What gives offence.

Following on from the last post, I have tried to imagine what sort of things I would like people arrested for because they have offended me. Here is a random list.

Bad language - not only the words employed to describe sexual and excretory functions but particularly "Jesus" and "Christ" used as expletives, and when I am in a bad mood, grammatical solecisms, misplaced apostrophes and interpolated aitches at the beginning of the word 'aitch'.

Homosexual activity in public places. Come to think of it, heterosexual activity in public places. No snogging in church!

Bullying, particularly racist bullying, whether it be white on black or black on white or black on Asian. But not just racism. Bullying of girls by boys, women by men, the old by the young, the poor by the rich, the ugly by the beautiful, workers by management, homosexuals by heterosexuals, red-haired people by those with other hair colors, and vice-versa for all of these categories, since we should never assume that bullying is always one-way.

Cheating. I am offended by those who dissemble to obtain benefits that they are not entitled to as well as those who fail to pay their taxes; by those who call a ball 'out' when it is 'in' at tennis, who feign injury in football, who claim a catch in cricket when they know it had already hit the ground before it ended up in their hands, who land low-blows in boxing, who use hands in the ruck in rugby, by card sharps, hucksters, charlatans, scientific frauds, adulterers and advertisers of face creams (no, you're not worth it).

Arrogance. This is a major temptation in everyone who is powerful including politicians, physicians and preachers.

Rudeness. In a way this is a form of bullying. You can either be rude back which is bad manners or you can cower under it, which means you are being bullied. In Western culture it is rude to hide your face in public. Whether you are wearing one of those all-over crash helmets, a balaclava or a niqab, it is impolite to wear one in Western society unless you are riding a motor cycle or robbing a bank. It is only because correcting people in public is regarded as rude that you haven't be told before.

In religion I am offended by baptismal regeneration, papal infallibility, the idea of Mary's immaculate conception or bodily assumption, the idea of priests as a separate category of Christians, drawing attention to yourself by waving your hands in the air, the prosperity gospel, denying the communion table to anyone who is not a member of your group, denial of the existence of either hell or heaven, lack of generosity, the idea that you can work your way to heaven, the denial of the deity of Christ, the creation of sainthood as a special category of 'super Christians', the worship of many gods, atheism, deism, denial of the resurrection of Christ, deliberate distortions of the Trinity, female circumcision, jihads and suicide bombers.

You might think I am easily offended.