Banksy the religious bigot

by Chris Johnson. Published Thu 29 Dec 2011 15:51

I have tried counting to ten... several times!

But I have to get it off my chest. My question is why the so-called artist Banksy has been allowed to get away with criminal damage and an outright insult to a religious minority in Liverpool?

His sculpture "Cardinal Sin" is being exhibited in the Walker Art Gallery.... indefinitely.

His vandalism is on show in Rumford Street (see picture).

There is little artistry in either.

The sculpture is a copy of the bust of an 18th century cardinal of the Roman Catholic church, with the face "pixellated" with a mosaic of tiles.

I would say it is from the "B+Q school" and can see no reason why it should be placed in the Walker on its artistic merits. The only excuse is its "controversy value".

Staff at the Walker went into paroxysms of stony-faced praise for the work. Are they blind? No, but they know a headline-grabber when they see one.

Banksy "gave" it to the Walker and it was promoted to the media as a telling commentary on the cover-up of the paedophile priests scandal in the Catholic church.

No doubt they were secretly hoping the Church would react against it. No-one did. Only a hurriedly-despatched lay person came out with a few words about the church needing to accept criticism

I guess it's a no-win situation for the priests and bishops and it seems that instead of vocally defending the majority - which I consider is their priestly duty - all they can do is turn the other cheek.

Well, bravo for them, but it leaves the rest of us wondering where we stand.

Let me declare my hand. I am a Roman Catholic. And like all ordinary members of the church I am appalled at the few dreadful cases of abuse, that overshadow the good work that happens every day.

It has been a great source of pain and heartache to the church and the faithful.

But I for one take great exception to the fact that a publicly-funded gallery is displaying this so-called art that is openly calculated to denigrate and bring into disrepute a minority faith community.

That clergy abuse of children happened is a terrible thing and my sympathy goes to the genuine victims.

But the fact is that the abuse was an aberration that was carried-out by a tiny minority of priests, with less than .04% of clergy ever involved. That is less than society in general and, for the record, more Anglican clergy have been involved in abuse than Roman Catholics, but that is statistics and headlines for you.

I agree that the cover-up was even more to be regretted. The offenders should have been expelled from office and proper safeguarding procedures put in place. But it is easy to criticise what was a normal human reaction on the part of the hierarchy.

The bishops and cardinals who conspired to cover-up the sleazy scandal did so because they wanted to avoid the shame of it. Instead we know they should have been completely open about it, since that would have earned them respect and protected potential victims.

Hindsight is a perfect science and that it was all blown-up into a huge furore is to be expected, since the media focuses on hypocrisy and loves to taunt anyone of faith with "I told you so!".

It is almost as if religious people are now under suspicion and classified as "crazy" - as Tony Blair observed - for supporting this supposesd den of paedophiles and sex abusers. The blind ignorance involved really is crazy.

And what a sad state of affairs this is. It bodes ill for the future of Britain as a Christian country and the values on which private and public life is based.

What I find most distasteful about public exhibition of the Banksy sculpture is that it proclaims as the norm that it is okay to pour scorn on the entire "faceless" Roman Catholic hierarchy. It amounts to a group defamation.

In a statement Banksy said: "I guess you can call the statue a Christmas present. At this time of year it's easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity - the lies, the corruption and the abuse."

So, that is Banksy's definition of Christianity "lies, corruption and abuse."

In those words he is condemned from his own lips, showing himself to be a mindless, anti-religious bigot. His "art" should surely be removed from the Walker forthwith.

This all serves to compound something that has mystified me for a while. That is why Banksy, whose real name is Robin Gunningham, is allowed to get away with graffiti simply because some people define his daubings as 'art'.

The latest example of his graffiti is the stencilled image of a bi-plane that he is supposed to have sprayed on a wall Rumford Street, just before Cardinal Sin went on show.

To my mind, whether the daubing is art is not the question. It is vandalism and criminal damage and he should be prosecuted for it.