I decided to repost the poll (and asked that the other thread either be closed or at least the polling disabled so you guys can continue your “Finish this sentence” game) to include the information I didn’t post last time until into the thread: the missing bit would be included in a discrimination thing, like EOE job ads (race, creed, gender, national origin, religion, etc.), so baseball teams and Obama are out.
I think some people may have changed their answer had they known this before voting, so here’s the chance. Also, in the spoiler is what the sign actually said.
“God even loves Norwegians!” I think the church must have had at least a few complaints because it was changed the next day to read “Sorry if we offended, just trying to wish a Happy Syttende Mai.” which is what they should have put in the first place, I think.
There was a sign in town that said “If you forget that Jesus cares, just remember all his tears.” Every single time I saw it my mind read “tears” to rhyme with “cares”, which is funny for me.
I laughed when I saw what it actually was. I was expecting something inflammatory like ‘gays’ so I had myself all pumped up. How deflating and anticlimactic it was when it was revealed.
Hmmm. This is interesting. My ASSUMPTION (yes, I know) would be that this is in a part of the country with many people of Norwegian descent, and was meant to be a joke along the lines of the “Sven and Ole” series. Likely self-deprecating humor, as I’m guessing the congregation is largely Norwegian (i.e., of Norwegian descent, not citizens of Norway). If that’s the case, and given that Norwegians are not subject to the type of intense hatred (often religion-based) that Muslims, Jews, atheists, homosexuals, etc. often get, I would see it as a joke and not offensive. Now I’m not Norwegian, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some Norwegians took it seriously and were offended. But if it’s from where every other name ends in “-en” and people routinely celebrate and joke about their Norwegian heritage, I’d say it was pretty clearly just another little joke.
I think the church should switch gears and have the sign say “God Even Loves ____” all of the time. Each time listing another group. One week it could be Norwegiians, the next banana slugs, the next Irish. On and on and on. Everyone is loved. And everyone is offended. Who doesn’t win?
If it said something like “God even loves YOU!” that’s not offensive, and possibly qualifies as effective. But if it’s a racial/political/ethnic group or something similar – very bad taste. I haven’t read the spoilers yet.
That’s what I thought, too. Like I said in the original thread, even though I’m not personally offended, I definitely do see where somebody might be and the whole idea of it seems stupid to me. I can’t figure out why anybody thought that was a good idea.
And yeah, Norwegians aren’t known for being discriminated against in the way some other groups are, so I wouldn’t expect anybody’s level of offense to be as high as if the sign said “God even loves black people!”, but I don’t think somebody who IS offended by that is stupid.
Depends on the blank. If it’s a ethnic/racial type group, like the example, that’s kinda offensive.
But if it said something like “God even loves atheists” or “God even loves murderers” or something like that, that’s a little different, especially if they followed up with “so He must love you too!” or the like. (and no, I’m not equating atheism with murder, they’re just unrelated examples that came to mind)
I could see in a town with sports rivalries putting up a “God even loves [rival team] fans” being being just kinda fun, not offensive.
“It depends on what ___ is” has to be the answer. It depends on whether it’s offensive to suggest that we’d be surprised that ___ is lovable. “God even loves murderers” would be fine, but not “God even loves [insert race here]”.
That said, I’ve never even heard of anyone discriminating against Norwegians, so it’s hard for me to take that too seriously. But maybe anti-Norwegian discrimination is big in Finland or somewhere, who knows?
I originally voted “always offensive”, but in light of this:
I have to change my answer. I see that there are a very few exceptions. As tim314 said,
It implies that there is good reason for people to believe (though wrongly) that ___ is not lovable. Many murderers would believe that of themselves, because of their actions, and so would be being told that “God still loves you”. Most groups, on the other hand, it just slaps in the face, sending the message that people have good reason to think ___ are unlovable. There’s something wrong with ___, but God loves them anyway.
ETA: You needed a fourth option. “Usually offensive, with a small number of exceptions” Option 3 doesn’t quite cover it.
I am not a lawyer, but I don’t think murderers fit the terms of the OP.
I could see this being offensive to humor-impaired people with chips on their shoulders. I can also see it offending people who take the thing about not using the Lord’s name in vain very seriously, and would be offended by any jokes about God. I suspect that the complainers in this case are mostly of the former type, with a bit of the latter.
I think it’s more likely that the church has a largely Swedish congregation. There’s a long tradition of (mostly) good-natured kidding between Swedish-Americans and Norwegian-Americans. It’s funny because nobody else can tell the difference between them, and they know it.
