UVA Cartoon Update: "Protest Defeats Blasphemy at University of Virginia"

Pro Ecclesia has been covering this story since it first broke a few weeks ago. Here's the latest:

Protest Defeats Blasphemy at
University of Virginia
September 20, 2006

The University of Virginia’s student newspaper, The Cavalier Daily, finally issued a reluctant apology for printing two blasphemous cartoons against the Catholic Faith on August 23-24. A Nativity-like cartoon of Our Lady holding the Infant Jesus beside Saint Joseph was most offensive.

The figure depicting Saint Joseph said: "Mary…I don't mean to ruin this special moment, but how did you get that bumpy rash?” suggesting a sexually transmitted disease. To which a Mary-figure says, “I swear, it was Immaculately Transmitted.”

After nine days of protest, the offensive cartoon was removed from the newspaper’s online edition which coincided with the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, September 15.

The power of peaceful protest

To better understand how effective protests are, let us consider excerpts of a September 11 lead editorial published in The Cavalier Daily. Note how its stubborn tone rejects the slightest idea of an apology or the removal of its anti-Catholic lampoons:

“[…] we are operating under our comic censorship policy articulated in April, and will not be apologizing for the comics. We decide about censorship and apologies based on those standards, and not based on how many e-mails and phone calls we get.”

“[…] we value our freedom too much to allow non-journalists to censor our writers and artists. We will distribute The Cavalier Daily by hand on pieces of notebook paper before we ever allow that to change.”1

How it happened: Strength in numbers

Shortly after the blasphemy became public, TFP Student Action contacted its affiliate members on 716 college campuses, urging them to sign a protest e-mail to the editor-in-chief of The Cavalier Daily. A carbon copy of each protest letter was also sent to the president of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. Phone calls were also encouraged.

In no time, thousands of college students and concerned Catholics registered their protest. The volume of negative feedback was immense. Phone calls made to the editor-in-chief’s office landed in a maxed-out voice mailbox, no longer able to record more messages.

By September 14 – eight days after the e-mails started – the controversy reached far beyond the limits of the campus. Pressure was mounting fast. In fact, University of Virginia spokesperson, Carol Wood, acknowledged to The Washington Post, that between 2,000 and 2,500 letters and about 50 phone calls were received.2

Other newspapers quoted the TFP’s online protest message, which thousands of people signed.

The public relations nightmare intensified when Fox News reported that The Cavalier Daily “…did issue an apology for a religious cartoon in February, after a widespread student protest. That cartoon poked fun at the Muslim prophet Mohammad.”3 The glaring double standard was obvious: tolerance for everyone, minus Catholics.

In the course of a year, the newspaper apologized to homosexual activists and Muslims; however, it refused to respect the adorable Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Mother, pretending that blasphemy is somehow part of free speech.

God’s honor defended, blasphemy defeated

Prayers were answered when the editorial board finally changed their mind last Friday, posting an apology on the front page of their web site:

“The editors and the artist have decided to remove two of Grant Woolard’s “Quirksmith” comics from the web site. We are regretful that many took offense to them.”4

A separate statement by the author of the blasphemous lampoons was posted where the insults previously appeared. It says:

“The sole intent of my comic strip is to present situations that provoke thought and amusement. As this comic did not achieve that goal, I have requested that it be taken down from The Cavalier Daily website. I apologize for the offense that this comic has produced.”

The fact that apologies were issued, although poor ones, is a victory. But most importantly, a significant number of young faithful souls rose up to defend the honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the immaculate purity of His Virgin Mother – who is also our Mother. Like modern-day Veronicas, they hastened to console Our Divine Savior Who is systematically injured by sins of blasphemy, ingratitude and indifference. May the number of these devout souls increase and attract the much-needed blessings of God for America.

Footnotes

1. http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=27534&pid=1470 Drawing a line, lead editorial of The Cavalier Daily, 09-11-09.

2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091301907.html Christian-Themed Cartoons Draw Ire: Angry E-Mails and Calls Flood Student Newspaper, School – by Susan Kinzie, The Washington Post, 09-14-06.

3. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213405,00.html Christian Outrage, Fox News, 09-11-06.

4. http://www.cavalierdaily.com Announcements, 09-15-06.

My Comments:
A great result. I'm happy to see that not all is lost at my alma mater.

However, I have a problem with some of the language used in this press release. It's a little over the top, and reminescent of the language we've heard from Islamics over the past week.

"God’s honor defended, blasphemy defeated"? That sounds like a slogan that could have been shouted just outside of Westminster Cathedral the other day.

Of course, the major distinction being that in this case Christians were able to accomplish our goal without resorting to violence and threats.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Back To School: Christian Bashing at UVa

Catholics Want Apology for Anti-Christian Cartoons

Update on UVa Anti-Christian Cartoon Controversy

Update: UVA Paper Apologizes for Mohammed, Not Jesus

UVA's Cavalier Daily Pulls Anti-Christian Comics