Beckham nativity outrages churches PT 1

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3122704a1860,00.html
Beckham nativity outrages churches 09 December 2004
LONDON: Church leaders have condemned a Christmas nativity tableau depicting soccer star David Beckham as Joseph and his pop singer wife Victoria as the Virgin Mary.
Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush also starred as two of The Three Wise Men at the birth of Christ.
Anglicans, Catholics and Presbyterians united in calling the exhibit – at Madame Tussaud's waxwork museum in London – a new low in the cult of celebrity worship.
In the tableau, Australian pop star Kylie Minogue also hovers above the crib as an angel, while "Posh Spice" Victoria lays her shawled head tenderly on Beckham's shoulder.
The shepherds are played by Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson, actor Hugh Grant and camp Irish comic Graham Norton.
The Vatican was not amused.
"This is worse than bad taste. It is cheap," an official Vatican source told Reuters in Rome. "You cannot use contemporary personalities as the central figures of the nativity ... And it becomes worse, if that were possible, if the people may be of questionable moral standing," he added.
He said it was sometimes acceptable to use modern figures in the supporting roles because it can help make Christmas contemporary – but not the central characters.
In Naples, for example, famous figures like Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona have been depicted as shepherds.
A spokesman for Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of 70 million Anglicans worldwide, reacted with weary resignation to the "Posh and Becks" tableau.
"There is a tradition of each generation trying to re-interpret the nativity but, Oh Dear..," he said.
Paul Handley, editor of the Anglican Church Times, thought the tableau was "just pathetic."
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"It is yet another sign that people feel they can play around with sacred things," he told Reuters. "God is not going to worry. He is going to cope – but it is a bit depressing."
The Reverend Rod Thomas, spokesman for the conservative evangelical grouping Reform, told Reuters, the scene was a case of exploiting Christian symbols without any understanding.
"Would they do the same thing for a depiction of a major event in the Muslim faith?" he asked.
The Presbyterian Church was also forthright: "The waxwork will cause offence to many and should be pulled down."
The Beckhams were unaware of the museum's plans to depict them in a nativity, a spokesman for the couple told Reuters.
Madame Tussaud's apologised for any offence caused, but insisted the tableau was intended as a tongue-in-cheek way of bringing the nativity to a wider audience.
"We are not suggesting for one minute these celebrities actually represent the biblical characters themselves and we are sorry if it has been misconstrued as such," a statement said.
A spokeswoman added the scene would remain unchanged until January 3 due to a largely positive response from the public since its opening on Monday. "Yes, we have had criticism, but the vast majority are taking it in the spirit intended. They love it."
– Additional reporting by Philip Pullella in Rome and Andrew Cawthorne in London