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Catholic Mayor Has No Right to Censor Art, Says AU

New York City Violates Separation of Church & State

Blasphemy is for the Church to Critique, Not the State

Compiled By GayToday

Is Mayor Rudy Giuliani taking controversial art to heart? Americans United for Separation of Church and State say the Catholic leader is guilty of censorship.

New York, New York--New York City's censorship of a controversial religious art exhibit would violate the First Amendment's separation of church and state, according to officials at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

In September, the Brooklyn Museum of Art opened an exhibit featuring a painting of the Virgin Mary that included an element of elephant dung. The controversial piece was painted by Chris Ofili, a Catholic artist of Nigerian ancestry who has repeatedly denied accusations about being hostile toward religion.

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani found the exhibit offensive to his Catholic religious beliefs and threatened to terminate the museum's lease and cut its financing from the budget. Museum officials filed a federal suit to protect the museum against punishment from the mayor.

In a brief filed with the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and allied groups said censorship of art on religious grounds effectively "would resurrect the anti-blasphemy laws."

Noting that government may not "stand behind the religious judgments of any particular sect," the brief explained, "The City Administration's vehement attack of Ofili's 'Holy Virgin Mary' endorses a particular religious viewpoint as it simultaneously condemns religious viewpoints that are at odds with the city's interpretation of Catholicism."

The brief also warned that allowing government officials to intervene in theological debates would entangle church and state.

"Only the Roman Catholic Church can determine whether 'Holy Virgin Mary' is, in fact, sacrilegious or a desecration," the brief said.

"By imposing its interpretation of the Church's doctrine on the Museum and threatening the Museum for offending its perception of the Church's doctrine, the [Giuliani] Administration has attempted to step into the shoes of the Church and lost sight of its distinctively different role in the constitutional scheme.

"It is the role of the government to stay neutral on all religious debates," the brief concluded. "The entanglement in this case is blatant and insidious."

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In addition to Americans United, other groups joining in the filing of the brief include the Actors Equity Association, the Andy Warhol Foundation For Visual Arts, the College Art Association, the New York City Arts Coalition and the Theatre Communications Group.

The brief was written by Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law Professor Marci A. Hamilton on behalf of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.