Pope condemns Bible 'vandalism' exhibition

The Telegraph ^ | 8:26AM BST 28 Jul 2009 | Aislinn Simpson

[Cronos]

The exhibit, Untitled 2009, is part of the Made In God's Image exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow and was thought up by local artist Anthony Schrag. The intention was for gays and transsexuals who felt left out of religion to "write their way back in" to the holy book.

[Cronos]

But visitors offered pens by gallery staff had other ideas, and have scrawled a series of puerile and obscene remarks.

Some remarks were simply offensive, with one person writing "---- the Bible".

The message "I am Bi, Female & Proud. I want no god who is disappointed in this,” was written on the first page of Genesis. The subsequent complaints have led to the organisers of the exhibit putting the holy book on show in a locked case and inviting visitors to write their comments on blank sheets of paper instead.

But it was too late to appease the Pope.

[Cronos]

The exhibit also features footage of a woman ripping pages from the Bible and stuffing them into her bra, knickers and mouth.

[silverleaf]

Catholic priests may be refusing to marry gays, but muslim-run govts are executing them ... why does the exhibit not include a koran to desecrate?

[markomalley]

Also from the article:

The adviser to the head of the Catholic Church said the project was "disgusting and offensive".

"They would not think of doing it to the Koran," he added.

[Cronos]

indeed — why not a rainbow flag?

[vladimir998]

You wrote:

“Catholic priests may be refusing to marry gays, but muslim-run govts are executing them ... why does the exhibit not include a koran to desecrate?”

Oh, you KNOW why!!!

We all know why. Desecrate a Qur’an and you end up dead. Desecrate a Bible and all you’ll get is some complaints.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

They’re not left out of religion. They have put themselves outside of most religions in the world.

[TomOnTheRun]

They don't use a Koran because they consider themselves to be from a Christian culture. I'm not sure they realize how many Muslims are around in their country and how much the culture is affected by them. I understand that. It's blind and foolish but I can understand it. I'm not sure I understand how they could think this would go well.

I've tried "interactive art" in my own gallery. I thought it would be a fun way to include people. I also learned that it's almost never a good idea and that people you would never ever ever suspect of doing something inappropriate will be the ones leading the charge of foul comments with a sharpie marker in one hand and a silly grin on their face. I can easily imagine what would have happened if I had put a holy book of ANY religion out for people to interact with.

[Augustinian monk]

B/c these anti-christian tough guys dont have the u know what to do the same with a Koran or Islamic symbols. Like high school guys who go to the elementry playground to pick a fight. pathetic

[Augustinian monk]

see post 9. u beat me to the punch

[Cronos]

At least the Pope has the cahones to DO that — where is the archbishop rowen williams??

[Tax-chick]

“Cojones.” “Cajones,” with a J, not a silent H, are boxes or dresser-drawers.

(Si, yo soy la policia de ortografia espanola.)

[Cronos]

Sigh, my Spanish sux :-)

Ale mogę mówić dobra Polski i biegle francuski

[Tax-chick]

I have a bit of poorly-accented French, myself.

[Dumb_Ox]

The Pope didn’t comment at all, and his adviser was unnamed in the article. Does the newspaper own the art gallery or something, trying to give it free publicity?

[Chode]

UNgland is spreading... UNK.