Recently in Sacreligious Category

The LA Times has a story today about an entrepreneur's latest venture -- producing a dramatic reading of the Bible that will fill 70 CDs. Audio recordings of the Good Book have been done before, but pop music reporter Geoff Boucher adds a bit of celebrity intrigue with a clever lede:

Finding the perfect Jesus was no problem for Carl Amari — he just called up Jim Caviezel, who starred in "The Passion of the Christ" — but making a deal with just the right devil has turned out to be harder than hell.

"And you need a good Satan," Amari said with a bit of exasperation, "because Satan has some of the best lines in the Bible."

The best part of the online article, though, is this box that succeeds the third paragraph:

FOR THE RECORD: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the Bible edition being used in a new audio-book project as the St. James version. The Bible being used is the King James version.

Donohue's Catholic League responded to last night's "South Park" with this brief press release:

I have no idea why "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker caricature me as a heartless thug. In any event, I stand convicted and have no defense. Now I have to get back to business -- I hear someone just took some liberties with the Easter Bunny.

I actually think that was a joke. It certainly was a gentler treatment of Hollywood than Donohue has given in the past. I still can't find the entire episode on the web, but the "St. Peter" clip at ComedyCentral.com talks about the show's premise that St. Peter -- the first pope -- was in fact a rabbit.

"South Park" tonight absolutely skewered Catholic League President Bill Donohue in a ridiculous episode that used the Da Vinci Code formula to claim their was a centuries-old conspiracy to cover up the fact that St. Peter was in fact a rabbit -- Peter Rabbit.

Donohue, a firebrand in the culture-wars arena, is so hell-bent on capturing and killing Snowball, a descent of Peter and the rightful heir to the papacy, that he actually imprisons Pope Benedict and Jesus. The blasphemy only grows worse as the episode moves on, peaking when Christ bisects Donohue, who has appointed himself pope, with a throwing star.

It hasn't been uploaded yet, but it should be here soon.

So there certainly is a crowd of Democrats that hopes Barack Obama is the messiah their forefathers spoke of. But seriously, this? Last Saturday, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago put on display an undergraduate's papier mache sculpture of Obama in the Son of God's robe and with a neon halo around his head.

In the 2008 presidential race, in which Obama is trying to beat out Hillary Clinton and then the Republican nominee, religious beliefs have already become an issue. There were the flimsy reports by the Washington Times' sister magazine and Fox News that Obama studied as a youth at an Indonesian madrasa (recruitment academies for Islamic fundamentalists). Cathleen Falsani of the Chicago Sun-Times, however, had this more informed, nuanced take on Obama's faith.

As for odd religious images, the Obama sculpture is hardly alone. The day before it went on display, the planned Holy Week exhibition of a life-size chocolate Jesus -- being crucified in the nude, with respect to anatomy -- was cancelled after it was widely ripped by Christains. But that's nothing in the history of outrageous art.

* As expected GetReligion has, rightfully so, posted a piece criticizing the Obama sculpture reportage:

In all seriousness, the first news report I saw on this item was frightfully poor. A.J. Sterling of Fox News Chicago states glibly that "some may be offended by the suggestion that Christ is black, or that the United States could have a black president, but they don’t seem to be at the exhibit this night." I guess the Grand Kleagle of the closest Klan had a previous engagement.

The nude chocolate Jesus exhibition has been cancelled.

Here was David Kuo's take on the art show planned for Holy Week.

A New York artist has sculpted a life-size Jesus with his arms spread wide and his feet together, in the position of one being crucified. It's made of chocolate and Christ is NAKED -- endowment and all. (Click here to see.)

The artist's creation, which will be on display in New York for the week beginning Palm Sunday, is the latest culture-war issue to draw the ire of Catholic firebrand Bill Donohue. The website for his Catholic League has two rants against the artist's intentions. Here's part of the first:

As I’ve said many times before, Lent is the season for non-believers to sow seeds of doubt about Jesus. What’s scheduled to go on at the Roger Smith Hotel, however, is of a different genre: this is hate speech. And choosing Holy Week—the display opens on Palm Sunday and ends on Holy Saturday—makes it a direct in-your-face assault on Christians.

All those involved are lucky that angry Christians don’t react the way extremist Muslims do when they’re offended—otherwise they may have more than their heads cut off. James Knowles, President and CEO of the Roger Smith Hotel (interestingly, he also calls himself Artist-in-Residence), should be especially grateful. And if he tries to spin this as reverential, then he should substitute Muhammad for Jesus and display him during Ramadan.

Thanks to the Dallas Morning News religion blog for pointing this out.

As often noted on The Revealer and GetReligion, two blogs that monitor the way journalists cover religion, many reporters don't understand religion. They miss nuances, overgeneralize beliefs and values (example: evangelicals) and, quite regularly, play up seemingly odd associations faith groups make with secular organizations (see: Bong hits make strange bedfellows?).

This also often is the case when editors quickly search for a pithy headline for religious news. Take this example from today's LA Times: Mulling an unusual alliance.

The second paragraph, however, makes it clear this alliance isn't unusual at all:

The exchange Tuesday night underlined a national trend of secular environmental groups networking with faith-based coalitions with the same goals.

The only thing odd is that this environmental group had previously sworn off working with religious groups.