Christianity is no stranger to being attacked in all forms of the media; from music, film, TV, and art, among more. While the ‘Moral Majority’ group no longer exists, some conservative Christian groups that hold power, do still have some influence on politics, and as such – over art.
That power has largely slipped away however, with most of the art world, and ‘Hollywood,’ having turned largely pagan, or at the very least – secular; that is – non Christian. In the art world, it was for decades, typically en’ vogue to insult Jesus Christ, God, and Christianity, and most in power in the art world never complained about it.
A politician, who holds a post at an art museum funded by taxpayer dollars, recently protested a curatorial decision of the museum. The museum decided to include works by an artist whose work deliberately blasphemes God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible.
Svetlana Mintcheva, head of programs at the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), responded to that man and his partner with a public letter, as partially detailed here as follows; “While totalitarian and undemocratic societies have suppressed art and demonized artists, burned heretics and tortured dissenters, I hope you will agree that we are fortunate to be living in a country where the use of religious symbols in art, whether approved by church dogma or not, is protected under the First Amendment. The government cannot suppress real or imagined attacks upon a particular religious doctrine, nor can it suppress works of art said to be offensive, sacrilegious, morally improper or dangerous. Contrary to what you appear to believe, government officials are also barred from using the power of the purse to discriminate against art based on the viewpoint expressed in it.”
Christianity – A Safe Target
Would Svetlana Mintcheva hold the same position to defend works of art insulting Allah, Muhammad, The Quran, and Islam? Why didn’t the artist include those images? Christianity has not only been trendy to attack in the past, but also generally safe to attack, because most modern day Christians are peaceful.
With a small number of fanatical Muslim extremists ready to kill anyone who mocks Islam however (which the Quran advises followers to do), it is doubtful that Mintcheva would really have the guts to put her neck on the line if she were at risk of having her head – like the girls’ head in one of the art works she defends – chopped off. [artnt]
A critic of the works made the comment, “If you don’t care about insulting someone’s religion, then get this – blaspheming Christianity is boring and passe’. Get some guts – or go away.”
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