Has he got off lightly?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph....r-insult-to-Pope.html

Religious or not, wasn't this an absolute disgraceful insult to be aimed at the Pope, and should the Senior Official be identified and sacked?

/// “The individual responsible has been transferred to other duties. He has been told orally and in writing that this was a serious error of judgement and has accepted this view.///

[Zeuhl]

The whole point of a Brainstorm is that all ideas are captured without any filtering.

Someone at the Foreign Office needs to review their processes to ensure that the risk of leaking is minimised until some form of later filtering has taken place.

Whoever leaked this, assuming they understood its context was irresponsible and mischievous and the newspaper no better for describing the facetious stuff as 'proposals'.

[modeller]

It is not in the Koran that an woman should cover her face. That was thought up by Clerics to give them more power. What it does say is that men and women should dress modestly. In the days of the prophet women had considerable power. Mohammed,s first wife was originally his boss. She was a wealthy widow and ran a successful business.
All the rules and regulations in the Koran came from Mohammed who claimed the voices in his head came from God. Since then everything written has been i interpreted by the Clerics for their own ends. That why there are many branches of Islam the main ones being the Shias and the Sunnis.
The Bible is no different it has been twisted and turned for the benefit of the Clergy.
It's all to do with having power over the people by feeding them Mumbo Jumbo.

[boxtops]

I agree with you Zuehl, the content of a brainstorm session should be captured but not necessarily released without review - well put.

[rojash]

"wasn't this an absolute disgraceful insult to be aimed at the Pope"
I thought it was very funny
"...and should the Senior Official be identified and sacked?"
What senior official? From your own link: "The document was sent out by a junior Foreign Office civil servant"

[tamborine]

Like blaming the Queen for all Brit criminals.

[Sqad]

rojash....I also thought it was very funny....for Christ's sake it was a joke.

Remember the jokes about Michael Jackson dying, Jade Goody and so on.

Sacking someone because they have a sense of humour? nonsense.

[IggyB]

just a joke made at the expense of a bloke in a dress with a funny hat that believes in some very strange things - he deserves to be mocked

[boxtops]

It seems that it's one thing for us as individuals to make the jokes, it's a different matter - in my view - for an official document (which presumably is said to represent the British Government view) to be issued/leaked from the Foreign Office.

[sp1814]

If a religious group are going to blame their own child abuse problems on homosexuals and claim that homosexuality is a greater danger than the destruction of the rain forests or climate change - then they can't be too shocked to be held up for a bit of stick.

Also, we should remember...this was the summary of a brainstorming session, the rules of which demand that anything said is recorded.

Bit daft to distribute it though.

[naomi24]

redhelen, if you think that religions are selectively attacked on AB, you should pay a visit to R&S. Incidentally, covering the face is not a requirement of Islam.

I agree with Zeuhl.

[anotheoldgit]

rojash

/// What senior official? From your own link: "The document was sent out by a junior Foreign Office civil servant" ///

Granted, but if you had read the whole link you would have come across this passage,

/// One senior official was found responsible and has been transferred to other duties.///

It was this Senior Official I was referring to.

[Quinlad]

Don't sack the guy. I'm sure the pope of all people would appreciate the irony of an employee who's guilty of wrongdoing being quietly moved to another role somewhere else.

[joko]

clearly they have all sat around joking about all the daft things the pope should do for a laugh...but this 'junior' in his 20s has not realised that some of the 'proposals' were only said as jokes, not as genuine contributions and included them, or hes thought they were so hilarious that hes inlcude them as a separate document to make all other laugh...he clearly knew they were innapropriate
naive or stupid...or trying to cause trouble...?

however, i does highlight the uselessness of the popes visit, as nothign of any use will come of it...