Did you know that there are 14-year-old boys in Everett, Penn., that do dumb things? I guess technically I only know of one, but I’m betting the rest of them are much like that one. And that one is a lot like the rest of the 14-year-old boys across the world. They all do daft things. This particular one desecrated a venerated object, but that wasn’t the dumb thing. The dumb thing was posting a photo of it on Facebook.
Since he’s a minor the news reports don’t list his name, but he needs one, so let’s call him Brad, a very arbitrary choice, by the way. One day Brad was walking by Love in the Name of Christ which is a Christian service organization, and he spied a statue of a kneeling Jesus. He then decided he’d act like a 14-year-old, and stood in front of Jesus so that it looked like he was getting a blowjob from the good Lord.
Did you just hear the sound of a thousand sharp intakes of breath and pearls being clutched? No one from Love in the Name of Christ turned Brad into the police. Someone who saw the photo on Facebook did.
I know there are people who aren’t amused by some kid pretending that he’s getting a beej from Jesus, even though I don’t ever remember reading in the Bible whether Jesus really cared one way or the other. What I do remember being in the Bible was this bit about not having idols. In fact, I remember the story of the golden calf and how Moses nearly had a seizure, stroke and a massive coronary all at once when he came down from his mountaintop vacation to find the children of Israel dancing around the calf.
Maybe I missed part of the story and Moses was really just pissed because they were all better dancers than he was, but I’m pretty sure the gist was that idols were bad. Somehow Christianity has gone from idols being a big no-no, to idols being venerated. The times they are a-changin’.
Now Brad can be sentenced for up to two years in juvenile detention for his pretend oral sex session. And for what? Some imagined desecration? If he’d actually damaged the statue, he should be charged and sentenced appropriately. But, he didn’t damage it. He didn’t tag it with graffiti. He didn’t knock it over. He didn’t break off Jesus’ nose. But he was still charged with desecration, and is still possibly facing a ridiculous sentence. The only thing Brad damaged were the sensibilities of a few people who weren’t mature enough or Christian enough to have looked at the photo and then looked away. But maybe that would be too much like they were turning the other cheek.
Rachel Birdsell is a freelance writer and artist. You can reach her at rabirdsell@gmail.com
Statutory Rape
Rachel Birdsell
Did you know that there are 14-year-old boys in Everett, Penn., that do dumb things? I guess technically I only know of one, but I’m betting the rest of them are much like that one. And that one is a lot like the rest of the 14-year-old boys across the world. They all do daft things. This particular one desecrated a venerated object, but that wasn’t the dumb thing. The dumb thing was posting a photo of it on Facebook.
Since he’s a minor the news reports don’t list his name, but he needs one, so let’s call him Brad, a very arbitrary choice, by the way. One day Brad was walking by Love in the Name of Christ which is a Christian service organization, and he spied a statue of a kneeling Jesus. He then decided he’d act like a 14-year-old, and stood in front of Jesus so that it looked like he was getting a blowjob from the good Lord.
Did you just hear the sound of a thousand sharp intakes of breath and pearls being clutched? No one from Love in the Name of Christ turned Brad into the police. Someone who saw the photo on Facebook did.
I know there are people who aren’t amused by some kid pretending that he’s getting a beej from Jesus, even though I don’t ever remember reading in the Bible whether Jesus really cared one way or the other. What I do remember being in the Bible was this bit about not having idols. In fact, I remember the story of the golden calf and how Moses nearly had a seizure, stroke and a massive coronary all at once when he came down from his mountaintop vacation to find the children of Israel dancing around the calf.
Maybe I missed part of the story and Moses was really just pissed because they were all better dancers than he was, but I’m pretty sure the gist was that idols were bad. Somehow Christianity has gone from idols being a big no-no, to idols being venerated. The times they are a-changin’.
Now Brad can be sentenced for up to two years in juvenile detention for his pretend oral sex session. And for what? Some imagined desecration? If he’d actually damaged the statue, he should be charged and sentenced appropriately. But, he didn’t damage it. He didn’t tag it with graffiti. He didn’t knock it over. He didn’t break off Jesus’ nose. But he was still charged with desecration, and is still possibly facing a ridiculous sentence. The only thing Brad damaged were the sensibilities of a few people who weren’t mature enough or Christian enough to have looked at the photo and then looked away. But maybe that would be too much like they were turning the other cheek.
Rachel Birdsell is a freelance writer and artist. You can reach her at rabirdsell@gmail.com