German brothel ad angers Muslims (what doesn't?)

BBC News ^ | 4/25/2006 | Staff

[Dark Skies]

A Cologne brothel touting for clients with a World Cup-themed banner has blacked out the flags of Iran and Saudi Arabia after threats from Muslims.

The giant banner on a high-rise building shows a semi-naked woman and the flags of the 32 countries in the World Cup, which kicks off in June.

The Pascha brothel's owner, Armin Lobscheid, said a group of Muslims had threatened violence over the advert.

He said they had accused the brothel of insulting Islam by using the flags.

First there were telephone threats of violence, then about 30 hooded protesters armed with knives and sticks turned up outside Pascha on Friday, the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper reported.

"The situation was explosive," Mr Lobscheid told the paper.

"Some of the people compared our ad to the Danish Mohammed cartoons," he said, referring to cartoons which sparked violent protests in several Muslim countries in February.

The Tunisian flag - bearing the Muslim crescent symbol - remains on the ad, however.

'Overlooked'

The slogan on the ad reads: "The world is a guest of female friends" - a variant of the official World Cup slogan: "The world is a guest of friends".

Mr Lobscheid said the banner had been commissioned in a normal business deal and "we certainly didn't intend to insult anyone".

He said the significance of the flags' symbols had been overlooked.

Prostitution is legal in Germany, where the authorities are preparing for a possible boom in the sex trade during the World Cup.

[gondramB]

>>I'm speechless.<<

It was really surreal going back there - now there is sign nearby - Homes from the low 900's... go figure.

[SittinYonder]

Morally, the Muslims are right here

Oh really?

First there were telephone threats of violence, then about 30 hooded protesters armed with knives and sticks turned up

You've got a kind of twisted sense of morals, don't you?

[MortMan]

The islamophiles were mad because they couldn't figure out what to do with the half-naked woman.

[CPOSharky]

Pick a subject, any subject. Somewhere there is a muzzie group that is upset over it.

[newcthem]

How about a simple law ..........world wide if possible: anyone wearing a hood or ski mask on the street will be fair game, shot if possible.......no bag limit.

[The_Reader_David]

Could the Orthodox Christians in Cologne (surely there are some) turn out in force to protest the add, too? Please?

The brothel's name is blasphemous--it's the Greek name for the Feast of Our Lord's Resurrection!

I think we have more basis for taking offense than the Muslims for having a couple of their national flags included among those of countries whose football hooligans' base instincts are being 'appealed to' by the ad.

[Mustng959]

I don't know ... I always enjoy watching Women's soccer Team USA play, especially with soccer pro Heather Mitts at the defender position.

[Beckwith]

the flags of the 32 countries in the World Cup

Am I to imply that the other 30 are still flying?

You would think that Europe would be sensitive to NAZIs.

[SQUID]

Christianity has been beaten down by secularism and anti-Christian intentions throughout the world. Christians have become passive and that is the way many non-Christians like it. Christians are afraid to be Christian because being a strong Christian was not popular or has been portrayed as hate for others. Like Peter who denied knowing Christ before He went to the Cross.

The Cross has been replaced by a pagan rabbit and Christians have allowed this to take place. The Cross is a very offensive symbol. So, with many, dealing with pagan is better than dealing with a Christian. Communism contributed greatly to the destruction of the Eastern Church. However, it is effecting the West as well.

Muslims on the other hand are experiencing a new awakening. EVERY group struggles for control in this world. Some lose it and some find it. One thing is for sure, when a group becomes divided, they are finished.

[Beckwith]

Post 27

That's the first time in my life that anything connected to soccer caught my attention.

[Vicomte13]

"Freedom is everything."

Ergo, you support legalized prostitution in the USA?

[Mustng959]

She's definitely not just another pretty face. Voted as the ESPN sexiest female athlete a few years back by the readers, beat out tennis player Anna Kournakova and softball great Jenny Finch. Was on the gold medal Olympic team at Athens in 2004. I must admit, my favorite pro athlete. Her boyfriend is back-up QB for San Diego Chargers, I think. Lucky guy and they make a nice couple.

[ishabibble]

From an earlier thread posted, it would seem that most Catholics are busy with the huge advertisement for the movie, The Da Vinci Code, that is currently hanging in front of...a Roman Catholic Church in Rome.

The Catholic Church does not waver on the sanctity of life, or the evils of homosexuality. That is why it is always, always the first to be attacked, the most viciously attacked, and the attacks are unrelenting. So is the Pope. Life begins at conception. Homosexuality is mortal sin.

The Muslims would, to paraphrase, riot over a ham sandwich*!* so why should anyone be surprised that the dissolute, deviant Germans are aghast when 30 TROP show up with clubs and knives? Oh yeah, I'm shocked.

[Emmet Fitzhume]

Some Mohammedans saw me listening to Motley Crue on the way to work this morning, and reported the "offense."

[Emmet Fitzhume]

Well, duh.

Camels, sheep and six year old boys are the norm where they come from.

[PubliusMM]

Ping

[vox humana]

Every time we kowtow to these raghead b***ards, it just encourages them to more violence.

Every time we kowtow to these raghead barbarians, it just encourages them to more violence.

[manwiththehands]

'Woo Hoo'! No wonder the Mooselims are so upset.

[Plymouth Sentinel]

First, immoral is very different from illegal. (I'm a big John Roberts fan.)

Second, whether I might support prostitution is of little value. Prostitution itself is harmless, and so probably a poor example. Even so, I think of it as a state's right.

Still, I believe in free will (I'm one of few formally trained Miltonists). And so I would necessarily follow with the Areopagitica quote. More, I would say that obedience without choice is tyranny. (See Islam.)

I admire and applaud and congratulate a virtue that 'sallies out to see her adversary,' and chooses virtue at the end, and sticks to that.

[Sometimes A River]

But the Liberal Europeans say the only reason the Muslims hate the West is because of US foreign policy?