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Playboy magazine is to pull the plug on its Portuguese edition after it ran a photo shoot featuring Jesus Christ among topless models.

The spread was ostensibly a tribute to Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago’s The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, but Hugh Hefner’s headquarters have reacted with outrage.

Theresa Hennessy, Playboy Enterprises vice president of public relations told the Mail Online: ‘We did not see or approve the cover and pictorial in the July issue of Playboy Portugal. It is a shocking breach of our standards and we would have not allowed it to be published if we had seen it in advance. We are in the process of terminating our agreement with the Portuguese publisher.'

Saramago’s novel is a fictional re-telling of Christ’s life, depicting him as a flawed, human character. It generated controversy among the Roman Catholic Church, who accused Saramago of depicting a ‘substantially anti-religious vision.’

However, other critics have praised it as a ‘deeply philosophical, provocative and compelling work.’

Photograph: www.stmatthews.org.nz

A New Zealand church has sparked outrage by erecting a billboard depicting a forlorn Mary and Joseph lying semi-nude beneath the sheets. The St Matthew-in-the-City church said it wanted to inspire people to talk about the Christmas story.

But within five hours of the billboard going up in downtown Auckland a man was standing on his car roof painting over the raunchy image. Archdeacon Glynn Cardy said the church meant to challenge a fundamentalist interpretation of Christ's birth.

"What we're trying to do is to get people to think more about what Christmas is all about. Is it about a spiritual male God sending down sperm so a child would be born, or is it about the power of love in our midst as seen in Jesus?"

Cardy said one person had threatened to tear down the billboard but that of the 20 odd emails and phone calls he had received "about 50% said they loved it, and about 50% said it was terribly offensive".

The Catholic church joined those on the attack, accusing the Anglican church of disrespect.

A controversial website called Mormons Exposed has put out a calendar of Mormon moms dressed as pin-ups. you've seen worse on this blog but the Mormon church places a high value on modesty.

According to Mormons Exposed, both the website and the calendar aim to be a “vehicle to create dialog and deliberately debunk the subservient stereotypes of women’s roles within the Mormon Church.”

(via)

A book published by a prominent Church group invites Roman Catholic couples setting out on married life to recite the specially-composed Prayer Before Making Love.

It is aimed at 'purifying their intentions' so that the act is not about selfishness or hedonism.

The prayer, which appears in the Prayer Book for Spouses, implores God 'to place within us love that truly gives, tenderness that truly unites, self-offering that tells the truth and does not deceive, forgiveness that truly receives, loving physical union that welcomes'. It adds: 'Open our hearts to you, to each other and to the goodness of your will.

'Cover our poverty in the richness of your mercy and forgiveness. Clothe us in true dignity and take to yourself our shared aspirations, for your glory, for ever and ever.'

Artist Federico Solmi's controversial crucifix that was confiscated from the Arte Fiera in Bologna in January is to be returned, and charges against the artist dropped. The cross, which features a pope character with a large grin and an erection, offended a local judge who saw it during the fair, resulting in its confiscation and religious offense and obscenity charges against Solmi.

Federico Solmi's crucifix, from "The Evil Empire" (2007). Courtesy LMAKprojects

But the judges in a Bologna court of review found that the cross was nether blasphemous — because it is not a cult object — nor obscene, because it could not be unanimously ruled as such. The artwork is "undoubtedly provocative in light of its associations of sexual and religious symbols," the judges said, "but that does not exclude its conduciveness to the notion of a work of art." They added that the questions raised by the cross can be resolved only by an "elegant intellectual game" that would be of no judicial value.

Amsterdam hosted a Christmas celebration for its gay community that featured a Nativity tableau with a man in drag playing the part of Mary. A man who performs under the name of Wendy Mills wore a blonde wig and high-heel black boots to play the part of Mary, while the actor playing Joseph wore black leather trunks and a silver shawl. The five-person manger scene was staged in the courtyard of a nightclub and visitors were invited to be photographed with the group.

Frank van Dalen, chairman of the advocacy group Pro Gay that organized the Pink Christmas event, said that it sought to raise Amsterdam's profile as a capital for gays.

Nevertheless, Christians for Truth, an independent religious group, asked the City Council to cancel the event, saying it made a mockery of Christian tenets. "By portraying Joseph and Mary as homosexuals, a twisted human fantasy is being added to the history of the Bible," the group said in a statement.

The Amsterdam City Council did not comment.

Via hfa.