Religion

Santa Barbara, California, High School Removes Artwork After Religious Controversy

By |2023-06-20T11:22:37-04:00June 20th, 2023|Letters, News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Santa Barbara Unified School District in California following news reports that Andres Serrano's artwork "Immersion (Piss Christ)" was removed from the curriculum of a course at Dos Pueblos High School. The district removed the image because some community members found it hurtful. NCAC urges the district to return the image [...]

NCAC, CAA contact Macalester College to assist in response to TARAVAT controversy

By |2023-03-10T16:55:35-05:00February 24th, 2023|Blog, Letters, News, Press Releases|

Image caption: Taravat Talepasand, Demons, Dictators, Blasphemy, and Man, 2016. The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and the College Art Association (CAA) have contacted Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to express concerns about how its campus gallery handled the controversy surrounding an exhibition entitled TARAVAT.  The college's efforts to address local concerns have profoundly impacted the artistic freedom [...]

NCAC, FIRE release joint letter on censorship of State College of Florida art exhibition

By |2023-03-10T17:33:32-05:00February 23rd, 2023|Blog, In The News, Letters, News, Press Releases|

Photo Credit: Clifford McDonald, Good Trouble, 2023 The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) are alarmed by reports of the apparently politically motivated censorship of an art exhibition entitled "Embracing Kindness" at the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota’s Bradenton campus. Please see our letter attached, which outlines our concerns below: Click [...]

NCAC and CAA denounce Arkansas Tech University’s handling of Controversial Exhibition

By |2023-02-23T21:15:18-05:00February 7th, 2023|Blog, News, Press Releases|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and the College Art Association (CAA) expressed their deep concern with Arkansas Tech University’s handling of its on-campus exhibition, Artifacts, by artist Dominique Simmons. According to the artist's statement, Artifacts sought to acknowledge “the past, good and bad,” as it relates to the American South and included fraught imagery. However, the university’s museum [...]

Statement on Faculty Firing at Hamline University | UPDATED

By |2023-01-18T13:16:30-05:00January 10th, 2023|News|

Updated 01/18/2023— NCAC and CAA have sent this joint statement to the Hamline University president. In an egregious and chilling violation of academic freedom, Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota refused to renew the contract of an adjunct professor in retaliation for her inclusion of two artworks depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a class on global art history. As [...]

Following advocacy efforts by NCAC and DDA, Meta pledges to improve transparency around “shadowbanning”

By |2023-02-23T21:16:17-05:00December 9th, 2022|Blog, In The News, News, Press Releases|

New York - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), which represents 59 education, publishing, religious and arts organizations, and Don’t Delete Art (DDA), a collaborative project between NCAC and several other organizations and artists, welcome Meta’s recent announcement of Instagram policy updates that promise to improve transparency around downranking for the platform’s professional account users. The announcement follows several [...]

School Cancellation of Muslim Speaker Continues Disturbing National Trend of Suppressing Speech in Response to Threats

By |2017-11-17T15:29:45-05:00November 17th, 2017|Press Releases|

The cancellation of a scheduled appearance by a Muslim guest speaker at a Connecticut public school is the latest disturbing example of suppressions of free speech in museums, on college campuses and now at middle schools in response to threats of violence.

Penny Dreadful in Paint: Accusations of Blasphemy Hit Virginia MOCA/Hi-Fructose Exhibition

By |2020-01-06T00:07:46-05:00May 16th, 2016|Blog, Incidents, NCAC at work|

Mark Ryden: Fountain, 2003. Oil on Panel, 12x6.25 inches. ©Mark Ryden. In a replay of former New York Mayor Guiliani's attempt to grab attention by attacking "blasphemous" art, Ben Loyola, a member of the Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commission, is directing his ire against the work of LA-based painter Mark Ryden, featured in Turn the Page: The First Ten Years of [...]

Bravos Drown Out Hecklers at “Death of Klinghoffer” Opening

By |2020-01-03T14:47:51-05:00October 22nd, 2014|Incidents|

The audience coming to see John Adams' Death of Klinghoffer on Monday, October 20th, had to pass through a cordon of angry protesters crying "shame" and holding placards condemning the Metropolitan Opera of rather far fetched things like "taking terrorist $$$" or "glorifying terrorism." They must not have succeeded in shaming anyone as the house was full. The few hecklers in the [...]

