Speaking of the Decline of Western Civilization...
UNICEF warns that AIDS is at near epidemic levels in Eastern Europe. One might think that in an age of modern science and enlightened medicine, we might see calls for partner reduction programs and partner notification programs. But, as we know, AIDS activists have blocked any meaningful moves along those lines. Instead we have this:
I’m thinking: What are the city authorities thinking? What is the Cathedral’s dean thinking? Does anyone on this blog know whether Lutheran pastors are funded by the taxpayers in Denmark?
Cross-posted at my personal blog.
In Europe, AIDS awareness was raised with religious services and agitprop art...
In Copenhagen, Denmark, artist Jens Galschioet put up an 8-foot sculpture of a crucified pregnant teenager outside Copenhagen’s Lutheran cathedral. He called it a protest against the idea that “God allows nothing but chastity and unprotected sex.”
City authorities gave the artist permission to erect the statue, named “In the Name of God,” outside the cathedral.
Anders Gadegaard, the cathedral’s dean, said, “It’s a good supplement to the crucifix we have inside the church.”
I’m thinking: What are the city authorities thinking? What is the Cathedral’s dean thinking? Does anyone on this blog know whether Lutheran pastors are funded by the taxpayers in Denmark?
Cross-posted at my personal blog.
Comments
#1 2006-12-05 15:43 (Reply)
Lutheran pastors are indeed funded by the Danish taxpayers - many of whom contribute by the optional “church tax”. more than 90% of all Danes belong to the evangelical-lutheran church, which is the state church - meaning that the reent must belong to it.
Very few Danes consider the AIDS-crucifix a problem. We take freedom of expression very litterally. Government has no place in censoring expression. You people may reac that level some day too...;-)
#1.1 2006-12-05 19:20 (Reply)
Michael,
Thanks for the info that Lutheran pastors are paid by taxpayers. I have a theory that taxpayer supported churches have less reason to be responsive to pressures from their congregations, and might even be under pressure to conform to views favored by the state. If Danes truly have no problem with an image of a pregnant girl being crucified, and the message that Christian teaching is somehow to blame, well, let us say this is a less than orthodox position. My point had nothing to do with censorship: it had to do with the Church dean’s apparent support of the message. Favoring free expression does not mean you have to endorse or agree with everything anyone choses to say.
#1.1.1 2006-12-05 19:25 (Reply)
Kierkegaard had a problem with the Danish state church too, although it could also be contended he had his own problems with orthodoxy, I suppose.