Naked chocolate Jesus show canceled

Chalk one up for Bishop Egan, who described it as "a sickening display." AP writer, Larry McShane writes, in "Chocolate Jesus Show Canceled" (Breibart.com, March 30, 2007):

NEW YORK (AP) -- A planned Holy Week exhibition of a nude, anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ was canceled Friday amid a choir of complaining Catholics that included Cardinal Edward Egan.

The "My Sweet Lord" display was shut down by the hotel that houses the Lab Gallery in midtown Manhattan, said Matt Semler, the gallery's creative director. Semler said he submitted his resignation after officials at the Roger Smith Hotel shut down the show.

Semler claimed he was the victim of "a strong-arming" from those who hadn't seen the show and "jumped to conclusions completely contrary to our intentions." By contrast, Bill Donohue, head of the watchdog Catholic League, described it as "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever." More than 200 pounds of milk chocolate, featuring Christ with his arms outstretched as if on an invisible cross, and with a conspicuously missing loincloth. What hypocrisy! What Christian-baiting hostility! What a waste of good chocolate! What idiocy!