Images good and bad

Religious-theme controversies hither and yon:

 ·       Score one for the Apaches. And the image of Christ!

 For 35 years, the 8-foot-tall image of an Apache Christ hung behind the altar of St. Joseph Apache Mission in Mescalaro, New Mexico.

 The icon was created by Franciscan friar Robert Lentz in 1989. It depicts Christ as a Mescalero medicine man. It is a visually stunning reminder that Christ comes to us in many guises in all cultures.

 I have a postcard version of the icon that I have treasured for more than 20 years.

 A month ago, the people of the church were shocked when they showed up for worship and saw that the icon was gone. So were other art works that mixed Christian and Apache themes.

The priest said he had removed the “pagan” images to avoid corrupting the people.

Apparently he preferred the usual (non-corrupting) European images of Christ that appear in most Catholic artwork.

The priest said the local bishop and other diocesan officials had approved of the art’s removal.

Church people threw a fit. Then something truly momentous happened. The bishop backed down. He removed the priest, returned the artworks and apologized (as much as bishops ever really apologize for anything).

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·       Some people are really upset about the Last Supper “parody” during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Paris.

Problem is, the scene was not a portrayal of the Last Supper It was a portrayal of the Feast of Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine and orgies. No wonder it was so ribald. Oh, those French!

And, oh those (primarily Americans) who were so quick to take offense!

I missed seeing the whole thing first-hand. I watched about ten minutes of the parade, saw a few boats carrying athletes down the Seine, yawned and quit in boredom.

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·       Some people claim that God “spared” Donald Trump from assassination when a bullet nicked his ear.

If you follow the logic of that, then God directed bullets to kill firefighter Corey Comperatore and seriously injure two other bystanders at the Trump rally.

Or maybe Trump just moved his head at the right time.

Or maybe the shooter was just a bad shot.

You really ought to be careful assigning divine motive to bullets. It makes God the author of an awful lot of pain.

But if you must believe that God “spared” Trump, then the next time something awful happens to you, you must accept the notion that God did it to you, on purpose, because you so richly deserved it.

Relax. God doesn’t work that way.

Because if any of us God what we deserve, we’d all be in a terrible fix, wouldn’t we?