http://www.news.com.au/world/mary-and-j ... 5811281048A RISQUE billboard that depicts Jesus's mother looking dejected after unsatisfying sex with Joseph has given Kiwi Catholics a nasty pre-Christmas surprise.
The huge ad erected in downtown Auckland today shows the unhappy couple in bed accompanied by the slogan: "Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow".
In the fresco-style work, Joseph looks down red-faced while an anguished Mary looks to the heavens.
It was the brainchild of a progressive Christian church, St Matthew's, whose vicar Archdeacon Glynn Cardy says it was a cutting-edge strategy to engage non-believers.
"Progressive Christianity is distinctive in that not only does it articulate a clear view, it is also interested in engaging with those who differ," Cardy said, with the advertisement still appearing on their website.
"Its vision is one of robust engagement," he said.
But the city's Catholic diocese is not impressed, saying the implication that Mary and Joseph had just had sex was "disrespectful" and "offensive" to Christians.
Spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer told the New Zealand Herald it was particularly inappropriate given the inference was wrong.
"Our Christian tradition of 2000 years is that Mary remains a virgin and that Jesus is the son of God, not Joseph," she said.
But statistics show New Zealanders may need such edgy advertising to help spark interest in religion.
The latest 2006 Census showed that 32.2 per cent - or 1.3 million Kiwis - profess to have no religion, up 270,000 people on the previous survey.
That's significantly more than the 18.7 per cent of Australians who ticked the No Religion box in the same year, and higher than most other Western countries worldwide.
It's not surprising that a recent atheist fundraising campaign to put controversial "No God" posters on buses was overwhelmed with donations from non-God fearing Kiwis.
The organiser, Simon Fisher, collected more than double the $NZ10,000 ($8000) he needed in just two days for the ads which read: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
He said the campaign, which mimics one which ran in Britain, was designed to break religious taboos.
"Religion should not be a taboo subject that no one brings up at dinner parties," he wrote on the website http://www.nogod.org.nz.
"We should be discussing what we believe and why."
Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow
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- Dropdeadqt
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Re: Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow
I'm sorry, I only made it to there then started giggling.Noraneko wrote:
erected
Juke a DK/Warrior, Die Anyway ._.
- Cartollomew
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Re: Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow
Firstly - hilarious.
Secondly:
For you.
Lyndsay Freer is the PR person for the Society of Mary (a kind of sub-group within Catholicism). It's pleasing to note that (as far as I know) there hasn't been an official response from the actual diocese.
Also, sigh @ "progressive" faith. The people going in to progressive faith anything are the ones who were engaged in the traditional version - progressive denominations have very little to offer the non-religioned.
This is grumpy high-horse Cart, signing off.
Secondly:
Bad journalist. You say '"disrespectful" and "offensive" to Catholics' or '...to some Christians'. Who do you think put the friggin' thing up there? Can't blame the Jews. Given it's not a direct quote, there needs to be a little more precision.TFA wrote:But the city's Catholic diocese is not impressed, saying the implication that Mary and Joseph had just had sex was "disrespectful" and "offensive" to Christians.
Now there's that good old fashioned Catholic arrogance - "the inference is wrong".TFA wrote:Spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer told the New Zealand Herald it was particularly inappropriate given the inference was wrong.
"Our Christian tradition of 2000 years is that Mary remains a virgin and that Jesus is the son of God, not Joseph," she said.
For you.
Lyndsay Freer is the PR person for the Society of Mary (a kind of sub-group within Catholicism). It's pleasing to note that (as far as I know) there hasn't been an official response from the actual diocese.
Also, sigh @ "progressive" faith. The people going in to progressive faith anything are the ones who were engaged in the traditional version - progressive denominations have very little to offer the non-religioned.
This is grumpy high-horse Cart, signing off.
Who do you think you are? If you'd stopped winning, you could have been the Biggest Loser, if you gave up, you could have been a Survivor, if you'd stopped reading Orwell, you could have been on Big Brother!
Re: Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow
I'm pretty sure there's biblical references to Jesus having siblings (of the unambiguously Mary-Joseph sort, not the "oh no mum, I swear we haven't had sex yet, it must be a miracle" sort). In fact, I'll go find some...
Matthew 13:55
* "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?"
Mark 6:3
* "Is not this the carpenter, the Son of Mary, the Brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him."
Galatians 1:19
* "But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother."
I mean, ok it's possible they mean of similar heritage for brethren and that all men are brothers... but... yeah, probably not.
Matthew 13:55
* "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?"
Mark 6:3
* "Is not this the carpenter, the Son of Mary, the Brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him."
Galatians 1:19
* "But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother."
I mean, ok it's possible they mean of similar heritage for brethren and that all men are brothers... but... yeah, probably not.
- Cartollomew
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Re: Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow
The Catholic recovery is to claim that in context, "brothers", refers to extended family.
I personally don't buy it, but it's not really worth arguing over.
I personally don't buy it, but it's not really worth arguing over.
Who do you think you are? If you'd stopped winning, you could have been the Biggest Loser, if you gave up, you could have been a Survivor, if you'd stopped reading Orwell, you could have been on Big Brother!
Re: Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow
IMO it wasnt the sex, it was the G she was wearing