Paper removes Jesus cartoons

2006-09-16 09:07

Richmond - A University of Virginia student newspaper removed from its Web site cartoons featuring Jesus Christ that prompted a barrage of e-mails to the paper and school from people who thought the comics were blasphemous.

The Charlottesville, Virginia, university and the Cavalier Daily received about 2 500 messages about the comics, many of them form-letter e-mails that were overwhelmingly from people outside the university community.

The strips were removed on Friday at the request of the artist, UVa student Grant Woolard.

"The sole intent of my comic strip is to present situations that provoke thought and amusement," said Woolard in a statement on the newspaper's web site.

Artist apologises

"As this comic did not achieve that goal, I have asked that it be taken down from the Cavalier Daily website. I apologise for the offence that the comic has produced."

The Jesus cartoons ran in the Cavalier Daily's August 23 and 24 editions and featured Christ on a Cartesian Coordinate Plane, with the figure of Jesus crucified on X and Y axes of a mathematical graph.

Another, A Nativity Ob-scene," showed Joseph and the Virgin Mary talking about Mary's rash, with her saying, "I swear, it was immaculately transmitted!"

The controversy began last week when the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights demanded an apology from the Cavalier Daily.

The paper declined, saying that the comics did not violate any newspaper policy.

U.Va. was then bombarded by e-mails and phone calls, but spokesperson Carol Wood said the university has no editorial control on the newspaper.

After discussing the matter further on Thursday, the Cavalier Daily changed its position.

Didn't mean to offend

"We are regretful that many took offence at them," said the editors said in a statement on Friday on the paper's web site.

"Offence was not our intent - neither the intent of the artist, nor the intent of the newspaper, which seeks to provide contributors an open forum to present their ideas."

Catholic League president Bill Donohue said he was satisfied with the removal of the cartoons and the paper's apology.

- AP