Jesus with erection
Jesus with erection is the name of a satirical cartoon published in a University of Oregon student magazine . The cartoon sparked some political debate in the US in 2006 .
cartoon
The hand-drawn cartoon shows Jesus of Nazareth naked on a cross with an erection . In the same issue, eleven other hand-drawn caricatures of Jesus were shown, including one called Resurrection , which shows the naked Jesus kissing another naked man, and both of them have erections.
context
The students argued that they wanted to provoke a dialogue after so many criticized the Muslims after the Mohammed caricature controversy in the same year: a few months before the publication of the Jesus caricatures, the Danish newspaper " Jyllands-Posten " had satirical caricatures of Mohammed, of the Supreme Prophet of Islam. For example, the prophet was depicted wearing a bomb-shaped turban on his head. Thereupon there were violent protests (especially) in Arab countries: many Muslims emphasized that these caricatures symbolize the disrespect with which the "West" meets Islam. Embassies from "Western" countries (especially Danish embassies) were attacked and a Christian nun was murdered in Somalia.
On the one hand, many Muslims felt discriminated against because of the Mohammed cartoons, on the other hand, many in the "West" said that journalists in Europe are free to publish what they want if it does not violate human rights. " Freedom of expression " is a fundamental human right that is not respected in Islamic countries.
The Holocaust caricature competition and the subsequent Israeli anti-Semitic caricature competition took place in a similar context .
Reactions
After the Jesus cartoons were published, various religious and conservative groups in the US demanded that students publicly apologize for publishing the offensive cartoons; they also demanded that the student newspaper no longer be funded by the Oregon State University. The President of the Catholic League , William Donohue , said the president of the university, David B. Frohnmayer , was in a sense responsible for this "debacle" for not responding to criticism from opponents of the cartoons and because he had done nothing against the publication of the Jesus cartoons. He said that Jesus with erection was one of the most obscene attacks on Christianity that he had ever faced in his life. The conservative television show " The O'Reilly Factor " called for the president of the university, David Frohnmayer, to step down.
On the other hand, the Oregon Daily Emerald and the Oregon Commentator , two magazines funded by the same university, publicly defended the right of students to freedom of expression. They also supported Frohnmayer's decision to continue to support the controversial magazine based on a ruling by the US Supreme Court (Southworth case, 2006).
Web links
- Caricatures of Jesus with an erection, student magazine "The Insurgent" ( Memento from October 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive )