Some points:

- Christians identify with Christ. They aspire to be more Christ-like. Christ is the ideal which they strive to attain. Therefore, to most of that faith, insulting Christ is insulting them, since they are wishing to be, in every way, just like the person being insulted.

- To Christians, Christ is not a public figure. He is God with whom we have a personal relationship. He is family. Your example of mother is well-taken. In my case, jokes about my mother would hurt to the same degree whether or not she was a public figure, because the family relationship trumps that for me.

- your statement about " (groups of) real people" led me to believe that offending a group held some distinction from insulting an individual. I apologize if I misread your intent.

I'm not asking you to change your own opinions about the sanctity of any particular religious figure .. just trying to explain to you how others might feel about it.

In reply to Re^4: Jokes, ad-hominem attacks, and sensitivity by husker
in thread Jokes, ad-hominem attacks, and sensitivity by radiantmatrix

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