January 15, 2010
On Certain Preachers Raising Hell
(Click for larger size)
Though Robertson says they’ve swore a pact with the Devil, Christ abides.
(photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP via TampaBayBlogs slideshow. A cross stands intact in front of a church that collapsed during Tuesday’s earthquake at the Canape Vert neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010.)
3 Comments Leave a comment
Joe Thomas said:
This is a pretty interesting pic. . .crucifixes like this normally have Christ looking up to Heaven in a beseeching/pained way, but this shot makes it appear as though he’s looking away because he just can’t stand the sight of the rubble below him.
Also, white Jesus? Unsurprising, but I’m not sure how to score that one.
mon_oeil said:
This image, unfortunately, may give some credence to Robertson’s statement: if Haitians prayed to Christ, rather than to some voodoo god, they may have been saved. Proof, Christ still stands. Did not Robertson and Falwell make similar statements after September 11, that it was because of the moral decay in the US and that the US should repent?
On another note, according to the film 2012, Rio is in line for destruction (see link to poster image below). My intentions are not to diminish the devastation in Haiti with some fictionalized account. But rather to juxtapose images, to talk about the hypervisualization of our era.
Images:
Vaudou
http://haitiphotos.typepad.com/my_weblog/images/2007/11/22/in_the_spirit1_3.jpg
The Christ of Rio (2012)
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctmovies/upload/2009/11/2012-thumb.jpg
Mum said:
The majority (96%) of Haitians are Christian (80% Roman Catholic and 16% Protestant, mostly Baptist). More than half also practice voodoo. In most Latin American and Caribbean countries Christianity has always been blended with local folk customs and spiritual practices. I find the fact that Robertson didn’t know this just another example of him adding ignorance to his prejudice.
I find the image stunning in its simplicity. It reminds me of some film images (The Last Temptation of Christ being one) I recall where, at the time of Jesus’ death, the skies darkened as though in anger.