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Good morning. The nation was divided last week on whether to snigger or be appalled by the newly married couple who staged a sex act at a holy site in Rhodes and posted it on social media. The local Bishop promptly banned such tourist weddings while the couple insisted it had all been a joke. Personally I found the behaviour of the couple faintly nauseating and their excuses lame. But then anyone can find the website offering a civil ceremony at St Paul’s Church in Lindos with a Taverna reception, lovely views, intimate atmosphere and so on. But it isn’t obviously clear from those offering the service that vulgar behaviour is unacceptable. The adverts simply assume that those wanting to celebrate their nuptials on a Greek island would have some respect, for themselves as well as the locals. In this case a boundary was crossed and real offence was caused. I think the problem was not just the sex, but the unacknowledged sense of entitlement behind it. And this is something which many of us have when we go abroad. We are irredeemable consumers assuming the right to capture what grabs us and take it home. As it happens I went to Rhodes on holiday this year and visited a Church in Lindos near where the couple were married. The Church was dedicated to the Panagia – the local title for the Virgin Mary. We were scrutinised on arrival and those with bare shoulders or wearing shorts were told to cover up. Then we went down into the Church and as our eyes adjusted to the dimness we began to make out vivid coloured frescoes of Biblical scenes on the walls, stretching up to the barrel vaulted ceiling. The quality and the colour was overwhelming and there were unexpected touches – an angel pointing out the star to the wise men, St Christopher depicted with a dog’s head, the baby Jesus being carried on Joseph’s shoulders. Without thinking I got out my mobile and starting taking pictures – the huge sign ‘no photographs’ had somehow not quite registered. There was a sense of entitlement, you see, without a moment’s reflection I acted as though I had some unalienable right to make these treasures my own. No matter that my desire, perhaps to turn the wise men and the star into a really original Christmas card, overrode the local rules, the local sense of propriety even the needs of the local economy. We carry this sense of entitlement, we tourists who can afford to travel. It is one of our deep-seated sins against our neighbours, breaking the Biblical obligation to love our neighbours as ourselves. What I did so thoughtlessly was not as embarrassing as the sad sex posing of the young couple but morally it was just as dubious. It shattered the unspoken rules of hospitality; just as surely as I would have done if I had been to a dinner party and quietly raided the wine cellar. Such guests are not welcome.
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