Porn Can Stay in Library -- But Jesus Has Got to Go

by Allie Martin and Jody Brown
December 11, 2003

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(AgapePress) - The nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization is blasting officials at a Connecticut public library for censoring Jesus.

Artist Mary Morley was asked by officials at the Meriden Public Library to display an exhibit of artwork titled "Vision, Hopes, and Dreams." The exhibit included paintings of a Nativity scene, Jesus carrying the cross, His crucifixion and resurrection, and Christ with a halo. Portraits of Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Moses, and the prophet Elijah were also included.

But library officials said the five images of Jesus were not permitted because they were "inappropriate" and "offensive." Louis Giovino with the Catholic League says the library's stance does not make sense.

"The reason they gave was that they can't have anything that anyone would find offensive -- so apparently the crucifixion and the Nativity are offensive," he says. "When I asked [library officials to explain] the difference between showing a portrait of Jesus and scenes from His life, [they said] the scenes from His life are more directly religious."

The spokesman for the Catholic League says the library censors are practicing intolerance. "It's just this reaction against Christianity which is apparent here; it's so blatant, it can't be hidden," he says.

Catholic League president William Donohue finds the situation "amazing," pointing out that public librarians across the U.S. have fought furiously against Internet filters that would prevent children from accessing or being exposed to pornography on library computers. "But it's not as though they are value-free," he says. "What some of them can't stomach is an image of Jesus Christ."

"Perhaps they would have been more at home with a portrait of Lucifer," Donohue says.

According to Giovino, even the American Library Association has stated that the library's decision to censor the paintings is "nonsense." Morley cancelled the exhibit when she was told to censor the images of Jesus.