Risqué Christian Billboard Causes Controversy

With Christmas fast approaching, progressive New Zealand church St. Matthew-in-the-City has caused controversy with their new billboard. The billboard, which features Joseph and Mary lying next to each other in bed looking embarrassed and saddened, includes the caption “Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow.”

The intention of the billboard, according to Archdeacon of the Auckland church, Glynn Cardy, was to challenge ideas about Jesus' conception and encourage talk of the Christmas story. He says that the billboard is “playing on those who think of a) god being male and b) impregnating Mary in a very literal way." Futhermore, Cardy claimed that he wanted to engage non-believers, which make up a significant part of the New Zealand population at 32.2% according to 2006’s census.

With its sexual implications and questioning of the much-debated “virgin birth”, the billboard has sparked talk, receiving mixed opinions on the Church’s website, and was promptly vandalized with paint mere hours after it was put up this Thursday. Lyndsay Freer, a Catholic Diocese Spokesperson has spoken out to the New Zealand Herald, claiming that the billboard could not “give rise to any intelligent discussion” and is the kind of creation she’d expect from an anti-Christianity group.

From a different but no less critical perspective, Bob McCroskrie, director of Family First has expressed that children and families shouldn’t be exposed to such concepts on a street billboard, claiming it is “completely irresponsible and unnecessary” and such debate should remain inside the Church.

Cardy himself noted that “about 50% said they loved it, and about 50% said it was terribly offensive.” St. Matthew-in-the-City has become known for edgy billboards, this creation being one of the edgiest, but whether negative or positive, the billboard has definitely caused a reaction.

Sources:
The Age: Joseph, Mary in Bed Billboard Set for NZ
Daily Mail: Catholics Outraged as Church Billboard Shows Joseph and Mary in Bed
3News: God a ‘Hard Act to Follow'
BBC News: Unholy Row Over New Zealand Mary and Joseph Billboard
Adelaidenow.com.au: St. Matthew’s Progressive Christianity Offends Catholics