Look out! It's a cross!

[Perd Hapley]

Click the link for the full story. 
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/63C5936DF7DC18EE862576330010EF45?OpenDocument

Collora has worked for the grocery chain for 40 years and said he has displayed a crucifix at two other Schnucks stores he has managed — one on the Hill in south St. Louis and another in St. Charles — and has never had a complaint.

But some customers are reacting angrily to the new display. Lori Weinstock, 40, a health care professional from University City, was shopping a few weeks ago when, after paying, she looked up to see the crucifix.

"It startled me. It seemed so out of place," Weinstock, who is Jewish, said. She was startled enough to write a letter that was published last week in the newspaper the Jewish Light.

"It would have been equally startling if it had been a Star of David or an emblem of another religion," Weinstock said. "It's grocery shopping, and it should be welcoming to all and exclude none."

Collora says exclusion is not what he had in mind. The crucifix, he said, "is not meant to promote one faith over another. It's just an opportunity to share a part of myself and my life with people I work hard to serve every day."

Lori Willis, Schnucks communications director, said Collora was the only manager in the chain's 106 stores to have requested to display an article of personal faith.

"It's just another example of the disrespect that those without religion or those with minority religions get in our society," he said. "It's bad taste and bad business. Who wants to (shop) where someone else's faith is being pushed down your throat?"

That the display is a crucifix — an image of Jesus Christ nailed to the cross — and not just a plain cross, is of particular concern to some of Schnucks' Jewish customers. The cross bearing Christ's body has become a symbol of the Catholic Church, according to Ronald Modras, a theology professor at St. Louis University, while a cross without it has become a Protestant symbol.

"The cross is an ambiguous symbol which can mean one thing to one group and another to a different group," Modras said. "And for Jewish people (a crucifix) can mean, 'You are a Christ killer.'"

Two points to emphasize:

1.  If you think a crucifix hanging on the wall means that you are being "excluded" or that religion is being shoved down your throat, that is your doing.  It is all in your head.  My favorite new restaurant down the street from me has Islamic stuff behind the counter.  Help, help, I'm being oppressed.  But boy do they have good shawarma.

2.  I know Jews have been called Christ-killers, and that's very sad and stupid.  I know it's a very sensitive issue.  But to say that a crucifix offends you on those grounds?  That's silly.  You should have some pride, have some strength, and get on with your day. 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

[Boomhauer]

Lori Weinstock

She needs to take a ride on the wambulance. Don't like it? Shop elsewhere. This twit's begging for attention, I think.

[Perd Hapley]

Not at all.  She needs to keep shopping there, but seek counseling about that Imaginary Inquisition Syndrome. 

[roo_ster]

I managed to chew on falafel for dinner with my family, while sitting right next to the rack containing copies of the Muslim Yellow Pages!  I won't even go into the Islamic religious symbols strewn about the place <shudders, while holding back tears>. 

I just thank my lucky stars we got out of there before all the Muslims broke their Ramadan daily fast and hit the buffet line.  Who knows what might have happened if there was a run on pita bread and I took the last round?!?!

I am not quite sure how we made it out of the restaurant without having had our heads sawn (sawed?) off, but it must have been a close-run thing!

Careful! Don't look too hards at the link, who knows what scary & delusional bogeyman might jump from the reptile part of your brain:
http://www.muslimyellowpages.com/



In all seriousness, if you are in Richardson/ N Dallas, you can get some wonderful eats here:
Afrah Pastries
314 E Main St
Richardson, TX 75081-6045
(972) 234-9898‎

I had a falafel pita sandwich with all the fixins, kids & wife had beef shish kebab pita sandwiches and we all shared the pita & hummus.  No baklava, though, as the kids were not behaving well enough to deserve such a treat.  Pistachio baklava is my favorite.

[Fjolnirsson]

Speaking as a member of a non-mainstream religion, allow me to simply say, some people need a few good swats with a clue bat, and that woman is one of them. A cross. How terrible.

[KD5NRH]

1.  If you think a crucifix hanging on the wall means that you are being "excluded" or that religion is being shoved down your throat, that is your doing.

