{"id":104635,"date":"2024-04-03T07:56:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T06:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/?p=104635"},"modified":"2024-04-03T07:56:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T06:56:32","slug":"firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"FIRS apologises over Easter message, says it wasn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has apologised to Christians over its Easter message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 31, in a now-deleted post about Easter, the FIRS wrote that \u201cJesus paid your debt, not your taxes\u201d\u2014 a statement that sparked significant public outcry among Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) condemned the Easter message by FIRS, demanding an apology from the agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAN also described the message as \u201coffensive and derogatory to the Christian faith\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to CAN\u2019s statement, Dare Adekanmbi, special adviser, media to the FIRS, in a statement on Tuesday, said as a responsible agency of government, the service did not put out the flier purposely to denigrate Jesus Christ or \u201cdetract from the huge sacrifice He made for humanity\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are acutely aware that the essence of the Easter period is to celebrate this huge sacrifice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe message was our way of uniquely engaging taxpayers and to remind them of the need to prioritise payment of their taxes as a civic obligation. Yes, we would say the message ruffled feathers in some circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the agency, the unintended meaning being read into the post was not what \u201cwe were out to communicate as an agency\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFIRS, as a responsible agency, has no religion and will not bring down any religion or offend the sensibilities of adherents of various faiths in the country,\u201d FIRS said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal is to assess, collect and account for revenue for the wellbeing of the Federation. We believe it is an investment in the progress of the country when citizens pay their taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIRS apologised to CAN and Christians who felt offended at the unexpected consequence of the message on Easter Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has apologised to Christians over its Easter message. On March 31, in a now-deleted post about Easter, the FIRS wrote that \u201cJesus paid your debt, not your taxes\u201d\u2014 a statement that sparked significant public outcry among Christians. Consequently, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) condemned the Easter message by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":886,"featured_media":104636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[427],"tags":[80],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nFIRS apologises over Easter message, says it wasn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has apologised to Christians over its Easter message.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FIRS apologises over Easter message, says it wasn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jesus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has apologised to Christians over its Easter message.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BodexNG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/bodexng\/?_rdc=1&amp%3bamp%3b_rdr\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-03T06:56:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-03T06:56:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/FIRS-apologises-over-Easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-Jesus.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BodexNG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bodexng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bodexng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BodexNG\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BodexNG\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8e785bd6f525bebadad85f7e6b9b2f4b\"},\"headline\":\"FIRS apologises over Easter message, says it wasn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jesus\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-03T06:56:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-03T06:56:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/\"},\"wordCount\":295,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Featured\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/\",\"name\":\"FIRS apologises over Easter message, says it wasn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jesus\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-03T06:56:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-03T06:56:32+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has apologised to Christians over its Easter message.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"FIRS apologises over Easter message, says it wasn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jesus\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/\",\"name\":\"BodexNG\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Bodex Media\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/bodex-media-nom.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/bodex-media-nom.png\",\"width\":918,\"height\":1152,\"caption\":\"Bodex Media\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/bodexng\/?_rdc=1&amp;_rdr\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bodexng\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8e785bd6f525bebadad85f7e6b9b2f4b\",\"name\":\"BodexNG\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/01e9342ee72aeedbbe53e506e878c204?s=96&d=wp_user_avatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/01e9342ee72aeedbbe53e506e878c204?s=96&d=wp_user_avatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"BodexNG\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FIRS apologises over Easter message, says it wasn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jesus","description":"The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has apologised to Christians over its Easter message.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"FIRS apologises over Easter message, says it wasn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jesus","og_description":"The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has apologised to Christians over its Easter message.","og_url":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/","og_site_name":"BodexNG","article_publisher":"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/bodexng\/?_rdc=1&%3bamp%3b_rdr","article_published_time":"2024-04-03T06:56:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-03T06:56:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":650,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/FIRS-apologises-over-Easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-Jesus.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"BodexNG","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bodexng","twitter_site":"@bodexng","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"BodexNG","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/"},"author":{"name":"BodexNG","@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8e785bd6f525bebadad85f7e6b9b2f4b"},"headline":"FIRS apologises over Easter message, says it wasn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jesus","datePublished":"2024-04-03T06:56:30+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-03T06:56:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/"},"wordCount":295,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Featured"],"articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/","url":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/","name":"FIRS apologises over Easter message, says it wasn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jesus","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-04-03T06:56:30+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-03T06:56:32+00:00","description":"The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has apologised to Christians over its Easter message.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/2024\/04\/firs-apologises-over-easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-jesus\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"FIRS apologises over Easter message, says it wasn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jesus"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/","name":"BodexNG","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#organization","name":"Bodex Media","url":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/bodex-media-nom.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/bodex-media-nom.png","width":918,"height":1152,"caption":"Bodex Media"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/bodexng\/?_rdc=1&amp;_rdr","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bodexng"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8e785bd6f525bebadad85f7e6b9b2f4b","name":"BodexNG","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/01e9342ee72aeedbbe53e506e878c204?s=96&d=wp_user_avatar&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/01e9342ee72aeedbbe53e506e878c204?s=96&d=wp_user_avatar&r=g","caption":"BodexNG"}}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/FIRS-apologises-over-Easter-message-says-it-wasnt-meant-to-denigrate-Jesus.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cQfH-rdF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/886"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104637,"href":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104635\/revisions\/104637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bodexng.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}