Satan’s design is to buy your Soul – at the very foundation of every scheme of Satan is the hidden effort to buy your soul.
If spreading religious intolerance is the goal, a Middle Eastern bank has scored by prompting Real Madrid to alter its world-famous logo so that a small cross does not appear on an officially-licensed credit card.
The Spanish soccer giant unveiled the adjusted logo that will adorn a new credit card issued by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, reported The Algemeiner. The new logo looks exactly like the club’s 83-year-old trademark, except for the absence of a tiny Christian cross that normally sits at the top.
The logo change was agreed to by the world’s wealthiest sports team, valued at nearly $3.5 billion, in order to avoid offending Muslim sensibilities as the team and the bank enter a three-year “strategic alliance,” according to Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez.
“I know that the local people experience every match in a special way and that our links with the UAE are constantly growing stronger,” Perez said recently. “This agreement will help the club to keep conquering the hearts of followers in the United Arab Emirates.”
Noted Spanish soccer website Marca: “from the looks of things, the club is willing to compromise on aspects of its identity in pursuit of these new fans.”
However, it was not the first time the soccer juggernaut tweaked its crest to avoid offending Islamic sensibilities.In the oil-rich Emirates in 2012, Real Madrid made the same change to smooth the way for a partnership with a UAE resort.
Real Madrid’s most recent decision to cave into Muslim religious intolerance comes at a time of growing concern for Christians in the Middle East, where Islamic State terrorists have massacred and ethnically cleansed ancient Christian communities in Iraq and Syria, noted The Algemeiner, citing a recent State Department report highlighting several violations of international standards on religious freedom in the United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is a part.
“The government prohibits proselytizing and the distribution of non-Islamic religious literature under penalty of criminal prosecution, imprisonment and deportation,” the report observed. “The law prohibits churches from erecting bell towers or displaying crosses on the outside of their premises; however, the government does not always enforce this law, and some churches display crosses on their buildings.”
Selected readers’ comments:
“El Cid Campeador is turning over in his grave. The collapse of western civilization, brick by brick. Talk about selling your soul !!!!“
“Real Madrid’s most recent decision to cave into Muslim religious intolerance comes at a time of growing concern for Christians in the Middle East, where Islamic State terrorists have massacred and ethnically cleansed ancient Christian communities in Iraq and Syria„
“If this is not the worst kind of “prostitution” and an example if greed before principles, than I don’t know what it is! The Real Madrid is no longer part of the Western civilization! „
“Just one more indication of how the West is on a path to commit cultural suicide. Islam hardly ever misses an opportunity to exercise its “Islam ueber alles” supremacist ideology.„
“Looks to me like the Middle Eastern bank, rather than scoring a victory for ‘religious tolerance’, is lacking in ‘religious tolerance’. If a Western bank had asked an Islamic organization to remove an Islamic symbol, that would certainly be called religious intolerance. Tolerance would be allowing it.„
“I would have told the UAE to stick it in their ear. They expect everyone to respect and obey ALL their religious mores, symbols and laws so why can’t they reciprocate„
“Since money is now their god, they should have replaced the cross with a dollar sign.“
“It is not yet clear whether the UAE will require Ronaldo, Real Madrid’s top striker, to change his Christian name – which is, appropriately, “Cristiano.” „
Real Madrid and The Offense of The Cross
It was a really tiny cross. Honestly, it was barely noticeable in all that pearly pizzazz and gaudy gold. The Crown of Alfonso XII has been a sacred symbol of the Spanish Monarchy for more than 300 years, and that symbolism is reified by the Christian cross which sits at the crest of majesty. God has appointed; Christ is the source of wisdom; the Church proclaims its earthly sovereign. Europe still resonates with the echoes of Christendom: our history is undeniable; the fons et origo of our law, morality, freedom and fraternity are irrefutable.
But not for Spain’s supreme football team Real Madrid, who, despite proudly bearing the ‘Royal’ epithet, have excised the cross of Christ’s regency from their iconic crest after securing a sponsorship deal with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Apparently it’s only the sponsored credit card which carries the theologically-emasculated emblem. But that credit card doubles as the Real Madrid club membership card, so escaping sharia sensitivities censorship would appear to be impossible.
This brand variation is to accommodate the club’s Muslim fans in the United Arab Emirates, where the cross might be considered something of a stumbling block. But the new new design is therefore likely to apply to the crest’s reproduction throughout the entire Middle East, for the crucifixion of Jesus is a scandal of faith to all Muslims: their Jesus is no “suffering servant” but the prophet of miracles: He did not suffer the shame and degradation of death on a cross. Those who hang on a tree are cursed by God.
It is ironic – is it not – as the Islamic State is rampaging throughout the region, desecrating churches, destroying ancient tombs and tearing down all icons and crosses in a systematic programme of ‘religious cleansing’, that Europe is becoming complicit in this cultural conversion. While ISIS is busy crucifying Christians and cutting off their heads, Real Madrid is denying Christ by cutting off the symbol of salvation, justification and saving grace. They might as well replace it with the black Islamic flag (they haven’t, of course: the apex of the modified crown is left bare. The revision above is simply symbolic of our political acquiescence, economic deference and religious passivity which only bolster the Islamist zeal for the Caliphate and world domination).
The National Bank of Abu Dhabi may be politically prestigious, mighty powerful and filthy rich, but quite why Real Madrid’s historic monarchism and the Spanish King’s unashamed Christian profession should bow in worship of sharia fascism is the €90 million (“strategic alliance”) question (over three years). It isn’t as though Spain isn’t sensitive to the evils of autocracy and the injustices of totalitarianism. Perhaps in the globalisation of sport the market transcends morality: the cross of Christ must be subject to Sharia Mammon where it is expedient to do so. If Real Madrid seeks to conquer the hearts of potential new followers in the UAE, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi is more than happy to sponsor their conversion.
But it is curious that the cross should be excised to avoid giving offence to Real Madrid’s Muslim fans without, it appears, much consideration at all of the offence this might give to its Christian fans. How many Spanish Roman Catholic followers of ‘Los Blancos’ are disquieted if not aggrieved at the eradication of the club’s historic Christian identity in order to appease Islam? What is the point of winning hearts in the UAE if you’re losing them in the EU?
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