BRITISH banks are banning piggy banks because they may offend some Muslims

[ElsewheresDaughter]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17027882-13762,00.html

Halifax and NatWest banks have led the move to scrap the time-honoured symbol of saving from being given to children or used in their advertising, the Daily Express/Daily Star group reported today.
Muslims do not eat pork, as Islamic culture deems the pig to be an impure animal.

Salim Mulla, secretary of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, backed the bank move.

"This is a sensitive issue and I think the banks are simply being courteous to their customers," he said.

However, the move brought accusations of political correctness gone mad from critics.


"The next thing we will be banning Christmas trees and cribs and the logical result of that process is a bland uniformity," the Dean of Blackburn, Reverend Christopher Armstrong, said.
"We should learn to celebrate our difference, not be fearful of them."

Khalid Mahmoud, the Labour MP for a Birmingham seat and one of four Muslim MPs in Britain, also criticised the piggy-bank ban.

"We live in a multicultural society and the traditions and symbols of one community should not be obliterated just to accommodate another," Mr Mahmoud said.

"I doubt many Muslims would be seriously offended by piggy banks."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Piggy banks offend me too! Evil little things...

[Mr_Spock]

1. LMAO!!!

That's totally stupid. Dumb asses.

[madeline_con]

2. So, Muslims were being forced to save $ in the horrible things?

OMG!

[feistydem]

3. Kosher Jews don't eat pork either, but I doubt they care about stuffing

the kids' college savings into a symbolic pig.

Good grief! This is PC run amok!

[Centered]

5. Interesting point

Why weren't their feelings considered years ago if this is so offensive...

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar... let the kids have their piggy banks.

Politics and religion... two things designed to make us hate each other.

[Coastie for Truth]

32. I was raised by by my Orthodox Jewish Grandparents

(Grandpa was an Orthodox Rabbi) - and I had a "Piggy Bank."

[Renegade Six]

4. WTF

Im all for respecting different cultures but come on. Im left handed and I had a hard time with my Iraqi freinds. I understood that, but piggy banks?

[Ravenseye]

40. Ask your iraqi friends

I bet none of them are offended by a piggy bank.

[Renegade Six]

54. Well...

they're all back in Iraq and im NOT going bact there. I havent gotten a letter in awhile....i hope for the best. I wont say iI speak for them but....I can hear them laugh in my head.

[aquart]

6. I'm Jewish and I have a pink piggy bank.

Of course, I'm glad there are no golden calf banks. Just am.

But it is sad that the bacon-binging British don't feel the tiniest twinge upon seeing this thrifty porker pet.

[Straight Shooter]

7. I love pigs (the animals) and I love piggy banks!

I've got a glass blue piggy bank and every time I get a quarter in change, when I empty my pockets the quarter goes into the piggy.

If the Brits have to deal with the prejudice of Muslims against pigs, then let the Muslims deal with the little cute piggy banks.

[BattyDem]

8. Sometimes political correctness goes a bit too far!

:eyes:

[high density]

9. wow

The bank I worked at actually had a real pig as a mascot for the kiddie savings accounts.

[shadowknows69]

10. Wouldn't a piggy bank

represent an uneaten pig which you would think would make muslims (and jews) happy. Now if we had pork chop banks I could see it.

[kestrel91316]

11. You get the gold star tonight!

For most hysterical post!

:rofl:

[happyslug]

49. Remains of the Joke attributed to Augustus Caesar Regarding Herod

"It is better to be his pig than his son, for as a good Jew he had no reason to kill a pig" (Herod had killed off all of his sons when their reach adulthood do to various conspiracies during his regine).

[Dogmudgeon]

12. That doesn't make sense

I can understand the banks wanting to attract more Muslim customers, but devout Muslims can't use Western-style banks. The charging and paying of interest is strictly banned by Muslim religious law.

--p!

[Carni]

24. Yes, that is what I thought!

I wish I could remember the term that is used in conjunction with the financial institutions they will use but I can't.

[ErisFiveFingers]

26. Banned by christian law, too...

Just mostly ignored.

[Ravenseye]

39. I know a few devot muslims

I don't know any who don't have a bank account. It's one of those laws that people can ignore if it's too hard not to follow it. Most of them are like that. It's not a sin to do something sinful, as long as you have no other option. Heck you could eat pig if eating it would save your life or would be the only thing you were provided. It's fine to eat it if otherwise you'd starve to death. Same with using banks. It's just impossible to function without using banks.

Now of course there are always the crazies, but you have them in every religion.

[Dogmudgeon]

48. Understandable

Most of the Muslims I've known (in Philadelphia, PA, in the USA) either bank at Muslim banks, or have used special non-bank accounts. It may be that in England, most banks can offer special non-interest accounts to their Muslim clientele. I had always been interested in how a banking system could operate without paying and charging interest, but it appears to work out very well in both the Muslim world and Muslim communities elsewhere.

