Catholic League, Congressional Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor attacked the work. Allies Push 'Sacrilegious' Video From "American families have a right to expect better from recipients of tax- National Portrait Callery payer funds in a tough economy," , a spokesman for Boeh- ner, told The Post. "While the amount By Rob Boston of money involved may be small, it's ometime around 1800, win when the National Portrait Gallery symbohc of the arrogance Washing- Spanish painter Francisco in Washington, D.C., agreed to remove ton routinely applies to thousands of Jose de Goya completed a brief video that had been attacked as spending decisions involving Ameri- what is considered one of his "sacrilegious" by the Catholic League cans' hard-earned money." Sgreatest works: "The Naked Maja" for Religious and Civil Rights and other Cantor went a step further, de- depicts a young woman, completely far-right groups. manding that the entire exhibit be nude, reclining on a couch. The video in question was part of shut down. He called it an "outra- The Spanish Inquisition was not a larger exhibit called "Hide/Seek: geous use of taxpayer money and an impressed with Goya's effort. In 1815, Difference and Desire in American obvious attempt to offend Christians Roman Catholic clergy representing Portraiture," which explores ques- during the Christmas season." the Inquisition - it existed until 1834 tions of gender identity in American Perhaps hoping to spark his own - summoned the painter and de- history through art. The exhibit con- inquisition of the medieval variety, manded to know who had commis- tains works by several artists, includ- U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) a day sioned this work, which they labeled ing Georgia O'Keeffe, David Hockney, later upped the ante, insisting that "obscene." Not long after that, Goya Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol. Congress launch an official investiga- lost his position as official painter to The controversial video is by the tion into the matter. the Spanish court. late , a perform- Americans United for Separation It's not known what Goya told the ance artist who worked in several of Church and State had a different Inquisition, but history vindicated the media. Titled "Fire in My Belly," it is take on the controversy. artist. Today "The Naked Maja" is on about four minutes long and includes "Boehner and Cantor aren't even display at the Museo del Prado in an 11-second segment that shows in control of the House yet, and Madrid and is considered a national ants crawling on a crucifix. already they're kowtowing to the treasure. Some art critics believed that Woj- Religious Right," said Barry W. Lynn, The battle over Goya's painting narowicz, who died of AIDS in 1992, executive director of Americans wasn't the first skirmish between reli- was making a statement about the United. "This is religiously based cen- gion and the world of art, and it cer- suffering of those who have the dis- sorship, pure and simple - and it's tainly won't be the last. The truth is, ease, but Wendy Olsoff, a gallery reprehensible. religiously based censorship by the owner in City who repre- "If some people believe a show government has a long history in sents Wojnarowicz's estate, said the like this offends their religious sensi- Europe and the United States - and, artist viewed ants as a microcosm of bilities, the answer is for them not to thanks to recent political changes, it human society and often showed go to it," Lynn added. "They should may be on the upswing here. them in his work crawling on lots of not have the right to control what art Religious Right activists, feeling different objects. the rest of us can see." emboldened by their successes in the "It was not about Christ," Olsoff William Donohue, president of the November elections, are on the prowl told The Washington Post. "It was just Catholic League, insisted that the against "obscene" or "blasphemous" about institutionalized ." exhibit was an example of "hate art, especially in tax-funded museums. Nevertheless, the Smithsonian speech." In a press statement, Dono- In December, they scored a major yanked the entire video after House hue lauded the removal of the video

CHURCH & STATE JANUARY 2011 / PAGE 4 (4) but asserted that the Smithsonian Donohue may have turned up the "production code" that many reli- should have never allowed it in the volume, but he's not offering much gious groups had supported was first place. else that's new. His Catholic League abandoned by the big studios. The Critics say Donohue's organiza- invokes past efforts by sectarian Legion became defunct and was sub- tion, which has an annual budget of forces determined to control what sumed into the hierarchy of the Cath- about $4 million and assets totaling entertainment their fellow Americans ohc Church, which, through its Cath- $26 million, tends to see anti-Catho- can see, read or hear. olic News Service, continues to re- licism lurking behind every rock. In 1933, a Catholic bishop in Cin- view films today and labels many Loud and abrasive, Donohue is adept