Raelian Swastika Campaign Calculated to Stoke Controversy

RELIGION DISPATCHES

History of the Swastika in world religions

ARIZONA---This weekend a plane flew over Coney Island and the Rockaways towing a banner with a swastika and an ad for proswastika.org, a new initiative by the Raelians—a religious movement that believes humans were created by ancient extra-terrestrials, and whose insignia is a swastika inside of a hexagram. According to Raelian spokesperson Thomas Kaenzig, the swastika was brought to Earth millions of years ago by our alien forefathers, which is presumably why Raelians believe the symbol appears in cultures all over the world. This weekend marked the end of “International Swastika Rehabilitation Week,” part of an attempt to reclaim the symbol from its Nazi associations which also featured street activism in Las Vegas. [link]

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Pat Robertson Says Tattoos, Even Christian Ones, Are 'Heathen'

THE CHRISTIAN POST
By Michael Gryboski

Pastor Chris Seay of the Ecclesia community at Montrose Church in Houston, Texas.

Televangelist Pat Robertson has weighed in on whether or not Christians should get tattoos, stating that it is a "heathen practice" to get a tattoo. On a Wednesday installment of the long running program "The 700 Club," Robertson was asked by a viewer about his opinion on Christians getting tattoos. During the "Bring It On" segment of the program, a viewer named "Glenn" asked about whether or not a Christian tattoo was acceptable. Robertson responded that "it doesn't make it OK, because it's religious, believe me." He then asserted that getting tattoos is a "heathen practice." "You look at the Bible, the people are told not to mark their bodies and cut themselves like the heathen did. Tattooing is a heathen practice, it is not a Christian practice." In some Christian circles, tattoos have become an increasingly acceptable way of expressing one's religious convictions. [link]

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Tyrannical Fundamentalist Mormon Captor of Under-Age Wives

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Kathryn Shattuck

Mormon brides sitting before mural of angel talking to the Mormon prophet

Talk about scandalous. In “Outlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs,” on Saturday night at 8 on Lifetime, Tony Goldwyn channels Mr. Jeffs, the president and prophet, seer and revelator, of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints — who in 2006 joined Osama bin Laden on the F.B.I.’s 10 Most Wanted list for having arranged illegal marriages between his adult male followers and under-age girls. [link]

Tony Goldwyn as Warren Jeffs in the Lifetime movie “Outlaw Prophet.”

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2 Crucifixes From the Hand of Michelangelo, Perhaps

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Elisabetta Povoledo

Questioned Michelangelo Made Crucifix Donated to The Louvre. Courtesy of Blouin Artinfo.

ITALY---Two wooden crucifixes dating from the 1490s that are included in a Michelangelo exhibition at the Capitoline Museums in Rome are inciting fresh debate over issues of attribution. The crucifixes are among the two dozen or so works, mostly copies, on display in a show that runs until September. The two in question are identified as “Michelangelo (attributed to),” from the collection of the Bargello National Museum in Florence, and “Florentine sculptor, Michelangelo?,” from the Louvre Museum in Paris. [link]

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Kim Kardashian a God? Brooklyn Art Exhibition Causes Outrage After Pictures of Reality Star as Jesus, Virgin Mary and Satanic Priestess are Hung

BREATHE CAST
By Jeannie Law

(Photo : Hannah Kunkle)

NEW YORK---Kim Kardashian was portrayed as a deity in a Brooklyn art gallery's exhibit last week. The display depicted the reality star as Jesus and the Virgin Mary which has left local religious leaders offended and upset. "The Passion of Kim Kardashian," opened in Bushwick last week and according to Daily News, Father Michael Perry of Our Lady of Refuge Church in Flatbush, called the show "dumb and stupid." [link]

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2014 World Cup Ad Drapes Christ the Redeemer In Italian Jersey and Pisses off Brazilians

COMPLEX ART & DESIGN
By Andrea Lasane

Christ the Redeemer in 2014 World Cup T-shirt enrages Brazil's Catholics

Want to know the fastest way to piss off an entire country? Desecrate a major religious site and the sport that they treat like a religion at the same damn time. A television commercial in Italy for the 2014 World Cup features Christ the Redeemer (one of the most famous religious statues in the world) towering over Rio de Janeiro in an Italian football jersey. According to Telegraph, the Catholic Church of Brazil has called the ad "disrespectful and inappropriate" and the Archdiocese of Rio is threatening to sue. [link]

