Twenty years ago, an artist I knew was centering one of his shows around Christ painted as the Easter bunny. “This will shock the Baptists,” the man bragged to me. He was very proud of being one of the avant garde in our small town and clearly considered his painting an act of daring and bravado.
I said nothing, though I laughed to myself, thinking Man, if you want daring and dangerous, paint a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
I said nothing, though I laughed to myself, thinking Man, if you want daring and dangerous, paint a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
For those of you who, like this artist, think yourselves bold in attacking or mocking Christians, please, save your breath. You needn’t bother anymore. Christ still exists in the hearts, minds, and souls of two billion plus people on the planet, but Christians, perhaps unfortunately, have become inured to slurs from outsiders. Remember “Piss Christ,” when a man photographed a crucifix in a large jar of urine and called it art? That piece of trash angered a lot of Christians—it still draws the ire of some—but that was thirty years ago. (Commit similar mischief to the Koran, and your head will end up on the sand.)
The most recent assault on Christianity, specifically on Catholicism, came from this year’s Met Gala. The theme of the Gala was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” The Vatican had lent clothing, vestments, and other religious articles to an exhibit associated with the Met. For some indecipherable reason, the Vatican then went one more step and gave its approval to a parade of fashion centered on Catholicism, which featured, among many others, Rhianna as the Pope, Katie Perry as a feathered angel with enormous wings, and Stella Maxwell in a revealing dress plastered with images of the Virgin Mary.
Some commentators decried this exhibition as disrespectful and indicative of the ease with which Christianity is attacked nowadays. In The Dailey Mail, Piers-Morgan offered a particularly acerbic attack on the Gala.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5703953/PIERS-MORGAN-Met-Islam-Jewish-themed-hell-break-loose-disrespect-religion.html?ito=email_share_article-top
Many Christians expect such attacks. After all, Christ warned His followers that they would suffer derision, imprisonment, and even death for their beliefs, which is one reason, perhaps, why today’s Christians don’t blow up buildings or drive trucks onto crowded sidewalks to snuff out heretics and unbelievers.
But as Piers-Morgan points out in his article, where’s the respect for Christians? We live in a country where a sizable crew jabbers on and on about tolerance, diversity, cultural acceptance, and cultural appropriation. If we study these people, however, we see that what the mob really wants is toleration only of a certain kind, a brand stamped as approved by them. They are like those communists of old who claimed to value dialogue, as long as dialogue meant listening to them until you agreed with them.
Some of these people continue to batter Christians through our legal and political systems. We see these brickbats thrown all the time, most often in cases involving Christians who oppose abortion and certain sexual practices in our society.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/if-you-think-christians-arent-being-persecuted-in-the-u.s.-its-because-you
So how can Christians defend themselves?
It’s simple, really. They can practice their faith, read the Bible, attend church, and participate in the sacraments. Given the opportunity, they can evangelize. When they fall into sin, they can get up, dust themselves off, and repent. They can follow Christ’s admonition, no matter how difficult the proposition, to love their enemies. At the same time, they can defend their beliefs with gentle persuasion and truth rather than with screaming and clenched fists. Finally, they can vote for candidates who promote religious freedom.
Faith, hope, and charity: those were, and are, the armor, helmet, and shield of a Christian.
The most recent assault on Christianity, specifically on Catholicism, came from this year’s Met Gala. The theme of the Gala was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” The Vatican had lent clothing, vestments, and other religious articles to an exhibit associated with the Met. For some indecipherable reason, the Vatican then went one more step and gave its approval to a parade of fashion centered on Catholicism, which featured, among many others, Rhianna as the Pope, Katie Perry as a feathered angel with enormous wings, and Stella Maxwell in a revealing dress plastered with images of the Virgin Mary.
Some commentators decried this exhibition as disrespectful and indicative of the ease with which Christianity is attacked nowadays. In The Dailey Mail, Piers-Morgan offered a particularly acerbic attack on the Gala.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5703953/PIERS-MORGAN-Met-Islam-Jewish-themed-hell-break-loose-disrespect-religion.html?ito=email_share_article-top
Many Christians expect such attacks. After all, Christ warned His followers that they would suffer derision, imprisonment, and even death for their beliefs, which is one reason, perhaps, why today’s Christians don’t blow up buildings or drive trucks onto crowded sidewalks to snuff out heretics and unbelievers.
But as Piers-Morgan points out in his article, where’s the respect for Christians? We live in a country where a sizable crew jabbers on and on about tolerance, diversity, cultural acceptance, and cultural appropriation. If we study these people, however, we see that what the mob really wants is toleration only of a certain kind, a brand stamped as approved by them. They are like those communists of old who claimed to value dialogue, as long as dialogue meant listening to them until you agreed with them.
Some of these people continue to batter Christians through our legal and political systems. We see these brickbats thrown all the time, most often in cases involving Christians who oppose abortion and certain sexual practices in our society.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/if-you-think-christians-arent-being-persecuted-in-the-u.s.-its-because-you
So how can Christians defend themselves?
It’s simple, really. They can practice their faith, read the Bible, attend church, and participate in the sacraments. Given the opportunity, they can evangelize. When they fall into sin, they can get up, dust themselves off, and repent. They can follow Christ’s admonition, no matter how difficult the proposition, to love their enemies. At the same time, they can defend their beliefs with gentle persuasion and truth rather than with screaming and clenched fists. Finally, they can vote for candidates who promote religious freedom.
Faith, hope, and charity: those were, and are, the armor, helmet, and shield of a Christian.
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