Woman bashes Jesus display with crowbar

[RobertDevereaux]

Source: Fort Collins Coloradoan

LOVELAND - A Montana woman, suspected of using a crowbar to break a piece of Plexiglas and destroy a controversial piece of artwork at the Loveland Museum/Gallery Wednesday faces criminal mischief charges and fines ranging from $1,000 to $2,000.

Loveland officials identified the woman as Kathleen Folden, 56, a truck driver from Kalispell, Mont., who police believe arrived at the museum with the intent of destroying the print.

The controversial print is part of "The Misadventures of Romantic Cannibals" by California artist Enrique Chagoya.

Folden was held overnight at the Larimer County Detention Center in Fort Collins.

. . .

Read more: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20101007/NEWS01/10070377/Woman-bashes-Jesus-display-with-crowbar

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Fake-Christian extremism taken to a new level.

[Roland99]

1. "part of the painting shows a man who appears to be Jesus Christ engaging in a sex act with a man"

do "artists" really need to push buttons by doing things like that? seriously?


But, that woman shouldn't be wearing a t-shirt that says "Tougher than nails" if her "faith" is so easily bruised.

[COLGATE4]

3. Freedom of expression is freedom of expression. Artists have

it, just as you and I do. The artist did nothing illegal here. Destruction of art is a hallmark of a fascist mentality.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. And how would anybody know that the painting depicted Jesus Christ? Maybe if we hadn't

been indoctrinated with this image of of him instead of an historically accurate one, people wouldn't assume that the work of art is depicting Jesus.






Wanted to add what was quoted in the article:

"Bud Shark, the man who assembled the museum display, released a statement on Wednesday evening:
"The destruction of the Enrique Chagoya 'The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals' at the Loveland Museum/Gallery today is the direct result of the inflammatory and false descriptions of the piece in the press and by those protesting it's inclusion in our exhibition. The controversial image has been demonized as 'pornographic,' 'obscene' and 'depicting Jesus in a sex act' when none of this is true," Shark wrote. "I deplore the violence and intolerance of this act and call upon those organizing the protests against this piece to restrain their angry mob at once."

[msanthrope]

7. There is no 'historically accurate' description of person that didn't exist. n/t

[Rebubula]

8. Well...

...I think that it is pretty safe to say that Jesus DID exist.

The issue is that he was just a gregarious guy that liked to speak his mind. God does not exist (at least not in any manner described by any of the 3 major religions), but there are enough references to a man named Jesus being around and making news of the time.

[Eryemil]

9. There really aren't and I'm surprised you do not know this, since it's something most atheist resear

at some point. Actual evidence for a historical Jesus is spotty, unreliable or just plain absent. The only reason it's become a commonly accepted thing is due to the stretchering of the truth by Christian historians (and lets face it, most historians would have been Christian when this "canon" was established).

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. Technically, there were a LOT of guys named 'Jesus' (Yeshua, Joshua)

running around Israel at the time. That's no indication that any of them were itinerant preachers found in the historical records of the time.

[msanthrope]

17. No--it's not safe to say.

In fact, of you did a bit of objective research, you might be surpised at how little historical evidence there is that 'Jesus' ever existed.

[Thor_MN]

19. I was able to locate the ancient seaport of Nantucket

but was unable to locate the birthplace of Captain Ahab. I did find several artifacts with the name Ishmael, so I'm pretty sure the White Whale existed too. My next search will be for Tom Sawyer's cave and hope to locate Huck Finn's raft.

[bherrera]

5. I don't think it's sex

I think Jesus is holding the man's head in his lap, but it's not sex. Maybe that woman has a dirty mind. And now she made the author famous.

[Drops_not_Dope]

10. Is your mind dirty too?

[closeupready]

15. Given how many priests and pastors have been exposed for engaging in sexual activtiy,

this could be a way of saying, your religious people have corrupted Jesus' message.

I've read that sometimes, parishioners have been told, 'if a priest does it, it's okay.' Ergo, the panel in question here.

[maxsolomon]

16. i see a little cut-and-paste

and intentionally crude cut-and-paste, at that. jesus is stuck on a woman's body in an image appropriated from a porn mag, and it isn't remotely proportionate. it seems like a naughty joke rather than blasphemy.

she should probably stay away from Deicide concerts. if this woman saw Andre Serrano's piss christ, her head would explode.

[Eryemil]

6. If the Jesus myth was actually based on the exploits of a real man in the vein of Joseph Smith. . .

. . . and Mohammad instead a melange of earlier religious figures like Horus or Mithra, then chances are that man would have had sexual contact with other males during his youth. Like in other cultures where female purity is of so much value to both the prospective husband and the fathers seeking to get rid of their daughters, opportunistic homosexuality would have been very common among unmarried males. I would say that such a piece would be a novel criticism of the divinity of the Christ figure that so many of us seem to believe in. That would be my interpretation of such a piece and I would love to discuss the subject with the artist.

It is so pathetic, how quick certain people resort to whining about what is and is not art if the subject explored happens to offend them. Artists don't "need to push buttons"; sometimes they do it because they can and they want to. Do they need a better reason to be allowed to work their craft? They are only as beholden to their audience as their ambitions dictate.

[SarahB]

21. do "artists" really need to push buttons by doing things like that?

Why the fuck not?

What believers don't understand is that for non-believers, basing their opinions on logic, mocking Jesus is the same as mocking Daffy Duck. There's just as much evidence for the existence for both.

[RobertDevereaux]

2. Interesting piece about the artist . . .

. . . and a look at the panel in question:

http://www.open.salon.com/blog/fred_pirone/2010/10/07/jesus_art_and_oral_sex_a_brief_look_at_enrique_chagoya

[bos1]

11. Another case of right wing media provoking violence?

I heard some talk radio wingnut complaining about the artwork yesterday and soon after this act of vandalism happened. Not sure which show, it could have been Savage or Hannity or a lesser-known show.

[RZM]

12. This is kind of refreshing

In some ways it's taking me back to a bygone era, when hack artists brought out (mostly) non-violent Christian protesters (yes I know she smashed something but apparently didn't hurt anybody) and nobody was in danger of being killed because of a drawing of a religious figure. It was all a big dance, really, with both sides getting what they wanted -- attention. Muslim extremists take note -- if you're absolutely worked into a lather over a piece of art, you should focus your ire on the image itself, not the artist.

[EFerrari]

14. In Loveland, no less.

You can't make this stuff up.

[Arkana]

18. Ah, yes, doing just what Jesus would have wanted her to do.

[cbdo2007]

20. Hate crimes suck!

[issy98]

22. Whew, thank God it was only

Jesus or the terror alerts would be through the roof.

[Psephos]

23. I wonder how different this thread would be if the art depicted Mohammed bf'ing his child bride?

Considerably different, I'll speculate.

But that will remain a hypothetical because there are no "brave" artists who dare inspire a fatwa by painting even a portrait of Mohammed, let alone a picture defiling or debasing him.

The worst sin art can commit is to be boring. It takes soooooooo much bravery and shocking talent to create the ninetyeleventh derivative of Piss Christ.

Yawn.