Christian groups are up in arms and condemning a sex shop for displaying a nativity scene showing the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and the baby Jesus painted on ceramic dildos.
A boycott campaign started after Non Sit Peccatum (Latin for ‘not a sin’) based in the town of Talavera de la Reina. Owner, Héctor Valdivielso, commissioned the images to be made and displayed them in the shop window.
At first the display was popular with people reported Europa Press. People were stopping outside and taking photos and selfies. Then, a group called Children or the Virgin Mary condemned the shop and demanded the scene be removed.
“A man with his wife ordered me to remove the offending scene and said that if I didn’t he would remove it himself.” said Valdivielso on his Facebook account.
A small group of protesters gathered outside his shop and it was reportedly sprayed-painted with the word “pecadores” (sinners).
“Don’t you have the balls to display something that would offend Muslims? Of course not, because they would blow you up.” was said in a letter posted to Facebook along with other hate mail.
He took down the display and put up a sign asking his customers to vote online whether or not he should put the display back up.
Amazingly the vote turned out to be 78.5 per cent for it to be reinstated.
Valdivielso wrote, “People asked me not to give in to blackmail, so it’s going back in the window.”
In a separate incident last year, a Spanish artist caused an outrage after stealing 242 consecrated communion wafers, which according to Catholic teaching are the literal body of Christ, and used 
them to spell out the word “pederasty”(sexual relations between two males, especially when one of them is a minor.) in a piece of modern art.
Even after over 100,00 people signed a petition to take it down, the local city hall refused to act.
There have been no reports of violence despite the severity and absurdity of the events.
I’m really not sure what to make of these two news stories from around the world but it is certainly interesting to see the different ways people react to the same situations.