"No other gods but me"...

I have no particular interest in a huge sculpture (apparently, at 11.5m, the tallest ceramic sculpture in the UK) which has made its appearance in the Cornish town of St Austell. According to the artist, Sandy Brown, the sculpture, called Earth Goddess, celebrates a “love of mother earth”. Nevertheless, a group of church leaders have written to St Austell town council claiming that the sculpture was “offensive to God”, while calling for the brightly coloured artwork to be either rebranded or removed.

The letter, signed by seven Christian leaders, said: “The choice to erect a statue of an ‘earth goddess’ means that as the leaders of the town you are actively, though likely unknowingly, choosing to reject God and instead to bring the town under the spiritual influence of an ‘earth goddess’. We understand this may sound strange and may not be language that you are comfortable with. However, as Christians we believe there is a spiritual reality to our world and so this is not an insignificant choice and has the potential to impact on the town in negative ways”. According to one of the signatories, Rev Pete Godfrey of the Light and Life Church, “We see very clearly laid out by God that we are to have no gods but him and we are not to make idols, which is essentially a statue that represents another god.”

It always seems strange to me that an omnipotent God is unable to deal with a problem like this himself, without any input from his clerical representatives here on earth. The clouds could part, a booming, stentorian voice could repeat the first four commandments, and a well-aimed bolt of lightning could reduce the offending sculpture to rubble. Job done…