In your Jan. 20 issue, you carried a picture of a Catholic rosary with an obscene caption (PostSecret). This was allegedly a work of art. I suppose the artist is unable to produce real art. I am sure he thought he was being so cutting edge. No doubt he considers himself courageous. However, insulting Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular is nothing new. It takes no guts at all. If he had been truly avant garde or creative, he could have used a Muslim or Buddhist rosary and desecrated it. Except that would have been politically incorrect. No brownie points for that among the elitist snobs, and you would never have printed it. You would never print art that was racist or insulting to most other religions. Your selective bias is glaringly obvious. Instead the artist chose to attack Catholicism. He fully understood that this would gain the admiration of other slack-jawed artists while risking nothing. He isn’t even very good at it. I would consider this to be an example of simple craven bigotry. By printing it, your publication joined in this vicious assault on Catholics and, indeed, all religious people. I am sure people of other faiths were equally disgusted. Instead of reasoned debate or discussion, you stoop to degrading sacred objects. How utterly pathetic. You owe an apology to all Catholics. Please don’t hide behind the First Amendment. You have the right to be bigoted and print what you like, but if so, then be honest enough to admit that you are anti-Catholic bigots. Otherwise, do the right thing and apologize.

Brookland

Note: The item in question, reproduced above, was not featured artwork—it was an anonymous confession submitted to the Washington City Paper’s PostSecret feature.