Swedish Church faces backlash over ‘taco Jesus’ tweet

The Swedish Church has faced criticism after it sent out a tweet celebrating the country's tradition of eating tacos on Fridays along with a GIF of Jesus wriggling his fingers in anticipation.

Published: 1 November 2017 08:49 CET

Swedish Church faces backlash over 'taco Jesus' tweet

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The tweet, sent from the official Swedish Church account on October 27th, reads “now it's FINALLY #tacofriday” and contains a GIF of Jesus.

När det ÄNTLIGEN är #tacofredag pic.twitter.com/WR8AanZ7QM

— Svenska kyrkan (@svenskakyrkan) October 27, 2017

It references the Swedish habit of eating Tex-Mex style tacos at the end of the working week. But not all of the account’s followers were happy with the Tweet. Though it has over 1,700 likes, there are also several negative comments in the 246 replies.

“Completely distasteful and offensive,” one reply read, to which the Swedish Church responded “it’s a way of joking about a normal Friday. I believe in a God who likes humour”.

“So idiotic. Do you believe in the man in the image?” one other comment said. “Yes, it’s God’s son who died for our sake. I also believe in a God with humour,” the church account replied.

Others were not offended however, and saw a funny side to the debate. Fredrik Leijerstam, spokesperson for Sweden’s Green Party in Uppsala, tweeted in response:

“I think this thread is in itself as proof that god has a sense of humour. It's gold!”