More to the point, do they hide the kosher foods so as not to shove Judaism down anyone's throat?

[MicroBalrog]

1. Why is this newsworthy?

2. Why can this woman just not stop shopping there if she doesn't like it?

[seeker_two]

Two points to emphasize:

1.  If you think a crucifix hanging on the wall means that you are being "excluded" or that religion is being shoved down your throat, that is your doing.  It is all in your head.  My favorite new restaurant down the street from me has Islamic stuff behind the counter.  Help, help, I'm being oppressed.  But boy do they have good shawarma.

2.  I know Jews have been called Christ-killers, and that's very sad and stupid.  I know it's a very sensitive issue.  But to say that a crucifix offends you on those grounds?  That's silly.  You should have some pride, have some strength, and get on with your day. 

3. Whatever your faith is....or whatever the faith of the store owner is....the money you spend there still works as it was intelligently designed.....

[280plus]

it's newsworthy for the same reason this is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI

[Perd Hapley]

Speaking as a member of a non-mainstream religion, allow me to simply say, some people need a few good swats with a clue bat, and that woman is one of them. A cross. How terrible.

But why should those of mainstream religions be excluded from your comments?  Your post has been reported.      

[BryanP]

Freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

Actually it needs to be just that in some cases.  I've worked in places where if you weren't of a particular variation of Christianity you might as well give up on any plans for advancement. 

[makattak]

Actually it needs to be just that in some cases.  I've worked in places where if you weren't of a particular variation of Christianity you might as well give up on any plans for advancement. 

... and how is that a problem?

Many places of business you will have to have family connections in order to get advancement.

I think there's some right about freedom of association somewhere...

[BryanP]

... and how is that a problem?

Many places of business you will have to have family connections in order to get advancement.

I think there's some right about freedom of association somewhere...

It's a problem when it's an unwritten rule that nobody would admit to.  I just kept seeing people who I knew were less competent than me being promoted over me with BS explanations.  Fortunately the private franchise was bought out by the corporate parent.  Once that happened I took great pleasure in being promoted over the "my imaginary friend is cooler than your imaginary friend" morons who only stayed above me because they were in the right club.

[xavier fremboe]

3. Whatever your faith is....or whatever the faith of the store owner is....the money you spend there still works as it was intelligently designed.....

Until the point it is overprinted to worthlessness...

[brimic]

Some people are always looking for an opportunity to be a victim.

[seeker_two]

Until the point it is overprinted to worthlessness...

....then it becomes un-intelligently designed.....duh.... 

[Jamisjockey]

Freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

Not anymore.   Welcome to the Progressive century.

[charby]

"It startled me. It seemed so out of place,"

Vampire?

[MicroBalrog]

I think there's some right about freedom of association somewhere...

You have a right to your practices. I have a right to criticize them.

[Ron]

It's a problem when it's an unwritten rule that nobody would admit to.  I just kept seeing people who I knew were less competent than me being promoted over me with BS explanations.  Fortunately the private franchise was bought out by the corporate parent.  Once that happened I took great pleasure in being promoted over the "my imaginary friend is cooler than your imaginary friend" morons who only stayed above me because they were in the right club.

Then again it may be that your inherent disdain for them wasn't as well hidden as you thought.

[BryanP]

Then again it may be that your inherent disdain for them wasn't as well hidden as you thought.

I don't have any disdain for religious people until they use my lack of belief in their particular faith against me.  In fact, I never said a single word about what faith (if any) I followed while I worked there. 

[grampster]

I am offended everytime I boot up APS.  I've never complained to the Administrators about the boorishness of all of you.

[Racehorse]

I don't have any disdain for religious people until they use my lack of belief in their particular faith against me.  In fact, I never said a single word about what faith (if any) I followed while I worked there. 

Maybe it wasn't what you intended, but this statement shows disdain for religion in general:

"my imaginary friend is cooler than your imaginary friend"

While I agree that contests about whose religion is better are stupid, the use of terms like "imaginary friend" when referring to the deity(ies) held dear by those of faith is going to offend people of many religious backgrounds.

[brimic]

One man's theology is another man's belly laugh- Robert Heinlein