Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Defacing the Bible

In Glasgow, some 100 people gathered in front of the Gallery of Modern Art to protest the defacement of a Bible that was featured in a recent art exhibition.According to this article,

Artist Jane Clarke, a minister at the Metropolitan Community Church, asked visitors to annotate the Bible with stories and reflections, as a way of making it more inclusive. But visitors to the gallery took the invitation a bit further than she had anticipated.

"This is all sexist pish, so disregard it all," wrote one person, while another described the Bible as "the biggest lie in human history" and a third wrote: "Mick Jagger and David Bowie belong in here." On the first page of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, someone had written: "I am Bi, Female and Proud. I want no god who is disappointed in this."

"Writing our names in the margins of a Bible was to show how we have been marginalised by many Christian churches, and also our desire to be included in God's love.
"As a young Christian I was encouraged by my church to write my own insights in the margins of the Bible I used for my daily devotions -- this was an extension of that idea."


To be fair, the artist did express that she was "saddened that some people have chosen to write offensive messages." Still, it's hard to imagine her exhibiting the Koran to show how homosexuals or proud bi-females have been "marginalized" in Islam. Somehow that concept never entered her mind.

Why is that? Is it somehow "edgier" to dissect Christianity? Such a brave, envelope-pushing work, indeed.

Sigh.

I somehow doubt that we will see Christian riots, or fanatical crowds of Methodists rampaging through the streets of our major cities, or Baptists flying planes into skyscrapers.

And until we do, don't talk to me about the moral equivalence between Islam and Christianity.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are so right. Again, I heard about this on talk radio. I appreciate you mentioning that the artist was saddened by some of the comments, because that part was left out on the Fred Thompson and Dennis Miller shows.

Who said it was edgier? Who said it was brave and envelope pushing? I bet it was one of those efette black liberal radicals (that thinks he's better than us), wasn't it. I like that your main point was remind us of how awful all the followers of Islam are. Let me give the moral equivalancy game a try: until Muslim clerics are driven from their Mosques in shame for using crystal meth and having sex with a prostitute..."until we do, don't talk to me about the moral equivalence between Islam and Christianity." The real heroes of this world are those who listen to talk radio, eat cheetos and read right wing blogs, and their time will come again my friend.

Anonymous said...

John and Carrie Davis are being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, California for torturing and imprisoning their sons, Yahweh Lord (17) and Angel Lord (12), for the past nine years.

Deputies discovered the children with their wrists chained and whip marks on their backs. The children were rarely allowed outdoors and had never been to a school or a doctor. Carrie Davis did say that the boys received regular exercise. "We take them out to exercise," she said. "We run them."

She conceded that she and her husband used restraints when the children became disobedient while locked in their room for Bible studies. First they used strips of fabric, tied around the boys' wrists, to tether them to a bench while they studied. That worked "for the longest time," she said, but when they learned how to untie the knots, she said she began using dog chains and wire wrapped around their wrists. When the boys learned to untangle the wire, she said, she switched to stronger chains and locks.

Asked to explain their disciplinary tactics, Davis quoted the Bible's Book of Proverbs: "'He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him, disciplines him diligently.' I'm in chains, but they did this to Jesus too… I heard they've been saying we are a cult. If that's true, everybody who believes in Jesus is part of a cult."

...."until we do, don't talk to me about the moral equivalence between Islam and Christianity."

Small Town Doc said...

I didn't hear about this on talk radio. You are becoming worse than Dad, you gun-toting toddler you. Nor was my main point about ALL of the followers of Islam.

And I do NOT eat Cheetos. Elmer's CheeWeez or cracklin's sometimes.

From Save Civilization.org:

What if 80% of the elementary school children in America wanted to grow up to be suicide bombers?

This is the case among Palestinian school children.

What if Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham and T.D. Jakes and hundreds of other preachers regularly appeared on TV begging for volunteers to explode themselves and others for God's sake?

Prominent clerics across the Middle East commonly do this.

What if the US government published books and pamphlets claiming that Canadians routinely kill white people to make pastries with human blood in them.

Across the Middle East, university professors, clerics, heads of state, and journalist believe and propagate the belief that Jews use human blood to make Passover matzos.

What if every child in America used text books that taught that God hates Canadians, that Canadians were descended from apes and pigs, and that anyone who kills a Canadian will be rewarded in heaven.

Throughout the Middle East such state printed text books are in use. They are also being used in Britain and America in Islamic schools.

What if the US government spent hundreds of millions of dollars to send missionaries and build schools to help spread the word across the entire earth that Canadians are pigs and must be destroyed?

Most Islamic countries have branches of their governments which funnel millions of dollars in public funds for the propagation of radical Islam.

What if the US government denied that there was any such country as Canada.

Muslim leaders commonly deny the legitimate claim of Israel to exist. It is also common among the leaders and academics of Islam to deny that the holocaust ever took place.

What if the Bible was filled with verses commanding Christians to go out and kill every non-Christian they could find?

The Quran contains plenty of such verses and most scholars insist that these later, violent verses abrogate the earlier more tempered ones.

But hey--those guys are JUST LIKE US, right?

Anonymous said...

You do know that the Canadians control the media, don't you?

Olga Spachil said...

How sad!

Anonymous said...

Thank you , or I'm very sorry...

Small Town Doc said...

Wait--are the Canadians the ones with the little funny hats?