john

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...0&in_a_source=

Saint George Will Be Slayed?

His dragon-slaying heroics have kept his legend alive through the centuries.

But the Church of England is considering rejecting England's patron saint St George on the grounds that his image is too warlike and may offend Muslims.

Clergy have started a campaign to replace George with St Alban, a Christian martyr in Roman Britain.

The scheme, to be considered by the Church's parliament, the General Synod, has met a cautious but sympathetic response from senior bishops.

But it clashes with the increasing popularity of the saint and his flag in England. The World Cup brought out millions of St George crosses as the symbol became increasingly mainstream and less frequently dismissed as a badge favoured only by far-Right political activists.

If St Alban replaced St George, the red cross on a white background would have to be replaced as England's flag by Alban's symbol, a diagonal yellow cross on a blue background that bears a strong similarity to St Andrew's cross, the flag of Scotland.

The proposal has been put forward by the Rev Philip Chester, vicar of St Matthew's, Westminster, who has called the use of St George as patron saint 'dotty'.

His call for a change is based on the lack of firm historical evidence that George - said to be a Roman general from the 4th century AD who was put to death by Emperor Diocletian for professing Christianity - ever existed.

He said: 'We are sure St Alban is a real figure. What's more, he lived in this country.'

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams indicated support for an upgrade for Alban, although he is said to be cautious about relegation for George.

He told the Sunday Times: 'I think St Alban is irreplaceable in the history of English Christianity. Perhaps we ought to raise his profile because it's the beginning of the church in this country with martyrdom, wisdom and courage.'

The image of St George was used to foster patriotism in 1940, when King George VI inaugurated the George Cross for civilian acts of the greatest bravery. The medal bears a depiction of the saint slaying the dragon.

However, George has become unfashionable among politicians and bureaucrats. His saint's day, April 23, has no official celebration in England, and councils have banned the St George flag from their buildings and vehicles during the World Cup.

The saint became an English hero during the crusades against the Muslim armies that captured Jerusalem in the 11th century.

An apparition of George is said to have appeared to the crusader army at the Battle of Antioch in 1098.

His dragon-slaying legend is thought to have begun as an allegory of Diocletian's persecution of Christians.

Alban was martyred in 304 AD on the site of St Albans abbey in the Hertfordshire city that now bears his name.

A Roman army officer, he was said to have converted after sheltering a Christian.

Thoughts ?

KSA-Cossie

iTrader: (4)

One nation many cultures ? Fucking bollocks !! If immigrants don't like it or are offended then fuck right off to their own shithole country.

Matt Lewis

iTrader: (2)

Well said

Matt

KSA-Cossie

iTrader: (4)

Rab

Some people have so little to do with their time............

I do wish these arseholes would stop worrying about offending people and go and lead unteresting lives or something

Ish

if i'm reading the article correctly no muslim has complained about st george

john

Maybe so but there is obvisouley something there what has been said about it or this wouldnt have come out. Why the hell should we have to even consider taking away the St Georges flag ? Shouldnt even have to think that.

KSA-Cossie

iTrader: (4)

I remember working down in hull when euro 2004 was on and the pubs there were told not to fly any st george's flags,i wasn't in any way offended as i was in england and it was you're right to fly your flags.

Anonymous

this shit fucks me right off

i dont see the problem its our flag for England show it with pride every other country does it

cossies4eva

they may not of complained about st george but many have complained about the flag claiming it reminds them of racist images... or so said the sun newspaper...

its our country not theres.. they dont have a say in what our flag is

Ish

and everything they print in the Sun is always true

I have never heard a muslim complain about the flag being flown for football etc

KSA-Cossie

iTrader: (4)

They shouldn't moan full stop.

Homer.

Am Scottish and am saying thats a load of pish. Do people like this not realise they are the problem not people flying st goeorges cross not the muslims or any other race that is living here its them that are trying to make things better and all they are doing are making things worse by highlighting things no 1 gives a fuck try and fine 1 [in set race] thats gives a fuck if an engilishman flys and england flag in england. You would bloody struggle but these wankers try to make a a big deal out of it then it gets al blowen out of proportion where every 1 thinks [insert race] are trying to change things to siut them but no its been some do good old fat bald english cunt sitting in house wondering how he can change the world thats cause the racial tention in the first place

Next point .... Since when was st goerges cross a sign of far right wing movements? What planet is this guy on

Terry Tibbs

Good god...

How can a flag offend people, its our flag, we were here first. Fuck off. end of. Twats.

john

Also recall a town in Yorkshire took down it's crimbo baners etc as muslims complained and put them up in there languages.

KSA-Cossie

iTrader: (4)

Well said m8.

GTechR

I've seen Asians with the George flag on there car, so they must be really offended

I'm sure the BNF used to use the Union flag far more than the George flag, so quite why it's thought of as being used by the far right escapes me, unless it's down to ignorance, and they class the English Hooligans of years gone by as Facists?

Another point... Surely if we where to loose the George flag, then also that would meen we could no longer have a Union flag? As it's made up of the National Flags of England, Scotland and Ireland?

aduz

ozcos

They say money and greed is the route of all evil................

But if you look through history I think religion is a close second and is normally mixed up with greed and money matters.

How else did the churches get so Rich?????

I don't care what fairy stories people want to believe in JUST DON'T FORCE YOUR BELIEFS ON OTHERS

AND DON'T KNOCK ON MY FRONT DOOR

GTechR

Too fookin right!! And what about your flag? If there is no Union flag, what happens to yours and New Zealands?

ozcos

Quote


Too fookin right!! And what about your flag? If there is no Union flag, what happens to yours and New Zealands?

