd jolly well better have a Hans Muslim Andersen logo tomorrow or I'm burning down their office.

Ruu_Old

They should have an image of Jesus nailed go to 'l' in Google, would that make you happy?

enda1

They do do a christmas countdown though...

petes

As Harry Hill would say there is only one way to find out who would win....FIGHT!!

dvpower

OutlawPete wrote: »

Or should they have commemorated Good Friday and along with all other religious holidays?

Have you ever been to mass where the sermon was about the relative merits of Google vs Bing?

It's an important topic to a lot of people, yet all of the major religions just ignore the issue.

Disrespectful.

Doctor DooM

Ruu wrote: »

They should have an image of Jesus nailed go to 'l' in Google, would that make you happy?

LOL. You win the internet again Ruu.

enda1 wrote: »

They do do a christmas countdown though...

Are you sure the word christmas is used?

Besides, Christmas stopped being religious for most people a long time ago.

petes

Where is the "I couldn't give a **** as long as it can still find me my daily requirement of Japanese fart porn" option in the poll?

Sangre

As fairy tales go, the ugly duckling was better than Jesus Christ.

OutlawPete

Ruu wrote: »

They should have an image of Jesus nailed go to 'l' in Google, would that make you happy?

:rolleyes:

pookie82

Jesus being the son of god, dying and rising etc is about as fictional as Anderson's fairytales, except the latter are a much better read, so fair play to google for picking the more entertaining commemoration.

Biggins

pookie82 wrote: »

Jesus being the son of god, dying and rising etc is about as fictional as Anderson's fairytales, except the latter are a much better read, so fair play to google for picking the more entertaining commemoration.

Both are fiction, bestsellers, well known yarns, etc...
Google just apparently went with the one that was least likely to be offending, cause less division and more likely to be acceptable to the masses.

Can't see what the problem is to be honest.

kraggy

There should be no religious influence in day to day life.

Religion should be a private, home-based practice/interest.

Twin-go

Wasn't there a St. Patricks Day Google Doodle?

Tigger

hmmm a zombie v's a swan

my money's on teh zombie

Tigger

Twin-go wrote: »

Wasn't there a St. Patricks Day Google Doodle?

st patricks day isn't a religious holidy its a national holiday

when st patricks day was moved the other year the paddy day parades were still on 17th

Sanjuro

Are Google a Christian organisation? If they were, by all means, I'd expect them to observe 'Good Friday' in their logo. Since they're not, they don't have to cater to one group. Which is exactly what this country should do. I find it rather irksome that I should have to change my routine and have options taken away from me in accordance with some religion I don't believe in.

philologos

I can't say I care a lot about what Google puts up. Irrespective of whether or not Google pay tribute to Jesus, He is still by far the most influential figure ever to have walked the surface of this earth, and His teachings prevail with us to the current day.

OutlawPete - If Google promoted Ramadhan, Yom Kippur and so on I can't say it would bother me either.

OutlawPete

Biggins wrote: »

Can't see what the problem is to be honest.

Well, the way I see it is that Google have taken it upon themselves to recognise significant dates and events worldwide like festivals, birthdays etc.

They do so as these dates are important and relevant to their users.

Christian, Jewish, Muslim holidays would be even more important and relevant and I'm sure would be appreciated if recognized.

Showing that respecting all religious beliefs is possible, would be a step forward I feel.

I'm not saying the should have to do this, I'm saying that if they chose to, it would send a positive message.

rubadub

Twin-go wrote: »

Wasn't there a St. Patricks Day Google Doodle?

Yeah, I seem to remember one with leprechauns or something, I don't think there was any depiction of a saint involved. The most religious thing might be a shamrock which many people would not even realise is supposedly religious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Patricks_Day

It began as a purely Catholic holiday and became an official feast day in the early 1600s. However, it has gradually become more of a secular celebration of Ireland's culture

PeterIanStaker

Tigger wrote: »

hmmm a zombie v's a swan

my money's on teh zombie

The swan can fly away from the zombie.