A number of progressive intellectuals have also called for the elimination of interest in finance on secular grounds, most notably M. King Hubbert, who is better known for the resource depletion curve that bears his name.

The piggy-bank issue, though, just screams "BOGUS!" through and through.

--p!

[Aimah]

57. It's not forbidden for them to have a bank account.

I work at a bank and I am Muslim. The issue comes in with whether they earn interest on the account. Most of my Muslim customers only have a checking account which does not earn interest. A few have Cd's or Savings which earn it. I think worrying about what Muslims think about pigs is a lost issue. Any Muslim thats ticked about a Piggy bank won't want any bank shaped like an animal anyway. But I don't see the reason for complaining about what the bank decides to do.

[WinkyDink]

13. It's MORE than simply "PC gone amok".

It's an insane catering to the Muslim minority.

Gee, why not close Westminster Abbey?

[rinsd]

31. Not catering....patronizing...(nt)

[AnneD]

52. More like pandering,

I guess next thing you know, kids can't sing nursery rhymes like "To market to market", or read The Three Little Pigs....and forget about Porky and Petunia Pig in the cartoons. PC run amok.....
When I went to India, the swastika type symbols was everywhere in decorations and was a big turn off because of the Western association with the Nazis. But hubby explained the historical context in India and I was ok with it. If it is offensive-get over it. Some things are cultural and as long as it is not harmful, you go with the flow.

[rinsd]

62. No....

...it assumes Muslims would be so offended when there does not to be a trail of complaints about it.

[Ravenseye]

36. It's Propoganda

No muslim I have ever met or known from friends to family would care about piggy banks at all. Heck, I had one.

No muslim is offended by piggy banks. The coverage of this is there to rile people up against Muslims.

[Igel]

61. This wasn't just an action taken to make Muslims look foolish.

It was in response to a Muslim coworker's complaint. It's been in the press for a couple of weeks.

I think it was done in order to cow non-Muslims and jerk them around. Islamic jujitsu. "I can twist the idea of you tolerating me to making you enforce my intolerance on others. And you, as a non-Muslim, are powerless to say that anything I say about my religion is in the least intolerant."

[ElsewheresDaughter]

14. You know what I think.......

Pure propaganda. Designed to make Muslims look demanding, foolish and unreasonable. I'll bet money that not ONE Muslim anywhere complained about piggy banks.

[Skittles]

15. EXACTLY my sentiments

this sounds like a prime subject for Fox News propganda

[Bridget Burke]

17. I haven't heard of any "fatwa" against piggy banks!

Why not offer a selection of "toy banks" for customers & their kids?

I agree that this story is being pushed to make Muslims look bad.

[MADem]

55. Your proposal makes far too much sense, is why!! nt

[Ravenseye]

34. Bingo

I can guarantee you if I talked to every single member of my family who are muslims they'd say something like

"This is stupid." and wave their hand in the air.

No muslim complained about this, maybe the people at the bank were trying to be conciensious and it backfired, but the coverage of it is propoganda.

[Nostradamus]

16. banks are culturally offensive...ban them

[GoddessOfGuinness]

47. My mattress looks better and better

with each passing day.

[plasticsundance]

18. Maybe the UK should stop bombing Arab/Muslim countries ...

That might be a step in the right direction in showing respect for another religion.

[arwalden]

19. They Hate Us For Our Piggy Banks!

[Javaman]

20. The phrase "holy cow" has now been banned so not to piss off Hindus.

It's a bank folks, you're not eating it!

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. See discussion in the DU UK Forum here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=191x11930

As people point out in this thread and the UK one, the Daily Star is not as very reliable paper. Until we see an actual quote from the banks concerned, take this with a large pinch of salt (yesterday, one of them still used a picture of a piggy bank on its website).

And as Taxloss points out in post #4 of the UK thread, strict Muslims can't receive interest on their money, so they won't be looking for child savings accounts anyway. There's nothing in Islam about images of pigs; there are some comments about all images, which I think the ultra-strict have in the past taken to mean you can't use images of living things at all (hence Islamic art being abstract rather than figurative), but video seems to be used all through the Islamic world now, so it seems to me that must have been decide to not be a problem.

[UncleSepp]

22. This from a bank that charges interest? It just doesn't wash

It seems to me that any Muslim so offended about a porcelain piggie would have a lot more to be offended about in a bank that charges interest for loans. Islamic banking runs on a fee system to avoid the sin of usury. If a person really wanted to follow the law, letter and spirit, he'd go to an Islamic bank.

