Melee breaks out over queer Jesus

[DSM4Life]

A melee broke out last week in Jonkoping, Sweden, after a group of fundamentalist Christian young people set a fire outside a celebrated photomural exhibit that portrays Jesus as gay.

"Ecce Homo," by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin, reimagines Christ's teaching and Passion in the context of late 20th-century gay life, including a rainbow pride procession into Cana and an adoration by leathermen. In the most controversial image, which prompted the European Parliament to cancel its tour of the series, a well-endowed nude Jesus is baptized by an appreciative John the Baptist in a backlit swimming pool.

The show's content has led to threats against the work and its creator. In the latest, a group of young people torched a poster August 12 promoting the exhibit at Jonkoping Kuturhuset, the Local newspaper reported.

Staffers intervened, and as many as 30 people joined the fight, according to news reports.

Jonkoping is known as a center of evangelical Christianity.

Wallin, an out lesbian and former photojournalist, has said she was inspired by the deaths of several close friends from AIDS.

"I realized what a great responsibility the church assumes when it issues statements about homosexuals," Ohlson told Wired magazine. "We still live by the morals and ethics of the Bible."

"Ecce Homo" toured Europe widely after it premiered in Wallin's native Stockholm in 1998. At times Ohlson was given police protection from the resulting threats. One mural was destroyed by a protester wielding an ax, the Reverend Kittredge Cherry told Gay.com, but Ohlson was able to re-create it from the negative.

The Church of Sweden has largely supported "Ecce Homo": Its decision to display the images in Uppsala Cathedral led Pope John Paul II to cancel his planned audience with Swedish Archbishop K.G. Hammar.

Ohlson has moved on to other themes, but renewed interest in "Ecce Homo" is due largely to Cherry, an American art historian and former Metropolitan Community Church ecumenical officer who features the images in her new book, Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.

As a result of the book, Cherry told Gay.com, Ohlson is "now starting to get hate mail from the United States," where "Ecce Homo" has never been shown.

"The violence is showing the need for artwork such as this," Cherry said. "So often it's Christians versus gays, when in fact Jesus taught love toward everybody."

Some of Ohlson's "Ecce Homo" images can be seen at www.jesusinlove.org. (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)


ref http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid48286.asp

[Tock]

Huh . . . kinda reminds me of the Muslim reaction to the Belgium newspaper's drawing of Muhammad with a bomb for hair. The Muslims didn't thank Belgium for that . . .

[RA]

Good for them. It surely needed to be done.

A melee broke out last week in Jonkoping, Sweden, after a group of fundamentalist Christian young people set a fire outside a celebrated photomural exhibit that portrays Jesus as gay.

"Ecce Homo," by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin, reimagines Christ's teaching and Passion in the context of late 20th-century gay life, including a rainbow pride procession into Cana and an adoration by leathermen. In the most controversial image, which prompted the European Parliament to cancel its tour of the series, a well-endowed nude Jesus is baptized by an appreciative John the Baptist in a backlit swimming pool.

The show's content has led to threats against the work and its creator. In the latest, a group of young people torched a poster August 12 promoting the exhibit at Jonkoping Kuturhuset, the Local newspaper reported.

Staffers intervened, and as many as 30 people joined the fight, according to news reports.

Jonkoping is known as a center of evangelical Christianity.

Wallin, an out lesbian and former photojournalist, has said she was inspired by the deaths of several close friends from AIDS.

"I realized what a great responsibility the church assumes when it issues statements about homosexuals," Ohlson told Wired magazine. "We still live by the morals and ethics of the Bible."

"Ecce Homo" toured Europe widely after it premiered in Wallin's native Stockholm in 1998. At times Ohlson was given police protection from the resulting threats. One mural was destroyed by a protester wielding an ax, the Reverend Kittredge Cherry told Gay.com, but Ohlson was able to re-create it from the negative.

The Church of Sweden has largely supported "Ecce Homo": Its decision to display the images in Uppsala Cathedral led Pope John Paul II to cancel his planned audience with Swedish Archbishop K.G. Hammar.

Ohlson has moved on to other themes, but renewed interest in "Ecce Homo" is due largely to Cherry, an American art historian and former Metropolitan Community Church ecumenical officer who features the images in her new book, Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.

As a result of the book, Cherry told Gay.com, Ohlson is "now starting to get hate mail from the United States," where "Ecce Homo" has never been shown.

"The violence is showing the need for artwork such as this," Cherry said. "So often it's Christians versus gays, when in fact Jesus taught love toward everybody."

Some of Ohlson's "Ecce Homo" images can be seen at www.jesusinlove.org. (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)


ref http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid48286.asp

[kfrost06]

O.K. I thought we agreed to use standard news sources, Tock it was your idea but now advocate.com is o.k.? Typical hypocrite, Tock will bitch and moan when someone disrespects his views but is the first to throw stones at someone else. It gets old Tock, don't you get tired of being so angy and walking around with a grudge at the world? So again, is it or is it not o.k. for others to post from conservative sites?

[Logan13]

O.K. I thought we agreed to use standard news sources, Tock it was your idea but now advocate.com is o.k.? Typical hypocrite, Tock will bitch and moan when someone disrespects his views but is the first to throw stones at someone else. It gets old Tock, don't you get tired of being so angy and walking around with a grudge at the world? So again, is it or is it not o.k. for others to post from conservative sites?

They can't help but post shit like this, they are born with the need to do so........they can't help it.

[m8intl]

They can't help but post shit like this, they are born with the need to do so........they can't help it.

And authoritarian lemmings can't help but echo the unsubstantiated drivel they are spoon fed.

[Tock]

O.K. I thought we agreed to use standard news sources, Tock it was your idea but now advocate.com is o.k.?

First, I don't think anyone agreed to anything. However, I do think it would be an excellent idea if we did agree (maybe in another thread dedicated to the topic) to stick to an agreed standard of what news sources we were gonna use.

Also, did I post from www.advocate.com ?

[DSM4Life]

How are you guys even coming at tock for something I posted? Yes it’s from advocate.com and so will my upcoming posts.

[DSM4Life]

They can't help but post shit like this, they are born with the need to do so........they can't help it.

And what do you mean by "they?"

[Logan13]

And what do you mean by "they?"

far-left liberals, do you wish to dispute this? Take the big "Victim" sign off of your forehead.......

[kfrost06]

far-left liberals, do you wish to dispute this? Take the big "Victim" sign off of your forehead.......

Be careful Logan, DSM4 is not a victim...

i know if i was face-to-face with these guys half the stuff they post would never leave their mouths.

[RA]

Stick to the topic boys

[godkilla]

my two favorite groups having a dispute again

[DSM4Life]

I am starting to think that Logan and kfrost are a couple.