Oh and I'm having some ice cold beer later and a beef burger that would have killed Elvis, Uh - huh. Tcb baby.

OutlawPete

rubadub wrote: »

Yeah, I seem to remember one with leprechauns or something ..

This was this years Doodle for St Patrick's Day ...

Biggins

OutlawPete wrote: »

Well, the way I see it is that Google have taken it upon themselves to recognise significant dates and events worldwide like festivals, birthdays etc.
They do so as these dates are important and relevant to their users.
Christian, Jewish, Muslim holidays would be even more important and relevant and I'm sure would be appreciated if recognized.
Showing that respecting all religious beliefs is possible, would be a step forward I feel.
I'm not saying the should have to do this, I'm saying that if they chose to, it would send a positive message.

Its an independent company so I'd expect them firstly to try and take an non-religious, non-political, non-country, etc, position - if only for furthering their position alone in marketability to more of the messes and cultures, irrespective of that which divides us.

They have taken an option to place something this time around on their website that is less possibly argumentative, don't put them in position where someone from another faith might have said "why did you chose theirs and not ours?" and simply took something that was instantly recognisable without further undercurrent ostentations.

Its a choice they took - others could chose a different route.
If we were to be offended by every other second option a website took, we'd be an angry lot all day, all year.

orourkeda

dvpower wrote: »

Have you ever been to mass where the sermon was about the relative merits of Google vs Bing?

It's an important topic to a lot of people, yet all of the major religions just ignore the issue.

Disrespectful.

But can the Catholic Church find 3 million squirt porn sites in 0.21 seconds.

Google wins

PeterIanStaker

orourkeda wrote: »

But can the Catholic Church find 3 million squirt porn sites in 0.21 seconds.

Google wins

the RCC wouldn't be interested in women, especially ones over the age of consent.

WordsOfWisdom

Nothing was mentioned about yesterday (4/1) being ATHEIST'S DAY!!!

The Bible says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." (Psalm 53:1)

OutlawPete

Biggins wrote: »

Its a choice they took - others could chose a different route.

If we were to be offended by every other second option a website took, we'd be an angry lot all day, all year.

I realise that but it's not a one off decision.

They deliberately ignore religious holidays while recognizing all other important and celebrated dates like Halloween for instance.

They don't have to choose one over the other.

They recognize many saint's days and festivals.

Again, I'm not saying the should have to, I'm just asking would it not be a good positive thing.

I feel we should respect all religions when we can.

If I had a shop in town for instance, that was frequented by a lot of Jewish people, I would no problem making sure there was some symbolism of their religious holiday alongside the Christmas decorations.

Doctor DooM

WordsOfWisdom wrote: »

The Bible says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." (Psalm 53:1)

The DooM says, "the fool hath said the bible should be taken literally and quoted on internet forums".

rubadub

OutlawPete wrote: »

This was this years Doodle for St Patrick's Day ...

Yeah, typically Oirish, there is a bit of a cross there though, in other years they had shamrocks which could also be seen as religious. It is seen as a national day, they also have doodles on saint valentines day.


Here is an easter one they had http://www.google.com/logos/easter_logo.jpg could be seen as celebrating one of 2 mythical beings some people still believe in.

Doctor DooM

OutlawPete wrote: »

I feel we should respect all religions when we can.

No no no no no no NO.

We should respect people's RIGHT to have any religion they wish.

However at maximum all but 1 religion is bat**** crazy and a lie. These things should not be respected.


The second it becomes more than a personal belief which I don't have to see is the second it's gone too far, when you actually stop and think what any given religion sounds like to someone who doesn't believe.

Biggins

OutlawPete wrote: »

I realise that but it's not a one off decision.

They deliberately ignore religious holidays while recognizing all other important and celebrated dates like Halloween for instance...

I know what your saying and coming from.

Its a tough one.

