Christian Groups Worked Up And Ready For Action Over "Blasphemous" Sculpture

A British art gallery is under attack from Christian groups, due to a sculpture exhibition which depicts Jesus with a hard-on.

Evangelical group Christian Voice expressed outrage at the work, calling it "blasphemous." Christian Voice National Director Stephen Green fumed, "It's the Lord Jesus Christ being humiliated, ridiculed and vilified. It's just so disgusting, pornographic and offensive, it's hard to find words to express the outrage. I have written asking for the statue's destruction."

The statue is one of 74 plaster models erected by Chinese-born artist Terence Koh, in an exhibition titled "Gone, Yet Still," which features replicas of various figures-- from Michelangelo’s David to E.T. The artwork is on display at the Baltic Center for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, which last fall was at the center of an investigation over whether photography from the private collection of Elton John constituted child pornography.

A gallery spokesman said: “Koh is trying to explain all the things which have meant something to him. It is a sort of mausoleum.” The Center's plans to keep the exhibition open until the end of its run has only stiffened the opposition, who have staged a series of protests.