cinnati formed a group called the Cath- "morally offensive." at manipulating the media and often olic Legion of Decency to combat Such rating systems, offered to portrays himself as a spokesman for alleged immorality in movies. The people who are free to follow or reject American Catholics, when in fact few organization soon drew support from them, are a far cry from past practices members of that denomination share some conservative Protestants and the when some religious figures labored his far-right views. following year changed its name to the to prevent anyone from seeing certain In May of 2009, Donohue went on National Legion of Decency. Its mem- films or reading some books. the warpath after the University of bership, however, remained heavily Half a century ago, Americans Uni- Notre Dame invited President Barack ted had its hands full combating reli- Obama to give a commencement giously based censorship. In 1955, address. Aided by Channel, Paul Blanshard, a AU-affiliated re- Donohue tried to make a national searcher, published The Right to issue of the address, but few Catho- Read, a book chronicling various lit- lics cared and Obama delivered the erary censorship efforts, many led by speech (and received an honorary religious organizations. law degree) without a hitch. During the great era of "vice sup- Around the same time, Donohue pression" in the 1920s and '30s, cities went ballistic over the release of the like Boston and New York were movie Angels & Demons. Based on famous for banning books. New the popular novel by Dan Brown, the England's Watch and Ward Society film centered on various intrigues at (originally known as the New the Vatican. Donohue demanded that England Society for the Suppression the movie include a disclaimer saying of Vice) was so powerful that all its it was fictional, but even church offi- leaders had to do was apply pressure cials disagreed, seeing the movie as to booksellers to make certain vol- harmless summer fluff. umes unavailable. In Boston libraries, More recently, Donohue attempted books deemed objectionable were to manufacture a controversy by insis- Oonohue: Aiways offended kept in locked rooms. ting that the Empire State Building be While much of the material sup- bathed in blue and white light to cele- pressed was of questionable merit, brate the late Mother Teresa's 100th Catholic. some works that are now considered birthday on Aug. 26, 2010. When the The Legion asked its members to classics were censored as well, thanks owners of the building refused, Dono- sign a pledge vowing to "remain largely to religiously motivated hue began bombarding the media with away from all motion pictures except activists. Books targeted by the moral dozens of press releases. those which do hot offend decency crusaders included Sinclair Lewis' El- But not all of Donohue's fulmina- and Christian morality." The idea was mer Cantry, Theodore Dreiser's An tions have been so silly. In 2004, that Hollywood would respond with American TYagedy, Ernest Heming- Donohue lapsed into an anti-Semitic more wholesome entertainment. way's The Sun Also Rises and Upton rant while defending 's The plan met with mixed success. Sinclair's Oil! movie The Passion of the Christ. The Legion sometimes went over- Censorship opponents scored Appearing on Fox News, Donohue board - it condemned the zany 1959 occasional victories. In 1926, journal- thundered, "Hollywood is controlled Marilyn Monroe comedy Some Like It ist H.L. Mencken traveled to Boston by secular Jews who hate Christianity Hot for cross-dressing - but it man- after learning that copies of the mag- in general and Catholicism in particu- aged to apply enough pressure that azine he edited, American Mercury, lar. It's not a secret, OK? And I'm not some directors shifted operations had been removed from newsstands afraid to say it. That's why they hate overseas to avoid trouble. because they contained a hard-hitting this movie." (Donohue has also been The Legion, however, could not story about a prostitute. accused of downplaying the pedophil- stop the rise of a grittier, more action- Mencken provoked a court chal- ia crisis in the and oriented cinema in the 1960s. By the lenge by openly selling copies of the attempting to pin the blame on gays 1970s films were becoming more magazine and sparking his own who enter the priesthood.) risqué and an ojstensibly voluntary arrest. The case became a cause

