God Denigrated by "Artist's" Obscene Public Museum Exhibit

A public art museum in Loveland, Colorado has become the focus of protesters and many town residents that are outraged over one of the exhibits on display there as part of a ten artist exhibit called, "The Legend of Bud Shark and His Indelible Ink".  It would seem that one of those ten artists, Stanford University professor Enrique Chagoya, created a lithograph showing the son of God engaged in a sexual act in a piece entitled "The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals". 

“It is visual profanity,” said art gallery owner Linda King, in an interview with the Loveland Reporter-Herald. “It disgraces the God of all creation.”  Donna Rice, a member of the Loveland City Council, told the Denver Post that the “taxpayer-supporter, public museum” was meant to be family-friendly. “This is not something the community can be proud of,” she says.

Despite many protesters petitioning the Loveland city council to cut off funds to the public museum because of this outrage, the city's attorney has indicated that this painting of Jesus Christ engaged in oral sex “does not meet the criteria of public obscenity.”  One wonders precisely what would rise to the level of public obscenity in the Loveland city's attorney's eyes if the God of creation being denigrated in such a sexual act does not meet that definition?

Enrique Chagoya has defended his work and claims to be surprised by the public's protestations of his work.  “My intentions are not to offend anybody,” Chagoya told the Associated Press. “The main intention of my work is to express my personal concerns about religious institutions, not about the actual religious beliefs, which I respect.”

"It is the Catholic Church as an institution, not Jesus Christ, that 'Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals' is aimed at."

“The whole idea of the work is to express my personal anxieties about the church and religious institutions. It’s not about faith and belief. Personally, I respect those beliefs. I was raised a Catholic. I believe that Christ is about love, and about sharing," Chagoya said.

While I believe that Chagoya has a right to create whatever he deems to be "art", the public has a right to be outraged that the museum exhibiting his vile piece is supported by tax-payer dollars.  If Chagoya, who is evidently a very well renowned artist, wishes to portray his works, he should look to privately funded museums.  Certainly just because somebody has a right to do something does not mean that they  don't have a societal responsibility to temper what it is they do.  I think offending a vast majority of American Christians with his despicable exhibit is such a case.

One wonders how much public outrage would have been trumpeted by our politically correct media, and deservedly so, if Mr. Chagoya chose to do such a piece using Mohammad instead of Christ as his focal point.  Even if the person depicted in the sex act was someone anonymous, such a piece still should not be exhibited in a family-friendly, publicly-funded museum.  The fact that God is denigrated in this "work of art" raises that outrage by many orders of magnitude.  Ghagoya knew better from the beginning and should be properly ashamed accordingly.

See the lastest update to this story here.