Christian radio station calls for pastor's book to be burned

Take note – story published 7 years ago

Latvian Christian Radio (LKR), a privately-owned radio station, on January 20 called for a liberal pastor's book to be consigned to the flames, it emerged Friday.

The inflammatory remarks come towards the end of a lengthy and generally unilluminating discussion of a book by Pastor Juris Rubenis titled "Him and her. Love, relationships, sex," which considers marriage, eroticism, sexuality and so forth in a Christian context and includes numerous illustrations from famous artists.

Along the way various things in the book come in for condemnation, including artist Marc Chagall.

But it is graphic designer Eric Gill who triggers the greatest burst of moral outrage, ostensibly for a rather elegant graphic depicting the crucifixion in a subtly erotic manner, but actually because Gill had a scandalous sex life.

Basically, Gill would and did bang anything that moved, according to diaries published 50 years after his death. That includes members of his own family, and a dog.

He was also a Christian who wrote extensively about art and religion.

After a brief resume of Gill's erotic exploits sourced from Wikipedia, shell-shocked LKR host Tālivaldis Tālbergs turns to the camera (the radio show is also posted to YouTube), apparently struggling for breath, and says "I don't want to hear any more, dear friends!"

"If you've bought this book, you don't know what you've bought. I'm telling you personally, throw it out. Don't just throw it out, it has to be burned."

The compiler of the book, Pastor Juris Rubenis, is "completely misguided" Tālbergs adds.

On the same grounds LKR should tell its listeners to stop using the Gill Sans typeface on their computers (also designed by Eric Gill). 

You can browse Eric Gill's very beautiful Christian iconography HERE but you may need to burn your computer afterwards.

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