Strelnikoff Mary of Help of Brezje controversy

The Strelnikoff Mary of Help of Brezje controversy began after a depiction of Mary of Help of Brezje holding a rat instead of Jesus was published by a Slovenian music group Strelnikoff as the cover of their album "Bitchcraft."

The album was made in protest of the official views of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia and the statements of some of its highest representatives on the subject of abortion.

The first to condemn this depiction was Dr. Franc Cardinal Rode, who was Bishop of Ljubljana at that time. This was followed by general public outcry and expressions of the inappropriateness of the misuse of one of the most known symbols of Slovenian Catholicism. The State Attorney's Office in Ljubljana received 3,867 public protests and 1,208 requests for indictment. These were united in one that was at first rebuffed before the District Court in Celje; however the state prosecutor Elizabeta Gyorkos filled a complaint.sl icon [http://www.mladina.si/tednik/200329/clanek/komarji/ Mladina.si - provokatorji množic] . Vanja Pirc. Published on 21st July 2003. Last accessed on 18 October 2006.]

The group members also received many phone and mail threatsFact|date=April 2007. In August of 2003, the indictment was refused by Ljubljana Higher Court as well. In accordance with the Constitution of Slovenia and the Law of Slovenia the court concluded that the authors were "tasteless in their artistic project, however they did not surpass the boundary of allowed at all." [sl icon [http://www.mladina.si/tednik/200339/clanek/kul--glasba_in_cerkev-sebastijan_ozmec/ Mladina: Blasfemija po slovensko] . Sebastijan Ozmec. Published on 29 September 2003. Last accessed 18 October 2006.]

The comment of one of the group members:

References

External links

* [http://www.brezje.si/samostan/Publikacije/pdf/Mary_Help.pdf Brezje] - the description of the original image in English. Accessed on 18th October 2006.
* [http://www.ljudmila.org/strelnikoff/ Strelnikoff.com - Bitchcraft] (The information is partially outdated.)
* [http://www.strelnikoff.org/ Strelnikoff.org - Strelnikoff.org]