Blogging against theocracy

On March 31st, a New York Art Gallery cancelled a proposed exhibit of a sculpture of Jesus Christ, before the exhibit opened to the public. The sculpture was a life-size statue of Jesus made entirely from chocolate, and was to be displayed for two hours each day. Chocolate melts, it goes bad. It was a truly edible body of Christ. And, with contempt prior to investigation, the The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights whipped up a shit-storm.

Founded in 1973 by Jesuit Father Virgil C. Blum SJ, the Catholic League is a lay group funded by individual donations and is outside the control of the Church. The Board of Directors, headed by William A. Donohue, have guided the League towards conservative and traditionalist cultural activism in the manner of groups like the Christian Coalition. You know them, they're the ones who are defending America's Godly Heritage. But I digress. Back to the art exhibit that never was.

Donohue called it "an all-out war on Christianity." That's a pretty strong statement for a big piece of chocolate, in my opinion. To me, all-out war is what we're doing in Iraq, against the will of the American People. But again, I digress. Donohue heads an organization that purports to be about Civil Rights, yet his primary thrust is always toward censorship. The organization vocally protested films like The Last Temptation of Christ and Dogma because they broke with conservative views. Donohue said about the statue: "They wouldn't show a depiction of Martin Luther King Jr. with genitals exposed on Martin Luther King Day, and they wouldn't show Mohammed depicted this way during Ramadan. It's always Christians, and the timing is deliberate."

"It's not just the ugliness of the portrayal, but the timing, to choose Holy Week, is astounding."

Let's review: it's not just the ugliness of the portrayal...

Look at the photo of the piece. It is well-made. It looks like so many statues of Jesus nailed to the cross made from wood, or clay, or bronze, that I am really hard-pressed to get what the flap is about. Oh, I know. It's CHOCOLATE. Chocolate is ugly in a religious context.

Further, there are no sculptures of the prophet Mohammed - Islam, like Judaism, doesn't build statuary because it is too much like idol worship. So Donohue is right at least about nobody building a statue of Mohammed out of anything.

Is the fact of this being made out of Chocolate the problem? Or is it the fact that Jesus is naked? Someone explain this to me, because I don't understand. Art must be challenging, and it must make the viewer have a response, but that is only after the art has been seen. Donohue NEVER SAW IT. He didn't see the sculpture, he simply condemned it outright. Contempt prior to investigation. I gotta tell you, it is really difficult to sculpt using food stuff - I used to know a woman who was a butter sculptor (and she once had to make a butter sculpture of Jesus for a Christening party) - she said working with food of any sort is difficult - butter melts so they make a butterish substance that is not edible; chocolate is brittle AND it melts - just all kinds of techinical problems.

But Donohue protests, and the Roger Smith Hotel which hosts the Gallery caved in, and the Gallery Director, out of consideration for the Hotel cancels the exhibit and is searching for another venue.

Meanwhile, New Orleans is still not rebuilt, and we've spent well over $400,000,000,000 on an illegal war in Iraq. Where are our nation's priorities?

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(cross posted at The Katrinacrat