Catholic and Enjoying It!
The purpose of the artist is patently to make a pro-life statement of course and to that degree I applaud him.
However, as is the custom of our secular messianic Christian culture here in the US (much of it rooted in a sharply anti-Catholic worldview) the paradox is that the artist steals motifs from Catholic hagiography in order to send an accidentally blasphemous message which elevates his fave rave figures from American history (including people who were quite nakedly anti-Christian) and places them among the Choir Invisible. Jesus is shown brandishing, not the book of judgement, but the US Constitution. The sheep and goats are members of approved and unapproved ideological factions. It’s a classic example of precisely what Paul is warning against when he tells the Colossians “See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.” This is *exactly* what is *really* meant when Scripture warns against the “traditions of men” being elevated to the status of the Apostolic Tradition.
And it’s as American as apple pie. We do it all the time–to our great peril.
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