Who (actually) is to say what the company chooses for any particular day?
Is there any other religious festivals/special days on today for other religions as well? If so why should one get preference over another?
What position would the company be seen to be taking IF that was the case alone?

As we all know, religions can cause heated debate REAL fast. The slightest of slight can be offending to some and seen to be one sided taking to others.

Its a single company - they have a daily choice to make. They made the one for today and they have their reasons.

We are free to set-up our own sites and do different or use a different site that exposes our own values.
Lycos and Yahoo for example have made no changes whatsoever. Should the religious be offended by the indifference in their non-observing of our/their special days?
Where would it all end?

Holding the coin "freedom of choice" comes with different sides.
If you hold it in your hand, you have accepted both.

OutlawPete

Doctor DooM wrote: »

However at maximum all but 1 religion is bat**** crazy and a lie. These things should not be respected.

The second it becomes more than a personal belief which I don't have to see is the second it's gone too far, when you actually stop and think what any given religion sounds like to someone who doesn't believe.

First of all, I'm not religious in the slightest.

So I'm not coming at this from the point of view that I want people to respect MY religion.

I do believe they all complete bollox.

However, when you look around the world you see a lot of suffering and pain that is a direct result of religious intolerance.

I think trying to sweep all religions under the carpet is not the way to go.

I think the only way forward is celebrate all religious holidays and show them all equal respect.

I'm not saying that if Tom Cruise comes to Dublin we should put up posters of L.Ron or anything.

Just that the main religions in the world have festivals and holidays and being free enough that we can all recognize them without it being a big deal would be a positive thing.

Biggins

OutlawPete wrote: »

...Just that the main religions in the world have festivals and holidays and being free enough that we can all recognize them without it being a big deal would be a positive thing.

If only that could happen, the world would be a less warring place and harmonious one.
We can still hope...

Doctor DooM

OutlawPete wrote: »

However, when you look around the world you see a lot of suffering and pain that is a direct result of religious intolerance.

I think trying to sweep all religions under the carpet is not the way to go.

I think the only way forward is celebrate all religious holidays and show them all equal respect.

I'm not saying that if Tom Cruise comes to Dublin we should put up posters of L.Ron or anything.

Just that the main religions in the world have festivals and holidays and being free enough that we can all recognize them without it being a big deal would be a positive thing.

I'm not talking about sweeping them under the carpet.

Religious intolerance is indeed the cause of much pain and tbh it's because religions have been venerated and respected to the point where they have influenced or even controlled entire countries.

People should be completely free to celebrate their holidays, I agree. And as long as it harms none, I would defende their right to do so.

But the second it becomes something which pushes itself on another- there's where my problem lies.

So no, I don't believe google should be forced to put anything religious up. I, conversely, defend their right not to.



Furthermore, I do give all religions equal respect- pretty much none.



Just as a matter of interest, how are you intending to differentiate between the "real" religions we respect and L Ron, as you put it above?

OutlawPete

Biggins wrote: »

Is there any other religious festivals/special days on today for other religions as well? If so why should one get preference over another?

They shouldn't but the are rarely major religious holidays that clash.

When they do, like some saints festivals, Google will make their Doodle country specific, like they do with one of the saint's festivals, St David I think.

Biggins wrote: »

Its a single company - they have a daily choice to make. They made the one for today and they have their reasons.

We know their reasons and it's not just today, their stance is that they don't recognize religious holidays.

Biggins wrote: »

Should the religious be offended by the indifference in their non-observing of our/their special days?
Where would it all end?

Again, I'm not saying Google should have to do anything.

I am just asking if, as they are in such a powerful and influential position, should they not recognize religious holidays, would it not send a positive message.

I think ignoring them is not the way to go as it just makes religion even more taboo and something not to be discussed.

Look at the situation with the Mohammad cartoons.

People act as if ignoring religions will make them go away, it won't.

They are here to stay and surely openness and respecting of each others holidays, like in this instance, would go someway to ending ingnorance that just leads to militant scum feeling they are downtrodden.

