It's their site and all but as a business they should be more inclusive. Ironic since billions of people are (at least nominally) Christian and most probably observe or note Easter.
From what I've gathered, they've never really "doodled" anything that could remotely resemble a religion in the event that it looks like they endorse or favor it over others. Cesar Chavez was a civil rights activist akin to MLK or Gandhi so it seems pretty apt that they'd honor him in a doodle.
EDIT: Looks like I was wrong about religious-based doodles. But it still stands that they don't have to pander to a certain segment of the population (especially a major one) on an annual basis. Personally, I feel the doodles are more about educating and informing. I often come across doodles that represent some person or thing that I had no idea about before and find myself clicking on the doodle and the subsequent links it pulls up as part of the search. Seems like it's not always about celebrating the most commonly known ideas/people.
In fact, having already done Easter was part of their response to this "controversy" -- there were two subjects for the same day, so they picked the one they hadn't already featured.
They doodle Christmas, saint Valentine's day, and all saints eve every year. Easter is the only commercialized Christian holiday they don't cover every year.
How does highlighting Chavez (the American farm worker advocate, not the Venezuelan ex-president) slight Christians? Heck, Cesar Chavez himself was Catholic.
So you can't even say they've ignored the holiday, just that they prefer to highlight different ones from year to year (with exceptions presumably due to internal popularity or artists' personal predilections).
(Sorry for wasting thread space on this old, off-topic, manufactured controversy.)
Invariably when you hear about a "war on Christianity" in first world countries, the topic is a manufactured non-issue. It never stops, and logic plays no part in it.
I don't think it is a talking point outside of the US (if it is, I have not been exposed to it), but people in the US do like to point out what they perceive as "a war on christianity" in other countries.
If the country in question is, I don't know, Cambodia, perhaps that is true (no idea if it is or not). But if the American christian fundamentalists are claiming that there is a war on christianity in England or France, then they are without doubt full of shit.
It seems like there is a certain brand of christian fundamentalist in America that really wants to think that the Romans are still tossing them to lions or something. They find that idea vindicating perhaps, I don't know. I don't get it.
You know what would be inclusive? Acknowledging that not everybody is Christian, and being OK with the Google home page celebrating something other than your Christian holidays on occasion.
You know what would be inclusive? Acknowledging that not everybody is Christian, and being OK with the Google home page celebrating something other than your Christian holidays on occasion.
You know what would be inclusive? Acknowledging that not everybody is for Gay Marriage, and being OK with the Google home page celebrating something other than your pro-Gay Marriage ruling.
Personally I am barely a "believer" and don't oppose gay marriage but your argument made no sense. No doubt you can find people opposing Mandela, Mother Teresa and even Einstein, so no doodles for them to be inclusive?
Not everyone supports gay marriage and not all opinions are deserving of the same amount of respect. It's OK for companies like Google to have the courage to have an opinion.
This is an issue of direct relevance to many of those that work at Google. I think it's fine for corporations to take a stand on social issues that directly affect their employees.
The problem isn't with companies having opinions, even political ones. There are opinions I disagree with, but am OK with companies having. And then there are opinions of a lower quality, like those that are hateful and based on superstition. To those, I object.
I think what we should understand is corporate tries really hard to be socially acceptable (some of the ways are marketing themselves as champions of women rights, equal opportunities, LGBT community supporters). It is up to them as to what stand they want to take on a matter. It would be even more courageous if they take the opposite stand on this particular matter precisely because people would howl, cry and do what not.
You are being obtuse; Einstein, Mandela, and gay marriage are not religious topics. I would expect that they would tread lightly around Mother Teresa, being not only a religious figure but a particularly controversial one (read: accusations of human rights issues. Proper heavyweight controversy.)
I'm not saying "omitting Easter is inclusive because not everyone is Christian". I'm saying allowing Easter to be overshadowed by something else occasionally is inclusive. If it has to be about you every time, year after year, that's not inclusive.
Google has had a front page logo for many christian celebration days, like Christmas. Given this, you're acting incredibly entitled by hijacking a thread for your pet issue to complain about a rainbow color around the search box for a specific search term. Google is already giving much much more attention to Christianity than to gay marriage, but you demand more.
There's also no agreement on a name for the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. Most of my Orthodox friends call it "Pascha" (and set its date based on the Julian calendar), and my Messianic friends consider it part of the larger "Pesach" (or "Passover" when they decide to communicate it in English). Some simply call it "Resurrection Sunday".
Just going to throw this out there but I think it would be really cool if they DID include a Ramadan doodle...
I'm a Christian and I think it's cool when I see a religious and non-Christian theme. It helps to make me more aware of other religions and their holidays. You may think that's strange for a Christian, but it isn't actually. Just strange for the ones you hear from in the media.
>> So what? Islam has 1.5 billion "members" and I don't recall any special Ramadan doodles.
Not sure if they are any doodles for Mohammed or Ramadan in Arabic and largely Muslim countries but I don't see why they should be any in countries where Islam barely registers. That applies to any other religion of course. Google would be insane to put a Christmas doodle in Pakistan, Indonesia or Saudi Arabia for example. Local sensitivities should apply.
>>In short: not everything is about Jesus. Hopefully, this trend will continue.
Like I said, this is Google's page but simply because they did it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Google surely loves to take boatload of adwords money for Easter and Christmas. Why do they respect local sensitivities when it comes to making money?
> Not sure if they are any doodles for Mohammed or Ramadan in Arabic and largely Muslim countries but I don't see why they should be any in countries where Islam barely registers
OTOH, why not? Spreading knowledge is usually a good thing...
As long as <non-local-religious/cultural-event X> doesn't conflict with something local, and isn't the sort of thing that raises local hackles (a few things do; most things, not really), why not show it, and teach some people a little thing about another culture...?
Can you imagine the righteous Christian indignation and uproar that would ensue if Google ever turned down money from some Christian advertiser on the basis you suggest?
These numbers are highly exaggerated. For example, the largest christian church has more than 1 billion members (member=baptized) and I don't think that currently there is any way of officially leaving the church after being baptized...
The right of apostasy is considered part of the ICCPR treaty[1], so it should be respected by all the parties. At least here in Portugal, you have the right to demand they stop using you in statistics and such.
Of course, most people don't bother even if they aren't actually religious, so the Church still claims 80% of us are Catholic, even though many don't even get married in a religious ceremony anymore, much less attend mass.
They have done the Easter Bunny before, Easter egg hunts and suchlike. They just didn't do it this year. They don't mark gay pride every year either, that I'm aware of.
There hasn't been an Easter doodle since 2000. The doodle team goes to great lengths to avoid recognizing people/subjects that are controversial (not that this is always successful)
From what I've gathered, they've never really "doodled" anything that could remotely resemble a religion in the event that it looks like they endorse or favor it over others. Cesar Chavez was a civil rights activist akin to MLK or Gandhi so it seems pretty apt that they'd honor him in a doodle.
EDIT: Looks like I was wrong about religious-based doodles. But it still stands that they don't have to pander to a certain segment of the population (especially a major one) on an annual basis. Personally, I feel the doodles are more about educating and informing. I often come across doodles that represent some person or thing that I had no idea about before and find myself clicking on the doodle and the subsequent links it pulls up as part of the search. Seems like it's not always about celebrating the most commonly known ideas/people.