Moses et al.
Images of religious figures can bring an added sense of righteousness to the oppressed. The first image applies to protestors in Kiev, Ukraine, who had their i.d.’s discovered by electric monitoring at a protest. Religious figures are included to edify dissenters.
That is Moses and the Burning Bush at the top, then the Goddess of Compassion (the bodhisattva), then the Cross with Christ, then the famous ‘lazy’ Buddha. I used their images to edify the process of having been “registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.” in Kiev because demonstrators had their cellphones identified by secret police spies. Sometimes, religious images can be drawn to edify the simple act of dissent and acting on love to fight for justice, such as in the recent Ukrainian demonstrations. Moses was the first Jewish community organizer, no?
Occupy at St. Paul’s.
At Occupy in London, protestors were asked to leave by St.Paul’s and others. The Church wanted to remove them from the church’s steps. The Occupy tents were seen by church staff as a smear on an historical site. It was almost as if Occupy was acting in Jesus’s name: The Occupy folks fought for equality for all, against greed and poverty, for economic justice for all, and against military wars, and for equal justice in society. So instead of lending Christian wherewithal to the Occupy folks, the church fought their presence. Hence the chains blocking the entrance in the drawing below.
Perhaps what religious authorities fear most is having the flaws in their application of their power shown in public. St. Paul’s refusal to care violated the Christian faith’s maxim to love one another “as I have loved you.”.
The world’s religions are predominantly benevolent and generously carry the least of us through the dark nights of our souls.
It is because religious figures convey powerful measures of love and social justice that they are treated with such piety, especially when we are forced to live surrounded by injustice, inequality, and wars.
It is highly unlikely that any religion will be harmed by one of my pictures or by those of satirists at Charlie Hebdo.
Peace Vigil Paintings 