Feces, Nudity, and Suicidal Tendencies: Not Good Ways to Protest at a Church March 9, 2009

Feces, Nudity, and Suicidal Tendencies: Not Good Ways to Protest at a Church

By Guest Contributor
March 9, 2009

Here’s another reason not to have a gigantic cross in front of your church.

Someone might come along, climb to the top of it, strip down, defecate and spread his waste on the cross, and act all suicidal.

At least that’s what this guy did last week:

nakedcross

Man, I hope that guy’s not an atheist…

That photo is courtesy of AP’s Richard Vogel though more graphic photos are available at Jonathan Alcorn‘s site.

The only motive I’ve heard is that he was “protesting against Christianity.”

Protesting what, I wonder… and how does this fix the problem?

(Thanks to Juliana for the link!)

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  • David D.G.

    Now there’s a guy who’s very probably a good candidate for better living through (pharmaceutical) chemistry. If so, I hope he gets the help he needs.

    And I agree with the sentiment of hoping that the guy is not an atheist. There are far too many “people of faith” who would love to claim that his actions are typical of athiests, when in fact their very newsworthy rarity shows otherwise.

    ~David D.G.

  • …What the hell? This definitely is one of the most bizarre posts I’ve seen in a long time o_O;

  • Strangely, one incident where poop and religion don’t mix….

  • S

    You know you tend to come off really inflexible on your whole crusade to distance yourself from any grand gesture which could be perceived as offensive. Do you honestly believe such actions have no place in an atheist movement? I certainly understand where you’re coming from (“it gives atheists a bad name”), and certainly don’t support this particular protest, but I’m just curious, as seemingly once or twice a week you bring up some form of atheist attack, and how unnecessary you feel it is. I’m just curious — where do you draw the line between unnecessarily offensive and unnoticeably obscure?

  • Grimalkin

    You know, I can sort of empathize. I, too, use poop to solve most of my problems.

    Unlike this gentleman, however, I mean that symbolically.

  • Grimalkin

    S – not to mention that we don’t even know that this guy is an atheist. And, ultimately, does it matter? Can’t we be individuals and go about solving our problems in our own way without always feeling as though we are responsible for the image of the entire minority group we happen to belong to?

    In other words, so what if he is an atheist? When is the last time you heard white Protestant middle-aged males saying “oh man, I hope it wasn’t a white Protestant middle-aged male” when a crime has been committed?

  • I imagine they’ll discover the man has some mental health issues. I just don’t see mentally healthy people engaging in such forms of protest–no matter how much they might dislike religion.

    S: Be wary before presuming this is an atheist. The RW automatically assumed the TN church shooter was an atheist until it was discovered he targeted the UU church because it was “too liberal”.

  • Jesse

    Im surprised they didnt find Jesus’s face in the feces. :p

  • Mriana

    That is disgusting and very much uncalled for. Regardless of whether he is an atheist or not, it is obvious he is protesting something the church has done, but the question is what and why is he protesting in such a disgusting manner? I wonder if he realizes there are better ways to protest.

  • schism

    Maybe he’s just protesting against unnecessarily gigantic house ornaments.

    Meh, it made me laugh. 4 out of 5 spaghetti balls for gross insanity. He loses one for half-assing the…uh, redecorating.

  • I’d follow this man’s lead if it weren’t my fear of heights….

    Hey, maybe that’s what I was doing in a dream when I fell off my top bunk as I slept walked as a child and landed breaking my collar bone?

  • cl

    I just can’t stop laughing!! Poop!

  • Luther Weeks

    Where is God in this? How can she let this happen? It must be part of her plan.

    On another front, this brings up a question that has never been addressed: What happens to poop in Heaven? All I’ve ever seen is white clouds and angels in white.

  • petursey

    I think every cross and church should have a shit endorsed display…it’s only advertising what is peddled within !!!

    I see the slogan now… “Shit ..the ultimate church display..shop what you preach !”

  • weaves

    Clearly there is something wrong, as against social conditioning he has reverted back to childish fun of FLYING POOP.

  • Holy Shit! I think that this sort of protest is just a shitty thing to do.

    *baddum tish*

    Still, he’s not the first naked man on a cross to attract public attention.

    It’s the poor chap who has the job of cleaning the cross that I feel sorry for. Which brings up a question for the Christian. Does this act ruin the cross as a religious symbol? Is it no longer considered holy? Can it be reconsecrated with soap and water or does it need chanting and smearing with oil and whatever it is that they do?

  • postsimian

    lolcat caption: “EFFECTIVE PROTEST – ur doin it rong!”

  • Mathew Wilder

    I think it’s a legitimate worry if he is an atheist that religious, especially Christian, folk might try to paint all atheists with that brush.

    It would be nice if everyone could judge individuals as individuals, but that isn’t the case. White Protestants don’t complain they hope a crime wasn’t one of them because they’re not a marginalized group. It’s minority status that makes groups susceptible to bring judged on the basis of one member of that group. In the case of atheists, I think it’s our marginalized status that even allows us to be considered one group, since the only thing atheists have in common is a lack of a certain belief. Secular Humanists share things in common, but not necessarily atheists.

  • schism

    I think it’s a legitimate worry if he is an atheist that religious, especially Christian, folk might try to paint all atheists with that brush.

    They’re going to do that regardless. Hell, the guy could be Christian and they’d just say he was lying or that he isn’t of the arbitrary Real True variety.

  • JJ

    On another front, this brings up a question that has never been addressed: What happens to poop in Heaven? All I’ve ever seen is white clouds and angels in white.

    If There’s no poop in heaven, one should assume that they don’t eat either! And in the hell they’re having a barbeque.. tempting.

  • Frank

    People should understand that if you act like a jerk, they will consider you a jerk.

    If you pose naked and defecate in front of someone else, what do you expect??

  • maria

    You know you tend to come off really inflexible on your whole crusade to distance yourself from any grand gesture which could be perceived as offensive. Do you honestly believe such actions have no place in an atheist movement? I certainly understand where you’re coming from (”it gives atheists a bad name”), and certainly don’t support this particular protest, but I’m just curious, as seemingly once or twice a week you bring up some form of atheist attack, and how unnecessary you feel it is. I’m just curious — where do you draw the line between unnecessarily offensive and unnoticeably obscure?

    for starters we don’t know this guy is an atheist. But I think the point is to show that not all atheists are perfect and some things are offensive. and I personally believe these kinds of protests have no place. If a Christian vandalized an atheist symbol as a “protest”, you wouldn’t say that had a place. the knife cuts both ways and it’s time you realized that.

  • So, what’s his name? Mr Hanky?

  • Grimalkin

    Mathew Wilder – Which was my point. The thing is, why are we letting ourselves be painted by one brush? I think that, in general, people believe what they see. If they see us cowering because we assume that one person will be seen to speak for us all, the general population will accept that.

    I think that there’s a lot to be said for having the confidence to just ignore (possible) Atheists like Poo-Man here. Not to say “I hope he isn’t an atheist!” or even to say “I am not an atheist like that!”

  • AxeGrrl

    a man flinging poop………

    and some people contest our close relation to monkeys? 🙂