Sunset at the Brooklyn Museum (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I published this little item in the Provo Daily Herald<\/em> back on 20 October 1999. \u00a0Considerable history has come and gone since then. \u00a0For example, Rudy Giuliani became \u201cAmerica\u2019s Mayor\u201d a little less than two years later amid the catastrophes of 9-11 and, since then, has become a national embarrassment:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Blasphemous Art in Brooklyn Stirs Controversy<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nReligious controversies about art are hardly new.\u00a0 Michelangelo\u2019s depiction of nude figures on the Sistine Chapel caused a scandal; so, presumably, did Akhenaton\u2019s eccentric innovations in ancient Egypt.\u00a0 Some iconoclastic religions find blasphemous the very act of creating religious art.\u00a0 Until recently the most notorious modern case of artistic blasphemy was Andres Serrano\u2019s vulgarly titled 1989 depiction of a crucifix immersed in a jar of urine.\u00a0 (Would the art critics who praised Serrano\u2019s work have been equally enthralled with a depiction of the corpse of Martin Luther King, similarly submerged and titled?) \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAn artistic and religious controversy at New York\u2019s Brooklyn Museum has again brought this issue to the forefront of public attention.\u00a0 The museum is currently displaying Chris Ofili\u2019s \u201cHoly Virgin Mary,\u201d an abstract portrait studded with preserved animal genitals and elephant dung.\u00a0 Naturally, Catholics and many others have found this offensive, blasphemous, and without artistic merit.\u00a0 New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has threatened to cut seven million dollars of museum funding if the portrait is not removed.\u00a0 Supporters of the artist and the museum have denounced his threat, claiming it violates constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech.<\/span><\/p>\nBut does government refusal to fund a particular work of art deny freedom of speech?\u00a0 In reality, for every artist the government subsidizes in some way, hundreds receive no subsidy.\u00a0 Since its resources are limited while the amount of potential art is essentially unlimited, government must necessarily choose which artists to subsidize and which not to subsidize.<\/span><\/p>\nWho, then, decides which specific art works receive these limited government subsidies?\u00a0 Should such decisions be left exclusively to museum directors and the art establishment?\u00a0 Do their unique skills and insights allow them to transcend the need for public scrutiny or accountability?\u00a0 There is, in fact, no consensus in the art establishment as to what constitutes art, let alone what constitutes \u201cgood\u201d art.\u00a0 One prominent national art museum recently displayed the following three masterpieces: a canvas painted completely black, a string of light bulbs hung on a wall, and a circle of stones on the floor.\u00a0 That such nonsense can pass among museum directors for serious art suggests legitimate grounds (at least) for outsiders to question their aesthetic judgment.<\/span><\/p>\nA government subsidy means taxpayers are patronizing the art.\u00a0 If a patron asked an artist to paint a naturalistic portrait of his daughter in her wedding dress, and the artist returned with an abstract nude painting of the bride smeared with elephant dung, it is doubtful that the patron would pay the artist.\u00a0 And he would have every right not to do so.\u00a0 He bears no constitutional obligation to pay.\u00a0 Unless one is willing to argue that the patron of a work of art should have no say about the type and quality of art produced, the people whose government patronizes art with their taxes should likewise be allowed to decide which specific art should receive subsidies.<\/span><\/p>\nBut the Brooklyn controversy raises another equally important issue\u2014a religious one.\u00a0 The First Amendment states, \u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.\u201d\u00a0 This means, first, that the government may not create state-sponsored religions (as are found, for example, in many European countries).\u00a0 Second, if the government does patronize religion, it should give all faiths equal treatment.\u00a0 Thus, when the government provides chaplains for the armed services, it allows clergy of all religions to serve.<\/span><\/p>\nAs a corollary to these two ideas, it seems clear that government should not be involved in attacking the beliefs of any particular religion.\u00a0 To do so implicitly establishes those religions not critiqued as superior to the religion that is.\u00a0 For the state to sponsor art that, by Roman Catholic standards, is clearly blasphemous, is to establish non-Catholic religions as superior to Catholicism. Thus, Mayor Giuliani has it exactly right: \u201cYou don\u2019t have a [First Amendment] right to government subsidy for desecrating somebody else\u2019s religion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nWhile the First Amendment clearly states that the government cannot prevent blasphemous art from being created, sold, or exhibited, it seems equally clear that government should not be involved in subsidizing blasphemous art.\u00a0 If it does so, it is implicitly (and illegitimately) establishing certain religious ideas as superior to others.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 I published this little item in the Provo Daily Herald back on 20 October 1999. \u00a0Considerable history has come and gone since then. \u00a0For example, Rudy Giuliani became \u201cAmerica\u2019s Mayor\u201d a little less than two years later amid the catastrophes of 9-11 and, since then, has become a national embarrassment: \u00a0 Blasphemous Art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2247,8699,4195,8693,8696,4309,5727,8690,8702,8687],"class_list":["post-83051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-art","tag-blasphemous","tag-blasphemy","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-museum","tag-first-amendment","tag-freedom-of-speech","tag-giuliani","tag-government-subsidy","tag-rudy"],"yoast_head":"\n
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