CHURCH & STATE JANUARY 2011 / PAGF 5 (5) célèbre and put an uncomfortable not ban a film on the basis of a cen- before a federal judge struck down spotlight on Boston's censorship sor's conclusion that it is 'sacrile- the ban. practices. Mencken was acquitted. gious.'" In recent years, art exhibits have But the censors were far from fin- Burstyn v. Wilson was an impor- come under attack. In a celebrated ished. As film became a more popular tant ruling because it derailed states' case from 1999, Rudy Giuliani, then medium, religious groups began turn- ability to censor films on grounds of mayor of New York, attacked the ing their attention to the silver screen. blasphemy and sacrilege. The deci- Brooklyn Museum of Art for display- In 1950, an Italian filmmaker sion also made it clear that film, like ing an image of the Virgin Mary by named Roberto Rossellini released a the printed word, falls under the artist Chris Ofili (himself a Roman short film called The Miracle, the tale scope of the First Amendment's guar- Catholic) that included a piece of of a peasant woman who is con- antee of free speech. (In handing resin-coated elephant dung. vinced that the stranger who impreg- down Burstyn, the high court over- The Catholic League attacked the nated her is really Saint Joseph. turned a 1915 decision. Mutual Film portrait, as did Archbishop John Outraged Catholic leaders in New Corporation v. Industrial Commission O'Connor. Giuliani tried to cut off city York City insisted that the "sacrile- of Ohio, which declared that movies funding for the museum and even gious" film be banned, and govern- were not entitled to First Amendment evict it from its quarters. Legal action ment officials were only too happy to protection because they were purely a ensued, and a federal court blocked comply. Church pressure was so commercial enterprise.} the Giuliani overture. intense that New York officials even Although official censorship Americans United says the recent revoked the license of the movie's flap over the Smithsonian does not distributor, Joseph Burstyn. bode well. The influx of far-right con- But Burstyn fought back in the 'This new Congress servatives in Congress is likely to courts. His legal effort reached the embolden the Religious Right to stoke U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled has a bull's-eye on arts the flames of the "culture wars," and unanimously in his favor in 1952. funding. I don't think publicly funded museums are low- "Since the term 'sacrilegious' is the hanging fruit. Already some members sole standard under attack here, it is there is any question of Congress are talking about defund- not necessary for us to decide, for ex- they are going to tar- ing the National Endowment for the ample, whether a state may censor mo- Arts and the National Endowment for tion pictures under a clearly drawn get the NEÁ " the Humanities, favorite Religious statute designed and applied to pre- Right bugbears. —U.S. Rep. James P. Moran vent the showing of obscene films," "This new Congress has a bull's- wrote Justice Tom C. Clark for the eye on arts funding," U.S. Rep. James court. "That is a very different ques- boards began to lose power after the P. Moran (D-Va.) told The Washing- tion from the one now before us. We Burstyn ruling, some church officials ton Post. "I don't think there is any hold only that under the First and still continued to target movies, question they are going to target the Fourteenth Amendments a state may books and plays they disliked. NEA, the NEH and anything else that Director Martin Scorsese's 1988 film funds art." The Last Temptation of Christ brought Americans United and its allies are The Envelope Please.. out picketers, and several local govern- speaking out. In December, AU joined ments - including Dallas, Birmingham the National Coalition Against Cen- In this issue of Church & State, you should and a few parishes in Louisiana - sorship and 12 other organizations to have found an envelope addressed to passed symbolic resolutions condemn- protest the action at the National Por- Americans United for Separation of Church ing the movie (which, many lawmak- trait Gallery. and State. ers admitted, they had not seen). "The Catholic League may insist If you appreciate this magazine (and the One community. Escambia Coun- that religious symbols are its property many other Americans United projects), we ty, Fla., went beyond that. County and others (especially homosexuals) hope you will take a moment and return the Commissioners voted 4-1 to ban the cannot use them; however, a national envelope to us with a contribution enclosed. film and actually sent a sheriff's museum is barred by First Amend- Printing and postage costs continue to deputy to the one theater that ment principles, as well as by its mis- escalate, and the troubled economy has planned to show it to seize the print. sion to serve all Americans, from negatively affected donations. We are count- In his 2008 book Hollywood Under enforcing those views on the rest of ing on AU members and supporters to help Siege, Thomas R. Lindlof writes that us," asserts the joint statement. us make up the difference. the owner of the theater got wind of It concludes, "The Smithsonian, of Your gift supports all of Americans law enforcement's pending arrival, which the National Portrait Gallery is Unjted's educational, legal, legislative and handed the print to a business associ- part, is a public trust serving the in- grassroots-organizing projects - and it's tax ate and sent him into the next coun- terests of all Americans. It betrays its deductible. ty. The man checked into a hotel with mission the moment it ejects a work Thanks in advance for your generosity! the censored film, and it wasn't long whose viewpoint some dislike." D

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