Posted on 10/24/2012 6:50:44 PM PDT by markomalley
Administrators at Louisiana State University have apologized for censoring photographs of male students who had painted Christian crosses on their chests at a football game.
“We erred in our judgment and we have communicated our apologies to the group of young men represented in the photo, whose school spirit is second to none,” said Ernest Ballard, director of media relations at LSU, in an e-mail to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
The photos in question depict a group of fans known as “The Painted Posse,” who paint themselves in their team’s colors at home games. They also paint small crosses on their chests to honor Jesus Christ, according to their Facebook page:
“Our goal as the Painted Posse is to portray Christ through our actions while cheering on our Tigers!”
University administrators published the photos in a campus-wide email following the football team’s October 13 win. The crosses, however, had vanished from the young men’s shoulders.
Administrators later admitted to airbrushing the Christian imagery out of the photographs — a decision they now regret, according Ballard.
“We did not intend to offend anyone by the editing of this photograph and in the future we will not make this kind of edit,” he wrote.
Cameron Cooke, a member of “The Painted Posse,” told CampusReform that he was surprised by the university’s actions.
“The cross painting is important to me because it represents who I am as a Christ follower,” he said.
The students disagreed with the university’s decision, but had also accepted their apology, according to a statement on their Facebook page:
“We, the members of the Painted Posse, do not agree with the University’s recent decision to airbrush crosses out of the photo of some of our members. We… acknowledge the efforts of the LSU administration and look forward to serving the university as both fans and students.”
While the university apologized for the way the matter was handled, officials maintained the right to use or edit the pictures in whatever way they wanted. The religious imagery was removed so as not to offend non-Christians.
“In messages to sports fans we attempt to convey no religious or political messaging of any kind,” wrote Ballard.
When asked for examples of other religious or political symbols that the university would refuse to publish, Ballard said only that the university would make that determination on a case-by-case basis.
If everyone is happy now, the campus can get back to funding the vagina monologues, gay bath house, student porn magazines and not be concerned with the offensive religious stuff...
Or, in my stepson’s case, discussing erotica and homosexual relationships - in an ENGLISH class, no less.
Say it ain’t seaux!
Is the Vagina Monologues a ventriloquist act ?
Really? I'll bet the Second Person of the Trinity is really glorified by the antics of these guys.
Tiger- A puppet Show!!
Dennis- Why do people pay for that crap?
“We did not intend to offend anyone by the editing of this photograph and in the future we will not make this kind of edit,” he wrote.
Did not intend to offend anyone, while making sure non-Christians were not “offended”
These people are such losers and liars. Shame on them, they got their hypocritical bigoted hands caught in the cookie jar, now they try to lie their way out of it.
I’m sure it would never occur to you to pollute a cheer leading performance with... shudder... CHRISTIANITY
I’m sure it would never occur to you to pollute Christianity with a chest painting cheer leading performance.
To diminish the Sovereign King and Creator with such is demeaning to Christians who are being persecuted around the world is just disgusting.
My first impression upon seeing the two juxtaposed is to marvel how blessed we ARE to be in a country where such a thing as the Christian affiliation of a sports fan is still allowed to be seen, even if some news agencies don’t like it and try to distort it away.
And just how does this diminish the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? It glorifies Them all the more!
Nick Saban will take care of this LSU stuff on November 3.
After Cross was removed
They need to carry their godless commie lovin rounders back north! Damn Yankees!
So, if it had been muslims with a crescent or gangs with their tatoos, would the university have reacted the same?
And you just know this cross-censorship wasn’t the work of a bunch of churchly fuddy duddies who would never permit someone clad like that to darken their sanctuary door. (Although such fuddy duddies are still up and about today, to all appearances quite clueless that the entire earth and the fullness thereof is the Lord’s, and that any activity of man that is not evil is a legitimate conduit of holiness.)
Sadly — probably not.
But it goes to show. Jesus has enemies.
What should you expect. The first president of LSU was William T. Sherman.
http://www.lsu.edu/visitors/history.shtml
So... it the university has a picture of a burka-clad woman, it can airbrush the burka away so she is naked? Or in Daisy Dukes?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.