OutlawPete

Doctor DooM wrote: »

So no, I don't believe google should be forced to put anything religious up.

Who asked you that?

It certainly wasn't me as I have made it clear from the start of the thread I don't feel Google should HAVE to do anything.

pookie82

Edit - I quoted Biggins by accident but am referring to the last Doctor Doom post.

Agreed. I wouldn't see the way forward as celebrating and respecting all religions, I see it as ignoring them.

The only reason that "disrespecting" someone's religion is harmful and destructive is because that religion has been elevated to such a ludicrous level of importance, as mentioned above.

When you have death threats on your head and burning embassies because of a cartoon depiction, I think you need to ask not "should we respect these religions to invoke less harm" but rather "how do we go about promoting the idea that you don't need religion at all to live a perfectly good life."

That's my take on it anywho.

Doctor DooM

OutlawPete wrote: »

Who asked you that?

It certainly wasn't me as I have made it clear from the start of the thread I don't feel Google should HAVE to do anything.

Care to address the rest of the post?

My point remains: I do respect all religions equally: Which is not alot.

I don't think religions should get any more respect than any other arbitrary tribalistic group people attach themselves to.

No less, either.

OutlawPete

Doctor DooM wrote: »

Care to address the rest of the post?

I have no problem with the rest of the post.

Just pointing out that nobody said Google should be "forced" to do anything.

Biggins

OutlawPete wrote: »

A
They shouldn't but the are rarely major religious holidays that clash.When they do, like some saints festivals, Google will make their Doodle country specific, like they do with one of the saint's festivals, St David I think.
B
We know their reasons and it's not just today, their stance is that they don't recognize religious holidays.
Again, I'm not saying Google should have to do anything.
I am just asking if, as they are in such a powerful and influential position, should they not recognize religious holidays, would it not send a positive message.

C:
I think ignoring them is not the way to go as it just makes religion even more taboo and something not to be discussed.
Look at the situation with the Mohammad cartoons.


People act as if ignoring religions will make them go away, it won't.
They are here to stay and surely openness and respecting of each others holidays, like in this instance, would go some way to ending ignorance that just leads to militant scum feeling they are downtrodden.

A:
Again you have a point - but remember religions are not just confined with state borders. Religions flow across them. Religions intermix within states also. Some borders, a lot of borders do not have clear cut religious sectors.

B:
If they are in a powerful position, who actually said they have to take a stance one way or another?
Why do they have to? Because of one or another faiths objections interceding into the lives of others or a company?
Where is the fairness in that either?

C:
"ignoring them is not the way to go as it just makes religion even more taboo and something not to be discussed."
Why should it make it more taboo?
We don't talk (on the front of all our websites daily) about marriage, kids, cameras, etc... Why should those subjects either suddenly turn taboo for lack of publicity or not being pointed out?

The Mohammad cartoon episode is a classic example of a religion NOT being ignored. If the paper had left a blank space where the cartoon should have been, would religions still get offended? If that was the case, why them and not someone/something else?


Who says people that are "ignoring" are doing so to forward an agenda?
I ignore cars passing by me daily - that don't mean because I do that I'm actually hoping they will go away!

Holidays and festivals are here to stay. When they are within our sight and/or we see them occurring, because those involved with those special days are making themselves known, we should in an ideal world accept those practises and learn to live with them.
Its up to those involved within the "practises" however to make the rest of us aware - not every independent company that chooses (or not) to acknowledge every festival under the sun.

aDeener

Why do they have a logo for st. patricks day though? that is a christian celebration whether they like it or not. stinks of hypocrisy to me. they should make up their mind, not that it really bothers me. the only thing that bothers me is "happy holidays"

Doctor DooM

aDeener wrote: »

Why do they have a logo for st. patricks day though? that is a christian celebration whether they like it or not. stinks of hypocrisy to me. they should make up their mind, not that it really bothers me. the only thing that bothers me is "happy holidays"

It might be a christian celebration but it is also a countries national holiday.