I agree for the most part with the poster who called this as a trumped up propaganda event to portray Muslims as irrational and superstitious. The article certainly smells of propaganda, but the events it describes may not be. Rather, it sounds like an honest action taken by people who don't know anything about Islam and who really believe that Muslims living in Britain will make banking decisions based on the presence or absence of ceramic porkers!

BTW that little piggie is adorable.

[Carni]

23. Totally asinine-in addition they will only bank at NO INTEREST places

I have forgotten the term (arabic word for it) but Muslims don't pay interest on loans so they bank at financial institutions that accomodate that premise.

Call me insensitive but I think this is moronic on the part of the banks.

[demobabe]

41. That's what the banks should do

Get rid of paying and charging interest. I like that idea.

They can keep the 2% they pay on my savings account and wipe out the 6.125% I pay on my mortgage.

Oh wait, that would help individuals and not corporations. What was I thinking?

And what's with that Jesus dude, going after the moneychangers like that? He was sooooo unAmerican.

[Carni]

60. No complaints from me about doing away with interest

Unfortunately I have no desire to convert to Islam to get around paying it!

(I'm not big on any of the religions at this point)

[cap]

25. what would be so wrong with offering the banks in a variety of shapes

one could be the traditional piggy, another could be something more neutral.

Small matter to make everyone happy.

[Tight_rope]

27. WTF...Fucking use a goat then...I swear of all the petty things! n/t

[redsoxliberal]

28. I'm Muslim and I think this is absolutely ridiculous... only serving to

divide the Muslim community from the rest of Britain at a time that really is not sensible.

Why the hell do they do this now???

And why at all? This isn't even political correctness! Who's forcing anyone to eat the piggy banks for fucks sake? This is perhaps the most retarded thing I have ever heard.

[Ravenseye]

33. Well to be fair

To my knowledge there isn't anything in the Koran against eating Piggy Banks. :)

[redsoxliberal]

42. well... you ARE correct... but would you eat one anyway?

[Ravenseye]

45. Heck No!

But it wouldn't be immoral. Just stupid. :)

[redsoxliberal]

46. i dunno man... they do look yummy from time to time

I'm a vegetarian anyway... so pigs have never been a desire of mine.

[RebelOne]

29. Why don't they just take pork out of the supermarkets, also.

After all, they wouldn't want to offend the Muslim food shoppers.

[truebrit71]

30. What a bloody stupid idea.....

I think I'll get TWO now....

[toopers]

35. What about those mint pigs that people eat at Christmas . . .

While I understand the Xmas part, is the mint pig offensive also?

[Ravenseye]

37. Or a chocolate pig?

you can't eat anything from a pig, but you can eat something in the shape of a pig. Nothing wrong with that. Make a chocolate pig truffle filled with mmmmmm choclate....mmmm....and it's fine to eat. As long as it's not got chopped up pieces of bacon mixed in with the chocolate.

This is a non-story only out there to rile up people against Muslims.

[Matariki]

38. impure? HA! that makes them an APPROPRIATE symbol for banks then ;-)

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Miss Chybil]

44. BREAKING - People Unable to Move, Speak or Eat

for Fear of Offending Other People. Planet in Crisis.

Ah, well. With globalization, we will all soon be so homogenized it won't matter. One culture. One god. One Wal-Mart. It will be... heaven on earth. :-)

[Dave Reynolds]

50. So, I guess they should not eat piggy banks.

And cow banks are out of the question, as our Hindu friends may be upset.

I guess any animal bank may offend the folks who deem animals to be exploited..

[SoCalDem]

51. How 'bout Sheepy banks for people who are offended by piggy banks

or a goat bank




or

[Art_from_Ark]

59. Or how about a "maneki-neko" kitty bank?

[msongs]

53. maybe these banks should circumsize all their men workers too nt

[Aimah]

56. I know some Muslims that wouldn't want one.....

I don't think they would make a big funk about it. But I don't see the reason in complaining about why a bank would stop offering them. It's kind of a silly issue. Some Muslims wouldn't want any animal or character it would look like an idol to them.

[ECH1969]

58. I love my piggie bank

[happyslug]

63. Sounds like an EXCUSE to cut out a long time tradition to cut costs.

What I mean is the banks want to cut costs so are USING Moslems as an EXCUSE to abolish the tradition of giving out the banks, must like in the 1970s the Business community had the US Congress give the workers "Three Day" holidays when the purpose of the law was to phase out people's four day holidays (Basically before the switch people would take off the intervening Monday or Friday between a Holiday and the weekend making it a Four Day Weekend, the moving of Holidays to Mondays cut out those Four days holidays which were slow business days on top of the fact a lot of Employees took those days Off, the "Tradition" still continues for the Fourth of July).