The vulgarism 'S*** happens' has unfortunately entered the English language. It used to be seen as grossly improper to use such language in public, especially in the presence of ladies and children. Equally, one would never hear obscenities used about sacred matters.
It is a sign of the decline in public decency that a company could now consider distributing a T-shirt not only mentioning the word 's***', but also using it for religion. The firm Rosey Nieper recently published a catalogue advertising a T-shirt listing religions adjacent to the word 's***'. The idea was to describe either a purported historical feature e.g. Judaism: 'Why does s*** keep happening to us?', or ostensible theological tenet as with Islam: 'S*** is the will of Allah', or a supposed attitude as with Protestantism: 'Let s*** fall on everyone else' - reflecting alleged self-righteous hypocrisy as characteristic of Protestants.
Wry humour?
The catalogue was brought to the attention of the British Muslim magazine Q-News, and their journalist Miss Shagufta Yaqub contacted Rosey Nieper expressing deep offence at the T-shirt. Muslims object to the misuse of words with religious connotations such as Allah, Muhammad, Mecca, Qur'an and Islam. A few years ago, the supermodel Claudia Schiffer fell foul of Muslim sensitivities after modelling a low-cut dress with Arabic inscription. Mecca bingo halls are facing pressure to change their name, and a worldwide boycott of Nike resulted from the firm marketing a training shoe with a pattern resembling the Arabic for Allah. Of course with Salman Rushdie, some Muslims were so offended that death threats ensued.
