Fr. Sibley‘s going to like this web site, I know it: every sappy or goofy image of our Lord that you ever saw, and much, much more. Boy, He puts up with an awful lot.
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Fr. Sibley‘s going to like this web site, I know it: every sappy or goofy image of our Lord that you ever saw, and much, much more. Boy, He puts up with an awful lot.
Comments are closed.
This is funny but is it considered blasphemy?
Is that site blasphemous? Maybe yes, maybe no: I’m a little loath to make the accusation.
Or do you mean: is it blasphemy for us readers to make fun of images of our Lord?
Sometimes, no: some of the items shown are attempts to commercialize our Lord’s image: that sort of merchandising deserves to be laughed at.
OTOH, some of the images and comments on the site probably are intended as mockery of our Lord; I wouldn’t advise that anybody get their yuks from those.
A third category has sincere but inferior works of art: they have a humorous side in that they reveal human imperfection, but one has to keep a sense of sympathy for the devotion that even they can express.
Even some of the images obviously meant as jokes have a good side: the “Buddy Christ” statue from the “Dogma” movie is a spoof on the trend of reducing Jesus to the status of our “buddy”. I can give credit where it’s due.
Well said, RC! I think the spirit in which the image is intended is the key to whether it is blasphemy or not. I think in most cases, it’s just a matter of mediocre artists (at best) trying to do something a little different with an image that has been depicted in so many spectacular works of art for two thousand years now.
Mockery would be blasphemy, but I would like to think that is the exception and not the rule in the art world. Remember “Piss Christ” from about ten years ago, the so-called “piece of art” that was a crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist’s urine? Now THAT was sickening blasphemy!
That artist claimed to be making a commentary on how people treat Christ. That rationale might have been able to provide some justification for the work, if he hadn’t used real urine.