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A Victory for ‘Religious Freedom’ is a Loss for Religion

DAILY BEAST
By Gene Robinson

WASHINGTON, DC---In the next few weeks, the Supreme Court of the United States will rule on two cases taken up this term: Hobby Lobby vs. Sibelius and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. vs. Sibelius. Both claim to be about the freedom to practice one’s own religion without interference by the government, but both are actually about whether or not broad exemptions to disregard antidiscrimination laws should be granted to people—and corporations—who oppose them on religious grounds. Most embarrassing of all is the specter of people asking in the name of religion for permission to discriminate. [link]

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Sikh Heritage Reduced to a Lesson in History

HINDUSTAN TIMES
By Dr Madanjit Kaur

A beautiful view of the Golden Temple on a cloudy Friday morning in Amritsar. Sameer Sehgal/HT

INDIA---I still remember that day. July 30, 1984. Golden Temple had been opened for the first time after Operation Blue Star. I, along with my brother, had queued up to enter. I hid a camera in my dupatta. Debris and more debris. That was the first thing I noticed inside. “Everything has been destroyed!” my brother said. When we reached near Sri Akal Takht Sahib, we were shattered to see that all specimens of Sikh and Hindu art had been lost for posterity with the destruction of the old building. The building had been opened only after the central government had hastily got repaired the building on contract. However, the Sikh community rejected the gesture. As soon as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) was given charge, the Sangat started demolishing it. With that demolition, the murals, gold work, woodwork, mahrakashi, wall paintings, gach work, jaratkari and tukri work, calligraphy, were all lost to history. [link]

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Gay Catholic Love in Church and on View at Leslie-Lohman Museum

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

Gonzalo Orquin, Sí, quiero, Digital C-print, 36x74 in. Courtesy Galleria L'Opera, Rome.

NEW YORK---Last fall, Rome-based artist Gonzalo Orquin tried to show an installation at a private gallery in Rome of same-sex couples kissing in baroque Catholic churches, but the Vatican shut it down before it opened, with threats of legal action. Now, these images are on full display in the street level window at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in Manhattan.

Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art: "Gonzalo Orquin: Si­, quiero" (Ends June 24); 26 Wooster Street I,   NYC, New York;  (212) 431-2609; leslielohman.org

All Images credit: Gonzalo Orquin, "Sí, quiero", Digital C-print, 36 X 74 in. Courtesy Galleria L'Opera, Rome.

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Scientists Say Shroud of Turin Shows Jesus Was Crucified in 'Very Painful' Position, With Arms Over Head

CHRISTIAN POST
BY KATHERINE WEBER

A negative version photo of the Shroud of Turin, Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, revealing a face commonly associated with Jesus Christ, taken in August 1978.

UNITED KINGDOM---A new study conducted by Liverpool scientists suggests the Shroud of Turin proves Jesus was crucified with his hands over his head in a "Y" shape, rather than to the sides in a "T" shape, as traditionally depicted in Christian art. The scientist leading this recent study says this new crucifixion would be "very painful" and likely cause asphyxiation for the victim. Scientists at the Liverpool John Moores University in the U.K. announced their findings at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences earlier this year. They argue that the Shroud of Turin, believed by some to be the burial cloth of Jesus, shows an image of a man with blood stains streaking down his arms. [link]

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Religious Tattoos Represent Beginning of Body Art

COLLEGIAN ALTLIFE 
By Allison Dyer Bluemel

TEXAS---No matter what events are happening around the country, religious tattoos, particularly those representing the Christian faith, continue to be popular. The imagery also gives young men and women a chance to a get a more tattoo that may be more fully supported by their families as they start to delve into body art, according to News-Journal in Longview, Texas. “It’s easier to justify a faith-based tattoo to parents than a tattoo of something else,” Jes Farris, owner of tattoo parlor Studio 13, said in an interview with News-Journal. One of the most common Christian tattoos that Farris sees is the Jesus fish with “faith” written inside of it. [link]

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