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Christians voiced anger and dismay Tuesday after a
Bible, which was part of an exhibition inviting viewers
to add their reflections, was defaced with offensive and
foul-mouthed scrawl. Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art has
decided to put the Bible in a glass case after the
exhibit, called Untitled 2009 and part of a show
entitled Made In God’s Image, was vandalised.
Artist Jane Clarke, a minister at the Metropolitan
Community Church, asked visitors to annotate the Bible
with stories and reflections, as a way of making it more
inclusive. But visitors to the gallery took the
invitation a bit further than she had anticipated.
“This is all sexist pish, so disregard it all,” wrote
one person, while another described the Bible as “the
biggest lie in human history” and a third wrote: “Mick
Jagger and David Bowie belong in here.”
On the first page of Genesis, the first book of the
Bible, someone had written: “I am Bi, Female and Proud.
I want no god who is disappointed in this.”
Clarke said: “I had hoped that people would show respect
for the Bible, for Christianity and indeed for the
Gallery of Modern Art. I am saddened that some people
have chosen to write offensive messages. “Writing our
names in the margins of a Bible was to show how we have
been marginalised by many Christian churches, and also
our desire to be included in God’s love.
“As a young Christian I was encouraged by my church to
write my own insights in the margins of the Bible I used
for my daily devotions — this was an extension of that
idea.” On July 28, 2009 over 100 people gathered outside
the gallery to protest at what they said was vandalism.
Letitia Reid, a housewife from Glasgow, said the Bible
should not be desecrated. “As a Christian I am offended
by this because Christians hold the Bible to be sacred.
For it to be publicly defiled in this way is very
offensive,” she said.
As well as a glass case, the gallery now has paper and
pens, with which they can write down their thoughts, to
be inserted into the Bible later by members of staff.
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