Jesus With A Beer And A Cigarette

Meghalaya is a state in the northeastern part of India. Unlike most other Indian states, about 70% of its citizens are christians. A few days ago they got a surprise, and it was not one they liked. The state's government is considering legal action over it.

It seems that a private christian school in the state capital of Shillong found a picture they didn't like in their new level I cursive writing textbooks. It was a picture of Jesus holding a beer and a cigarette. After perusing all of their other textbooks, they found the same picture in the level II, III and IV writing textbooks also.

They were horrified at this so-called desecration of Jesus' image. Since they had already passed out the books to their students, they are in the process of trying to get them all back. Meanwhile, the Pope has ordered the schools to not use any textbooks from the publishing company -- regardless of the subject.

As for the government, they have seized all the offending textbooks from schools and bookshops. State Education Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said, "We are now considering legal action against the Skyline Publications of New Delhi who published the controversial textbooks."

The Archbishop of Shillong was very upset, and said, "We are deeply hurt by the insensitivity of the publisher. How can one show such total disrespect for a religion." So far, the Skyline Publishing Company has not commented on the controversy, and it is unknown whether this was done intentionally by the publisher or was a bad practical joke snuck through by an employee.

I can see why they wouldn't want to use the textbooks, but as an unbeliever I think there making a bit too much of the controversy. Jesus never opposed the use of alcohol anywhere in the Bible. In fact, he turned water into wine for his friends at a wedding. Even the Puritans, a very conservative christian sect, drank beer, and one of their first acts on reaching the New World was to brew a fresh batch. It's not at all illogical to think Jesus might have enjoyed a cold beer if he'd had access to one.

As for the cigarette, there probably was no tobacco available at the time in Palestine (since it was introduced to the area from Europe who had gotten it from the Americas). But there were other smokable herbs in that part of the world. Maybe a wine-drinker like Jesus would have been open to smoking a "doobie".

The picture causing the controversy is above.