In Theory: Examining the issue of covering nude statues

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s trip to Italy last month sparked controversy after officials in Rome decided to cover nude statues during his visit.

Rouhani has denied that he requested the statues at Rome’s Capitoline Museums, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Culture Minister Dario Franceschini claimed they weren’t informed of the decision, Rosie Scammell of Religion News Service reports.

“This is our culture. If you don’t want to see it, close your eyes!” said Patriarch Youssef III Younan, the leader of the Syrian Catholic Church.

Younan said the decision to cover the statues troubled Christians, especially those who are being persecuted again in war-torn Syria.

“This gives a lot of pain to us Christians who have remained … seeing our brothers, who are ready to forget everything for reasons of humanitarian interests, or opportunism,” Younan said.

Q: What do you think of the decision to cover the statues and of Younan’s reaction?

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It seems to me that when you want to win the favor of a potential business partner, the modus operandi is to wine, dine, and show the perspective profit provider a good time. Now if their idea of a good time does not include those things, then you go a different way.

Muslims are teetotalers, and showing them the naked statues of antiquity may put them off, given that they are seen as lewd, and certainly embarrassing. So I see nothing wrong with making accommodations when courting said opportunity, and I don’t understand all the hullabaloo by the Italian citizenry, let alone the Catholic Patriarch (who you’d think would side with the Iranian President on the issue of prurient idols).

And don’t get me started on how the Romans simply had an exalted view of human physical virtue, blah, blah. There is no doubt that much of the statuary is magnificently rendered, but have you ever stood and actually looked at it? It’s a mixed bag, isn’t it? You have appreciation for the artist’s skill, but then there’s the elephant in the room, and that is that you are leering at a naked person with exposed genitals (who just happens to be made out of stone). And why are there so many? Why is everyone carved exposed for public gawking? Part of it comes from the over-sexualized pagan society where such statues adorned drunken lascivious party halls, as well as the domiciles of rich pederast magistrates.

But the Italians have made concessions with their art before. Anyone who’s ever visited the Vatican will find it humorous that the hundreds of marble nudes there have had their crotches vandalized, either by being hammered off, or by having fig leaves nailed on. The tour guides will facetiously reveal that there is a secret room in St. Peters with boxes of all the missing, pardon me…peters. And when Italy presented the English queen with a cast of Michelangelo’s David, they embarrassed her, and so decorative foliage was added there as well.

In any event, I don’t see how covering bottomless nudes for the sake of modesty should rile any Christian, and if Italians want Mohammad’s gas, then quit making a mountain out of a molehill. Besides all this, the Iranians didn’t even request the concessions; the Italian diplomats were just trying to be diplomatic by preventing any perceived stumbling blocks. That actually sounds more in keeping with Christianity, I think.

Rev. Bryan A. Griem
Tujunga

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While Younan’s reaction might be understandable, I do think it’s a little over the top. And I think it was a nice gesture on the part of the Italians to cover the nude statues. No, they didn’t have to do so, but it was still a nice gesture.

Now if the Iranian leader had demanded that the statues be covered, then I would have been all for putting more nude statues in his line of vision! OK, now maybe I’m going over the top — but it seems to me that basic hospitality, religious or not, does try to take into account what another might find offensive.

Cain’s question in Genesis, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4: 9), implies that yes, we are, or, at least, should be. And St. Paul’s insightful words about if eating meat makes my brother stumble, then I’ll eat no meat (I Corinthians 8) makes the same point.

Nude statues are OK in our culture, and so is eating meat. But if nudes and meat are not OK in somebody else’s culture, we might at least consider, in the name of hospitality or neighborliness, to cut back on the nudes and meat. In my way of thinking, that’s the civilized thing to do.

The Rev. Skip Lindeman
La Cañada Congregational Church
La Cañada Flintridge

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From my perspective it appears that the covering of nude statues in the museums was at the very least an attempt to not offend the Iranian president who is also described as a Muslim cleric. In and of itself this seems to be a simple act of courtesy and cultural sensitivity. It’s also somewhat humorous that nobody can be found to take responsibility for the “cover up”. But what is not humorous is the ongoing, deadly persecution of Christians in Muslim countries. Considering the juxtaposition of a Muslim president in the Vatican, a Catholic city-state with a rich artistic and cultural heritage intertwined with its faith, Patriarch Youssef III Younan’s reaction is at least understandable. Why cater to the sensitivities of a prominent leader of a political/religious system that persecutes Catholics and other Christians?

With hurts and injustices as deep as those which have been suffered by all parties in the Middle East it is likely that even the simplest acts of kindness and sensitivity toward others will be misconstrued as “sympathizing with the enemy.” Jesus Christ said something that’s difficult to apply in situations like these, but they must still be heeded: “I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:44-48). Showing love to the evil without participating in or endorsing their evil is a very thin line to walk. It certainly requires much bravery. But it’s the line the Lord Jesus requires His followers to follow.

Pastor Jon Barta
Burbank

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This story initially struck me as too absurd to merit serious comment. But then this past weekend I read that an Chicago policeman who shot and killed an unarmed teenager is now suing the young man’s estate, claiming to be suffering trauma from the killing.

So I guess this flap about putting nude art into boxes so that President Rouhani wouldn’t even have to avert his eyes isn’t the most ludicrous recent news item. No one in Italy or in Iran will even admit to participating in the cover-up at this point.

Patriarch Younan is putting it mildly and letting both the Italians and the Iranians off the hook too easily, in my view. Decades of senseless carnage have been endured to bring, it is said, freedom to the Middle East, yet some Italians readily forfeit theirs.

Roberta Medford
Atheist
Montrose