Religious censors attack “gay Jesus” exhibition

A fight involving as many as 30 people broke out at a photographic exhibition in the Swedish city of Jonkoping. The controversy surrounds the Ecco Homo exhibit, which portrays Jesus Christ as a gay man. Ecco Homo has long been a source of disagreement among Swedish Christians.

The series of 12 images was exhibited at the nation's leading cathedral in Uppsala with the permission of the archbishop and toured the country. The Local, a Swedish paper, reported that on Sunday a group of young people tried to set fire to a poster at the Jonkoping cultural centre where Ecco Homo was on display.

The paper said the city is a centre for evangelical Christians. Staff intervened and a fight broke out, according to the centre's director, Tony el Zouki. “If this is some Christian group, then I really do not understand them. The message of Christianity is that people should understand and love each other,” he told The Local.

The previous pope cancelled an audience with the Protestant Archbishop Hammar of Uppsala for supporting the exhibit — which has been touring for ten years — and allowing it to be shown in churches across Sweden.
See some of the pictures. (Contains nudity)