Well this might be a little more controversial --->the Swastika & the Crucifix:
story.news.yahoo.com
French Court Upholds 'Amen' Film Poster
Thu Feb 21,10:17 AM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - A French court refused on Thursday to ban a controversial film poster that has upset Roman Catholics because it merges a crucifix with a Nazi swastika.
The poster promotes film-maker Constantin Costa-Gavras's movie "Amen," a critical look at the Vatican (news - web sites)'s inaction during the Holocaust, with the image of the arms and main shaft of a cross twisted into a swastika.
Paris judge Jean-Claude Magendie ruled there was nothing about the poster under the law that would warrant limiting freedom of expression.
AGRIF, a French anti-racism body with close links to far- right and traditional Catholic groups, had argued that the poster offended religious sensitivities by associating "the symbol of absolute hatred and the symbol of absolute love."
A state prosecutor, however, told the court that the poster, in his view, did not constitute an affront to public order.
France's Catholic bishops have denounced the poster -- designed by Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani, best known for his controversial Benetton fashion ads -- but have not openly demanded that it be withdrawn.
Ten of France's most prominent Jews, including Chief Rabbi Rene-Samuel Sirat, have also criticized the poster, but dissociated themselves from the group seeking to ban it.
Costa-Gavras, who attended the first court hearing on Tuesday, said he could not understand the uproar over the poster and hoped the real debate would be over his film.
"Amen" had its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival this month and is due to open in French cinemas on February 27.
What Pope Pius XII knew about the Nazi extermination of Jews remains one of the thorniest issues in the Catholic Church's wartime history.
Pius has been accused of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust, but the Vatican has argued he worked behind the scenes to save Jews and did not speak out forcefully against Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler to avoid reprisals.
"Amen" depicts how real-life SS officer Kurt Gerstein tries to tell the world, and the Vatican in particular, about the killing of Jews and Gypsies -- while also supplying poison gas to Nazi concentration camps. |
