Sat, Mar 20, 2010

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DAILY SHVITZ

Taste Test: Piss Christ vs Chocolate Christ

Paul Berger

Sculptor Cosimo Cavallero and his 6ft chocolate ChristSculptor Cosimo Cavallero and his 6ft chocolate ChristCatholics are up in arms over a 6ft chocolate sculpture of Christ that will go on display in New York over Easter.

The work, called "My Sweet Lord," will be on view in a window of the Roger Smith Hotel's Lab Gallery on E. 47th Street. The sculpture is made of almost 200 pounds of dark chocolate.

According to the New York Daily News, because the statue is "anatomically correct" (which I think is shorthand for 'stark bollock naked') some Catholics believe it is in bad taste:

"It's an all-out war on Christianity," fumed Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. "They wouldn't show a depiction of Martin Luther King Jr. with genitals exposed on Martin Luther King Day, and they wouldn't show Muhammed depicted this way during Ramadan. It's always Christians, and the timing is deliberate."

Chocolate Christ sculptor Cosimo Cavallaro, who is himself a Catholic, said giving Jesus a loincloth would be "ridiculous."

"This person is talking from a very narrow window," he said of Donohue. "They're not allowing themselves to open their hearts. ... If it makes them feel better, I'll ask for their forgiveness and do 10 Hail Marys, but they should just lighten up and be more accepting of people."



Paul Berger

Paul Berger is a British freelance writer living in Brooklyn, New York. His
work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, US News and
World Report and Online Journalism Review.

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Michael Weiss

Michael Weiss


Look, there's no point gourmetizing Jesus -- whose body Catholics are supposed to consume in the Eucharist -- until you're prepared to go whole hog. I also want Moses Mentos and candy corn Salah al-Dins.