As my friend Billy Newton, who tipped me off to the following London Telegraph article wrote, the kicker is in the final sentence.
Also note that the art contest was in Australia. Having just witnessed the level of devout secularism in that country during World Youth Day, and its elevating of "diversity" to a received faith all its own, this does not surprise me. Pray for the land of the Southern Cross.
A judge of Australia's most prestigious religious art prize has resigned over the "deliberate ugliness" of a painting depicting Jesus on the cross.View the painting on Telegraph Web site.
Christopher Allen stood down from the judging panel of the Blake Prize because of his objection to the work by Adam Cullen.
The painting entitled "Corpus Christi" shows a bedraggled Christ at the crucifixion and incorporates the Alice Cooper song lyric "Only Women Bleed."
It is the second year running the competition has been thrown into turmoil. Last year organisers faced controversy over a statue of the Virgin Mary wearing a burkha and a hologram of Jesus morphing into Osama bin Laden. The images angered the Catholic Church and led Prime Minister John Howard to label the worked [sic] "gratuitously offensive."
Dr. Allen said: "This isn't a personal preference, it's a judgement. I've never even met him. I just don't like his work."
The organisers of the Blake Prize said they were committed to including a variety of styles.
Chairman Rod Pattenden said: "The Blake Prize however embraces diversity in its entries and it is important to us that we remain open to the many styles through which artists engage with the subject area." ...
Award winning artist Cullen, said: "How can he be so offended? It's just a Jew on the cross."
