Petition calling for Ebay to ban the sale of consecrated hosts

[gtsecc]

petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/bbsdofj/petition.html)

[Letalis]

I signed it. Thank you for bringing this petition to our attention.

[TomUK]

Signed :)

[gitlance]

Signed.

[UberLutheran]

Ewwwwww. :eek:

That's just WRONG.

I signed the petition.

[BarbB]

This is an abomination, but what is being done to stop parishioners from walking out with a consecrated host? Maybe time to monitor whether the host is being taken in or not! :cry:

[Colabomb]

Perversion Perversion Perversion!!!!

Disgusting!

[PaladinValer]

Added with the comment that all religious relics, Christian or non-Christian, should be banned. Whose going to prove authentication, hmmm?

eBay messed up big time...

[trooper]

Signed. Horrible...

[TomUK]

I signed less than 12 hours ago. When i signed there was 2358 signatures, now there's 3629. :clap:

[RedneckAnglican]

signed...that is VERY wrong...

[Zacharias]

That is sick! :sick:

[john23237]

Signed. Selling the body of Our Lord is about as sick as one can get.

[gtsecc]

4656 Total Signatures

[Father Rick]

signed!

[AveMaria]

signed.

4464 total.

[Songspinner]

4749!!!

[CSMR]

I am a libertarian compared to you folks LOL

[Zacharias]

5129 Total Signatures!

[Iron Sun 254]

These online petitions rarely do any good, but I signed it.

It's at 7718 now.

[PaladinValer]

7,904 as of now

[TomUK]

I tried contacting ebayuk about this- after half an hour of negotiating menus i gave up. If anyone finds a way of hammering ebay with emails THEN DO IT!!!!

[Iron Sun 254]

If you could get Roman Catholics to publicly ban eBay until they complied they'd get in line real fast.

[Iron Sun 254]

FYI, the total number has passed 11,000

[pmcleanj]

...[sale of] all religious relics, Christian or non-Christian, should be banned...emphasis added

It is this perspective, and only this perspective, that gives us any moral ground to stand on in signing this petition. I can think of many things easily as "sick" as the sale of a consecrated host: "Christian" explorers in the Amazon trading in shrunken heads (see Thor Heyerdahl's account in Kon Tiki), "curiosities" brought back from the colonies to decorate country homes: mummies ground up for pharmaceuticals, statues of Shiva or Kali used as hat-racks, medicine bags ending up as tobacco pouches or reticules after being bought for a few beads off a Cree first rendered drunk by trader's whiskey. Without this sensitivity toward non-Christian relics, the petition may easily be discounted as the self-serving demands of a privileged majority religion.

At least the pharoanic religion had died out before the abuse of mummies and sarcophagi occurred (and the Muslims who supplanted it, being truly free of idolatry, generally take no religious offence the abuse, however much patriotic offence they may take at the removal of their cultural artifacts). Hindus and Cree though are still today being offended by the abuses of their religious artifacts, that some of us may unknowingly participate in. Remember, the young man who posted the host for sale didn't believe that it effected the Real Presence, any more than I believe that Lord Shiva inhabits a dancing brass statue.

Of course, idolatrous religions have a particular vulnerability to religious abuse. If a god can be limited by the physical dimensions of an idol, then that god is as powerless to protect himself as is the idol. Our respect for the consecrated elements must never cross the line into idolatry -- we must never delude ourselves either that holding the eucharist in our hands gives us power over God, nor that God is unable to act in His own defence.

From time to time, purported relics, church furnishings, and other sacramentals do come up for sale on ebay. And usually there is a small furore among Christians trying to buy up the item to keep them out of the hands of satanists. To me this defensive posture is inconsistent with our call to carry the Gospel out into the world of non-Christians. We are called to be risk-takers, by a God who is profligate with his grace. God already took the untimate risk of putting his Son into the hands of sinners, and brought forth from that risk ultimate victory. With that example, how can we quail at the thought that a relic may give power into the hands of secularists or satanists. Far more likely, given that our God is real and our sacramentals are truly blessed, that a prayer-desk regularly used by a satanist will weaken Satan's hold, that a relic in the hands of a secularist may intrigue him to seek God with greater vigour.

If we pour too much of our respect and devotion into things, then those things can be used to hold us to ransom, and divert our resources from the work we should be doing in the world in God's name. It is said that a man in California offered to ransom the e-bay Host for $2000. That's $2000 that would enrich some kid instead of building a Habitat home or endowing a hospital or feeding the homeless. That's a potential industry of host-for-ransome sales that we make ourselves vulnerable to, by not trusting God to have the power to be God.

Like CSMR, I'm a libertarian on this issue. The best way to stamp out bad taste is to make it unprofitable: socially, economically, and in every other way. By all means, vocally condemn the tasteless acts of those who trade in religious artifacts (including, where necessary, museums and collectors) so that such trade has no social sanction. But also refrain from participating in such trade with your own resources, and discourage others wherever you have influence, from making such trade economically viable.

[Iron Sun 254]

Indeed...those Chiristians who scramble to buy such an item to "protect" it only serve to raise the price and make it more lucrative for such sellers to make a business of it.

[Zacharias]

24242 Total Signatures

[TomUK]

24242 Total Signatures

wow!

[UberLutheran]

IN A WAY, I can understand a non-Christian not understanding how important this is to us.

We all believe that Christ is with, in and through the Host; but the non-Christian probably wouldn't understand that. (I want to believe that people really wouldn't be so mean-minded and mean-spirited to sell a consecrated Host while knowing what it was, what it represented, and why it was important to people.)

One time, I decided to compose choral music to each of the monotheistic religions' most important prayers -- the Sh'ma Y'Israel for Judaism, the Lord's Prayer for Christianity, and the first Surah of the Q'uran. A Muslim friend of mine explained that setting Islamic texts to music, particularly vocal music, simply is not done.

Christians and Jews have a long-standing tradition of choral religious and liturgical music. Muslims view the singing voice as a possible temptation, so there is NO vocal music in their services. Someone had to tell me so I'd know...

[Iron Sun 254]

Now over 30,000