God gave us all talents. Artists gonna artist. Ghouls are going to ghoul. There’s a popular trend amongst artists to sound off on social issues. One of the most popular of these topics is that of abortion.

So, when artist collective, INDECLINE, snuck a banner onto the property of the Christ of The Ozarks statue in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, we should not be the least bit surprised. So edgy, right?

They claim to not necessarily be “pro-choice” or anti-life”” That’s just “double speak”, they say. Moving right along. Why did INDECLINE decide to smuggle in a huge, 44-foot, “God Bless Abortions” banner?

The project, entitled ‘God Bless Abortions,’ is in direct response to the dramatic attempts being made in Arkansas and throughout the South, to ban abortion services to women in need.”-INDECLINE

Their reasoning for choosing the Christ of the Ozarks statue stems back to the history of the statue:

“…the brainchild of a man named Gerald K. Smith, a religious activist and Nazi sympathizer, who founded the America First Party. He was a voracious anti-Semite whose final dream was to give Jesus his own theme park, though we think it would have been better as a water park.”-INDECLINE

A water park where kids can go and play? I mean, who enjoys a water park more than a child? But, alas, they would have to not be aborted, geniuses! INDECLINE also neglects to acknowledge the concept of abortion at its origins. A eugenics-based program created by racist, elitist, Margaret Sanger, to cull the “less desirable” population.

…the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extinction, of defective stocks — those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization.”-Margaret Sanger to the Ku Klux Klan on eugenics

Defective stocks?! Sounds kinda Nazi-like to me, just saying. But INDECLINE glosses over this completely. of course they would.

In Arkansas, there is only one 65-foot statue of Jesus. There is also only one abortion clinic. No professional sports teams. Just a bunch of angry men with no outlets, writing outrageous laws about vaginas. That, and the second highest rate (by state) of infant mortality. It’s hard to see how ‘pro-life’ can be so myopic in its vision of what life is.”–INDECLINE

Here we go with the freaking vaginas, again! For the party of science that they are, I really wish they would get this right for once. A baby is formed and actually grows in the UTERUS. The vagina is a vehicle. Sperm goes in, baby comes out the birth canal, God bless. And, (talking to the ladies here), at the risk of sounding crude…if you want the government out of your, ummm, err-vagina-you can elect to keep some guy who you don’t want to be your baby’s daddy OUT of your vagina as well. God gave women (and men) free will, also. Free will to decide when to have relations and the ability to decide with whom to have relations with (most of the time). I cannot speak to the incidents of rape or incest. These situations are different, and I understand this. The decision to have or not to have a child is a personal one, especially if that child is a result of a traumatic event. But I would argue that if God knows us before he formed us in the womb, His intention for us to live out our lives on this earth is there. The problem with those who do not believe in Our Heavenly Father is that they want to take matters into their own hands. They look up to human leaders and establishments such as Planned Parenthood. These establishments were created by MAN and they look to them for their answers on life. These individuals and the establishments they are attached to, are their gods. The establishments and the people with the loudest voices who claim to have wanted to “live their best lives” and who were “not ready” to be parents are the ones the uninformed listen to. The government leaders and establishments behind these thoughts know this and want to keep it this way, but enough of me waxing philosophic.

The sphinx famously presented a riddle that was to be solved on penalty of death. In Arkansas, that riddle has something to do with ridiculous statutes based on a cheap, performative morality. In their eyes, Mary Magdalene was a whore, not a favored disciple. That’s just how they see a woman’s place in the world. And her body is a place too, private property to be legislated by a group of landlords.”–INDECLINE

Wait, what? I’d be hard-pressed to say that any representation of Christ on the cross is a form of “cheap, performative morality” but I will go with the assumption that this “collective” has not cracked open a Bible in years, if ever. Not surprising:

INDECLINE is an Activist Art Collective founded in 2001. It is comprised of graffiti writers, filmmakers, photographers and full-time rebels and activists. INDECLINE focuses on social, ecological and economical injustices carried out by American and International governments, corporations and law enforcement agencies.”-thisisdecline.com

Poking around at their website, I did not find it the least bit ironic that their name is “INDECLINE” and their logo is represented by a generic male figure with a briefcase and horns. So edgy and so cliche at the same time. If only we could be so cool (snort). The website has a merch shop where one could purchase collective-designed t-shirts that read, “Respect existence or expect resistance”, or “‘A’ is for anti-facist” and one of my personal favorites, the “God Bless Abortions” t-shirt modeled by a cute, little toddler. But wait, there’s more! INDECLINE offers up another wearable classic-a t-shirt that says “Shoot Cops”. Or on cold, chilly nights, one can cozy up with a hoodie that depicts a burning police car with a caption that reads “Stay Warm”.

What a nice bunch of starving artists, no? The same group sells a bandana on their site claiming, “No Gods, no masters”, is running at the mouth on Instagram about who they think Jesus is. The truth is, these individuals have strayed so far away that they wouldn’t know God if he came down from heaven tomorrow. In their warped reality, killing children and killing cops who may be fathers/mothers to children is sanctioned by The Cross.

We just think abortion is a go***** miracle worth celebrating. It saves lives, but those lives are usually female.”-INDECLINE

Except when said “clump of cells” is determined to be, you guessed it-female. So much for celebrating that miracle. Hey, jackasses-the miracle of modern medicine itself is a miracle worth celebrating. Taking a life because “this is not the right time”, multiple times, is not. Ever. Respect existence, INDECLINE. And yes, expect resistance to your asinine ideologies. May God bless your little hearts.

Photo Credit: jaystout/FlickR/CC BY 2.0/Cropped