A left-leaning activist group hoisted a pro-abortion sign across a 63-foot-tall statue of Jesus in Arkansas late last week.
The group responsible for the stunt at the Christ of the Ozarks statue, “Indecline,” describes itself as an “activist art collective” and posted a photo of its “God Bless Abortions” banner to Instagram on Friday.
In the caption, “Indecline” offered the following defense of abortion:
We think Jesus would understand the concept of a difficult decision. He supposedly had to make a few of them and understood sacrifice very intimately. The Christ of the Ozarks is visible from miles away, so we just treated it like a billboard. We aren’t necessarily “pro-choice” or “anti-life,” those terms are double-speak. We just think abortion is a [expletive] miracle worth celebrating. It saves lives, but those lives are usually female.
Kent Butler, director of operations at The Great Passion Play, the faith-based organization that oversees and manages the statue, told The Christian Post he hopes the stunt turns people’s attention toward Jesus.
“It was all about [the pro-abortion group] getting attention to expand their platform, but our pivot really is that it’s about Jesus,” he said. “This whole place exists to lift up Jesus. And, at times, what was intended for evil, in Genesis 50, it says, ‘What was intended for evil, God used for good.’ And I think it’s important that the attention be given to work that’s going on in the Passion Play rather than the political environment that they’re trying to impact.”
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Staff at Passion Play weren’t aware of the banner until local media outlets alerted them to its presence on the statue.
“It’s extremely difficult when we’re doing the work of the Passion Play and we’re sharing Jesus’ story and anything that detracts or distracts from that is difficult to deal with,” said Butler. “Every day, we have between 1,000 and 1,500 people that will view the Christ statue and they’re coming to the Passion Play as a place to experience hope, love, and peace. And publicity stunts like that make it difficult.”
Anything else?
Passion Play had to contact a local tree-removal service to get the banner taken down from the statue, which is not intended to be load-bearing.
The leftist group not only put themselves in danger but also endangered the workers who had to take the sign down on a particularly windy morning.
“I think that’s where [the activist group got] it wrong — that everyone’s life is precious and sacred, all lives,” Butler said. “I think they were not cautious with their own lives in doing what they did.”
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