Clough Stands By Decision To Pull “A Fire In My Belly” From Hide/Seek

By |2020-01-03T13:40:35-05:00April 27th, 2011|Blog|

Despite concerns the Smithsonian's Flashpoints and Faultlines forum would be a bland showcase designed to obscure the institution's commitments to First Amendment principles instead of examining them, last night's opening panels included direct criticism from the dais of Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough's decision to censor David Wojnarowicz's "A Fire In My Belly" from the Hide/Seek exhibit at the [...]

Christian Extremists Vandalize Art — Again and Again

By |2020-01-03T13:40:29-05:00April 20th, 2011|Blog|

Last October we reported about an incident at the Loveland Museum/Gallery in Colorado where a woman ripped into a lithograph after she busted the artwork’s plexiglass case with a crowbar. She did this because God told her to do it. In her explanation of the vandalism, Kathleen Folden refers to the similar destruction of Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ in Australia [...]

Famous Art Censored For Sensitive Types

By |2020-01-03T13:40:25-05:00April 7th, 2011|Blog|

In response to the disturbing story of a woman who attacked a Gauguin at the National Gallery, Flavorwire Art Editor Marina Galpernia has helpfully compiled a photo set of great works modified for those with...delicate sensibilities: Thou shall not show your wiener to God, Adam. Even if Michelangelo’s God is emerging out of an embracing pile of amorous angels, he [...]

Senators Call For Response to Idiotic Burning of Qur’an, But What Kind?

By |2020-01-03T13:40:23-05:00April 4th, 2011|Blog|

A couple weeks ago, Terry Jones finally gave into his burning desire to burn a Qur'an. Over the weekend, Afghans rioted over online video of the burning, resulting in the deaths of up to 20 people. General Petreus called the burning a "security threat" to the Afghan occupation, and Senators Harry Reid and Lindsay Graham have called for Congress to [...]

WEAR IT PROUD

By |2020-01-03T13:40:08-05:00March 28th, 2011|Blog|

Button brought back from the March 2011 Culture Wars symposium with the Corcoran and Transformer DC.

VIDEO: Policing The Sacred Panel at CAA, Organized by NCAC

By |2019-03-13T15:37:35-04:00February 22nd, 2011|Blog|

Were you unable to make it to NCAC's "Policing the Sacred" panel on religion and freedom of expression at this year's CAA? Now is your chance to take in the discourse and debate with these full-length videos! The National Coalition Against Censorship has edited video of “Policing the Sacred: Art, Censorship, and the Politics of Faith,” a session held during [...]

NEWSgrist Write-up On “Policing the Sacred” CAA 2011 Panel

By |2020-01-05T23:16:07-05:00February 14th, 2011|Blog|

Joy Garnett of NEWSgrist has posted her reflections on the NCAC's panel at CAA: 'Policing the Sacred' broached the most interesting age-old conundrum of art, religion and censorship. It asked that we ourselves examine the lines between hate speech, critique, parody, and appropriation of the sacred and its symbols by artists as well as by governments. Several factors were noted [...]

Policing The Sacred – College Art Association Panel – Wednesday, February 9th, 12:30-2 PM

By |2020-01-05T23:16:09-05:00January 31st, 2011|Blog|

Policing The Sacred, organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship, looks at the volatile relationship between art, politics and religion.In recent decades the tensions between these have become intense, evident in the American culture wars of the 90s, the Danish cartoon uproar, and ongoing battles over artistic depictions of religious figures, including the recent removal of a David Wojnarowicz video from a show at the National Portrait Gallery. The panel, open to the public, takes place on Wednesday, February 9th, from 12:30-2 PM.

Protest against Censorship at National Portrait Gallery

By |2016-01-15T10:36:39-05:00December 3rd, 2010|Blog|

This is from an attendant at the protest organized by Transformer on Thursday, Dec. 2nd: The protest's silence was very effective.  The rows standing mute along the entire width of north steps of the Portrait Gallery for about 25 minutes until the museum closed at 7:00 was eloquent and impactful in a way beyond the quantity of supporters or passion [...]

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