Thats right.

The do gooders of this world do just as much damage as the military leaders

Westy

iTrader: (1)

its simple..

live in our country, live by our rules..!!!

Moonstone Kev

They will have 2 shoot me first 4 me 2 take down my St. Georges flag the geezer who has thought of this if he feels that bad about it why don't he fuck off & take all the fuckers with him. LONG LIVE ST. GEORGE. it's like the polish geezer in town 2day wearing an England team wrist band WTF is that all about send all the fuckers home

Muzz

Fuck sake.

If they dont like it, FUCK OFF!!

OvaBoost

Yep...
I fucking hate these people with a passion

MWF

I believe the St Georges cross problem all stemmed from the BNP taking it on board as their symbol a few years ago. It's a similar story to how the Confederate flag became a racist image once it became associated with the KKK.

Even the Schwastika was a pretty innocent holy symbol before it became associated with the Nazi's and is thus banned in some countries.

Que people saying "This countries going to the dogs" and the usual

sabres74

It it offends then fly it all the time.

Imagine going the reaction you would get complaining about a national flag in a muslim country.

lukeytheduke

i cant believe im reading this, in have strong views against imigrants as i live in dover and the town used to be full of them! Im well educate but i think this takes the piss,

i think the goverment need to sort it out, and what the fooking church dont realise is that religion has been the cause of every war u can ever think of apart from world war 2

so what does that tell you about bloody crap religion! let me know your opinions!

Richie Russ

I hate all this complete and utter bollocks too, soon there will be nothing English left of England, why the fuck people have to piss about with things that work perfectly well i really dont know, its bad enough that we celebrate St Patricks day more than St Georges day here, but for any Muslim or foreigner to complain and i bet there are thousands trying their luck, of which i dont blame them as we will probably again, be too nice and think of others before our own people who fucking made this country what it is, not what its becoming.......

Fook the lot of em

darkhayz

I really am fed up with this crap! I can't believe it sometimes Last year the wife was told that they wern't aloud to give out christmas cards with anything seasonal/father christmasy on them!!! Instead they had to get some stupid cards with wavey lines on!?? Just incase someone got offended WTF is wrong with people today, there so scared, If they don't like OUR culture in OUR country they can Fuck right off!

If I go to another country, I accept their cultures...the way it should be...

MWF

I don't get some of you, you never bother checking the facts before you go on your rants.

The Alton Towers day is not a Muslim Day. It has been booked by an islamic tour operator for one day and will orientated so that muslims can go without breaking any of their religous rules.

This report does not say Muslims have complained about the St Georges cross. It's in response to the bad image the St Georges flag has against muslims and it's recent attachment to right wing parties like the BNP.

Basically we have a vicous circle in this country where people are displaying a lot of hate in the direction of Muslims (calling them all terrorists or ilegal immigrants) so others are treading on egg shells to make up for it, but it just seems to generate more hate.

Richie Russ

What do you really expect then ?

We have complaints about Christmas lights, trees and decorations, we cannot say blackboard, we cannot have bah bah black sheep anymore, Piglet cannot remain due to the fact Muslims dont eat pork and you wonder why people get their backs up when they read something like this, trust me, it wont take long until they are ruling the country, so look at the bigger picture and understand why people are angry with all this crap ALL of the time........

MWF

Oh please.

Don't be so melodramatic.

What we're going through is just a normal reaction to any racial minority which has gone through a lot of bad press.

All Muslims are suffering the bad image brough on by terrorism and the recent obsession with ilegal immigration. It's only natural that during this period that some people are going to comphensate for it.

Richie Russ

Not a case of being melodramatic, people are so used to our soft touch that anything can happen, and probably will.

Who would have thought that Xmas decs and the words blackboard and blackbird would have offended some people, honestly, whatever next

s1 2oobhp

DaveEscos

I say bring back the golly wog aswell

fook em all!

lukeytheduke

MWF you appear to be a martar for a lost cause, people are only reacting over the top due to the length of time this country has just sat back and ignored the problem.

I admit England isnt agreat place but its still our home, and people have no write to cum hear and tell us to change the status quo. We are, some will say a soft touch others will say we should let people enter our country, but only those that are truely worthy of our open arms, not people looking for an easy and free ride like 90% of immagrants.

People have a right to be upset as immmagrants are leggally allowed to only seek refuage in the first country they cross, not the 10th.

The country is heading for a change and by the way MWF statistics show that by 2040, whites will be a minority!!!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

who cares what flags they say you can't fly?
if you want to fly the flag, no matter who's country it is, you should be able to
i've got a fairly big orange flag i wave about on occasion, andi've never had a problem when i've ben marching down the road in the middle of the night with it fluttering around me earholes


also, as a side note, the union "jack" is only called the union "jack when it is hung from the "jack" mast on a ship, if it's blwingin the wind on anything else it's called the union flag, and, as others have already rightly pointed out, what happens to the countries that have this flag as part of their national flags?

one mroe thing, countries tend to be run by cnuts

Richie Russ

Well said mate, unfortunately, its people like MWF that seem to have their blinkers on resulting in us providing free housing, free driving lessons, free education etc etc etc and heck they can even knock an innocent person over killing them and get away with it for fear of being branded racist, which is far too easily done nowadays....