Mark Twain wrote: “[Man] is the only animal that has the True Religion — several of them.”
For some reason Twain’s quote popped into my mind as I read (and re-read, twice) Brandan Hadlock’s bizarre “don’t look into the sun” commentary regarding modesty and his apparent belief that his LDS-based beliefs allow him and his church to unilaterally alter historical art.
In this instance, alteration involved eliminating the wings of angels, and covering the “cleavage” (gasp!) of Mary in Carlo Maratta’s painting “The Holy Night.”
While I agree wholeheartedly that one of this nation’s fundamental rights is the freedom to proudly wear your particular religion on your sleeve for display to all, that freedom does not afford you the right to deliberately rub those sleeves in the noses of others.
Hadlock’s argument that he and his religion have some “right” to alter historic icons violates that freedom.
Could I, for example, take the many LDS-based portraits of Jesus and unilaterally alter them to reflect Jesus’ likely Middle East genetics, showing a shorter, darker-skinned individual rather than the quintessential western European white male with a neatly groomed beard?
Of course not. Nor would I.
And neither should Hadlock and the LDS Church alter historic art based on their personal and church-based religious beliefs regarding the self-defined immorality of showing a little cleavage.
Paint your own art and leave the art of others alone. Otherwise you’re rubbing your religious sleeve in the noses of others.
Or better yet, just like Hadlock’s admonition to “not look long at the sun,” don’t look at the painting.
Thomas Edwards, Logan
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