An open Bible sits on a podium at the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, Scotland. Next to the sacred text is a container of pens and a sign reading "If you feel you have been excluded from the Bible, please feel free to write yourself back into it."
The public has responded by writing slander, jokes, obscenities and more on the Bible's pages.
The exhibit is part of a larger exhibition entitled Made in God's Image. The Times (London, not New York) reports:
The exhibit, Untitled 2009, was proposed by the Metropolitan Community Church, which said that the idea was to reclaim the Bible as a sacred text. But to the horror of many Christians, including the community church, visitors have daubed its pages with comments such as "This is all sexist pish, so disregard it all." A contributor wrote on the first page of Genesis: "I am Bi, Female & Proud. I want no god who is disappointed in this."
As you may have guessed, various churches and Christian leaders have expressed disgust and outrage at the invitation to deface the Bible as art. Anthony Schrag, one of the exhibition's artists, said he wonders whether people are offended by what was written or by writing in a Bible in the first place. He also states that human rights are at the center of the show.
"If we are to open up the Bible for discussion, surely we have to invite people to speak out," he said.
I am inclined to agree with him.
The church as a whole certainly has a right to be upset by the general lack of sanctity this Bible was shown (one person wrote "The Gospel According to Luke Skywalker"), but I think they have a greater obligation to address the reasons behind the actions. It seems to me that people feel judged and unloved by Christians so often that they feel nothing left for the Bible but anger, dismissal or otherwise.
Perhaps the thing the worldwide church can do is ask itself how to be more welcome to discussion of the Bible without feeling threatened by the questions people have to ask. If they are to properly represent their Christ, they need to be willing to eat, drink and talk with prostitutes, corrupt businessmen and religious nut cases just like he did. Otherwise the church--and by extension, the Bible--cannot expect to receive the respect that Christ receives.
