Vegetarian Virgin Mary Ad Riles Boston Church

Reuters ^ | 12-24-2003

[Cagey]

BOSTON (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Tuesday demanded the removal of an animal rights group's billboard advertisement depicting the Virgin Mary cradling a lifeless chicken in her arms.

The ad by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals features the tagline "Go Vegetarian -- It's an Immaculate Conception," a reference to teachings about Mary's purity.

But the church said the billboard was "offensive at any time" and especially so during the Christmas season.

"Why any organization would seek to garner goodwill for itself and its message by promoting an ad campaign that is so offensive to a large number of people within the community is unclear," the archdiocese said in a statement.

"What is clear is that if PETA truly cares about ethical behavior, the billboard message should be taken down as soon as possible," it added.

PETA said it has no plans to take down the billboard in Boston.

PETA said a similar advertisement went up in Providence, Rhode Island, earlier this month but was quickly removed by the billboard's owner amid similar complaints from Catholics there.

[The Mayor]

these people just won't quit, I would like to see a pic of this.

[WackyKat]

The PETA people are PR geniuses. The more controversy the better they like it

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[Cagey]

The more controversy the better they like it.

And isn't it amazing they targeted Christians here? An easy hit they can get away with.

[midnightcat]

The PETA people in New York City were handing out "tracts" at a Nutcracker ballet performance this week specifically to children attending the performance. I think it was Lincoln Center. Their cartoon-like tract depicted a woman with a large, bloody carving knife killing animals for a fur coat, or something to that effect, with the wording of "how many animals did YOUR mommy kill for her fur coat?"

It was on the news.

[Cagey]

OPPOSING VIEWS: The word "shame" is spray-painted on PETA's billboard on Route 195 in East Providence yesterday. The animal-rights group is using the image of the Virgin Mother to promote vegetarianism.

[Sans-Culotte]

Well, as "offensive humor" goes, this one wasn't even remotely funny or clever.

[The Mayor]

Thanks for the pic...

I agree this is not remotley funny.
This is gonna turn on them real hard, well one can only hope and pray so.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[Sabertooth]

	1Ti 4:1	Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
	1Ti 4:2	Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
	1Ti 4:3	Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

King James Version (KJV) 1 Timothy - Chapter 4

[Steve_Seattle]

I normally sympathize with the church when religious symbols are taken out of context and "profaned," but I think they're over-reacting on this one. I have no sympathy with PETA, but I don't think this ad is intended to be offensive or to denigrate the Virgin Mary.

[ArrogantBustard]

Shame? It's blasphemy. Jesus was not a chicken, nor did He come into this world st redeem the sins of chickens.

[ArrogantBustard]

Mary probably did hold a dead chicken a few times ... while plucking it! Chickens are kosher. And we know she sacrificed pigeons, once. That involved burning them on the Altar in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Somehow I don't think PeTA would approve ...

[TheCrusader]

What does the Blessed Virgin Mary and her title of "Immaculate Conception" have to do with vegetarianism and PETA? Using the image of the Mother of Christ to promote eating poultry products is a disgustingly overt attack on the Catholic Church.

This is akin to using Moses holding up two boxes of Tofu instead of the Tablets and the billboard saying: "Holy Moses, Tofu is Manna from Heaven". Who wants to bet the ACLU and the ADL would be suing the owner of the billboard if this were the case?

[RobbyS]

The ad by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals features the tagline "Go Vegetarian -- It's an Immaculate Conception," a reference to teachings about Mary's purity. Wrong the chicken onviously a substitution for the baby Jesus. Non-Catholics often confuse the Virgin Birth with the Immaculate Conception.

[liberty or death]

"1Ti 4:3 Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."

"Forbidding to marry"? Now which church might this passage belong too.

EXCELLENT POST!!!

[ArrogantBustard]

The only remotely Christian group which forbid people to marry (that I know of) was the Shakers. I'm not aware of any modern Christian Church which does so. For Catholics and Orthodox, marriage is a sacrament; a particularly powerful vehicle for the Grace of God. To every Protestant group that I'm aware of, marriage is at least something holy, which should be celebrated in church and in the presence of a minister.

Of what, pray tell, were you thinking?

[Campion]

Now which church might this passage belong too.

I dunno ... do you suppose it referred to the Shakers?

Well, actually, I do know. The reference was to Gnostic sects which really did forbid marriage to all of their members. Marriage is fundamentally an institution to support the begetting and rearing of children, and the Gnostics held that having kids was a sin (trapping pure spirits in prisons of dirty flesh, etc.).

Also, it should be noted that the passage "abstain from meats" is a bit misleading in the KJV. Elizabethan English used the word "meats" to refer to foods other than flesh. The word in the Greek is bromah, the usual Greek word for "foods", and that is how most modern translations render the verse. The Gnostics also had various strange hangups about food, believing that some foods polluted the soul and others purified it. One sect believed that salvation could be achieved by eating large quantities of cucumbers.

[BSunday]

People Embarrassing the Tidewater Area