Bakery replaces Jesus with a pastry in nativity scene. Offensive or not?

“Offense” is in the eye of the beholder. Me? As an ex-Catholic atheist? Not offensive.

It makes me want a sausage roll. Is it lunchtime yet? *drool* I mean, I can understand people getting upset (especially the Jewish community, since, like the article says, they replaced Jesus, a Jew, with a pork product.) But dang, it looks tasty.

Maggie Maxwell said:

It makes me want a sausage roll. Is it lunchtime yet? *drool* I mean, I can understand people getting upset (especially the Jewish community, since, like the article says, they replaced Jesus, a Jew, with a pork product.) But dang, it looks tasty.

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Well but... you're not supposed to eat pork, and I don't think it's listed in Leviticus but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to eat Jesus (in a non-transubstantiation sense), so it kinda makes sense?

I LOVE Greggs. I used to eat there all the time when I lived in the UK. I think it's funny, but it's too early for Christmas stuff, IMO.

People still getting mad about a two thousand year old zombie? How bizarre.

Curlz said:

Isn't the eucharist exactly about that?

BTW, nowadays there are all sorts of sausage rolls fillings. I had a very nice venison one recently, while watching the deer stroll through the park nearby.

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Note the parenthetical!

Fingers said:

People still getting mad about a two thousand year old zombie? How bizarre.

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Man, where have you been hiding your whole life?

(Also, Jesus is a lich, not a zombie).

"Take my body and eat it..."

Leave it to humanity to find someone, somewhere, at some point in time, will be offended by something someone else did or said.

Do I find it offensive? Let's see:

1. My ex'es father was a Lutheran pastor (that made her a preacher's kid)
2. My own grandfather was a Lutheran pastor (making me a preacher's grandkid)
3. My own father is a Deacon in his church now in SC
4. My mother is a Deaconess in that same church
5. By fiat of 2, 3, and 4, I was brought up Lutheran (baptized, confirmed, the whole 9 yards). However, since confirmation I have not seen the inside of a church more than twice a year since (firmly entrenched in the C&E crowd)
6. My cousin Michael, is a Lutheran pastor, married a Lutheran pastor, and they still actively have a thriving church (though I forget where off the top of my head)
7. My cousin Tobias, went to Lutheran seminary in Gettysburg, and now plays organ for a Lutheran church somewhere in upstate New York.
8. I am the Godfather to one of my nephews and actually participated in his education/confirmation classes/instruction as he decided to make the commitment past the usual age, I think to satisfy grandparental admonishments toward that end.

Suffice to say, I've had a lot of background with religion, and actually, yes, do still believe in God - though the notion of believing in one who takes attendance makes me question many tenets therein. All that said, on reading the article linked by the OP, I can honestly answer that..

No, I did not find it offensive at all - quite funny as well!

Maggie Maxwell said:

It makes me want a sausage roll. Is it lunchtime yet? *drool* I mean, I can understand people getting upset (especially the Jewish community, since, like the article says, they replaced Jesus, a Jew, with a pork product.) But dang, it looks tasty.

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Pass the ketchup.

As a practicing Christian, my biggest objection is corporate entities using religious symbols to sell their wares. To a Christian, there really is a difference between a representation of Jesus and a rendition of Santa Claus.

However, this one did nothing more than make me roll my eyes. (Sausage roll! Get it?)

I thought it was funny.

Lol, when I clicked on it, my first thought was "They need a smaller sausage roll or a bigger manger scene; that's one disproportionately massive 'baby.'"

That one wise man really looks ready to dig in.

Immaculate conception and baked to perfection.

Nonsense...it's immaculate convection!

I think the choice to use a pork product is intentionally insulting. This is one of those times you have to wonder if there's no one to sign-off on displays as a last line of defense against moves that are either ignorant, insensitive, or intentionally incendiary.

Islam prohibited the use of human images in art to avoid just this sort of thing.
But, I think you could get away with the image of the infant Jesus as a sausage roll if the rest of the Nativity also was depicted as baked goods. A gingerbread crèche where all the humans are dough, and all the animals are also edible, for instance. Camels done in fancy rolls, carrying dough-strip baskets full of nuts and sweets, for example. And it's hard not to envision popcorn ball sheep.) It could be a real eye-catcher at a fancy bakery.
I'm not 'offended', but there's something tacky about 'realistic' Magi worshipping a giant sausage roll.

I do see why somebody might not like it. Although, I really don't think it's the kind of thing that's so bad that they should still be holding it against Greggs even after they've apologized for it.

Swaddled in delicious flaky pastry, less saviour than sav(i)oury.

Blasphemy

It makes me think of that old 7-11 ad from the 90s where the the guy kept saying, "Man, that's a big hot dog."

I never knew that sausage rolls were made of pork. So that's something I've learned.