See http://www1.buffnews.com/editorial/20010620/1005905.asp and http://www.archoftriumph.org/ for details.
I won’t quote the article directly, since that would violate board rules. Essentially, a group in Buffalo, New York, is planning on building a $100,000,000 complex which includes three shrines and a 700 foot (220 meter) tall arch over the Outer Harbor of Buffalo. The whole shebang will be dedicated to the Virgin Mary and unborn babies.
It’s very nearly too stupid for words.
First of all, let’s ignore the obcenity of spending 100 million bucks on this monstrosity instead of helping people (like single mothers who didn’t get abortions because they are pro-life). What I want to know is what idiot is going to see this and think “Gee! A big-ass arc! It must be ‘an international signal call to conversion and a return to God and to an ever greater love of purity and rejection of abortion and immorality’! I guess I’ll convert now!”
… and how many people are going to look at and thing, “mmmm… french fries…”
Today just keeps getting funnier and funnier. First, the Onion tags Jenna Bush with an all-time classic headline, and now the same people whose “churches” are mostly in abandoned strip malls are going to raise $100 million so they can save fetuses with the world’s tackiest shrine.
I say we let 'em build it. Even if they manage to raise the money–which, let’s face it. ain’t gonna happen–what I’ve seen of fundamentalist church construction techniques leads me to believe that “The Arch of Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and International Shrine of the Holy Innocents” will be trashed the first time a good blizzard hits town.
And hey, just so’s there’s a GD here, anybody wanna chime in on what it is about fundamentalist Christianity that seems to remove all sense of good taste from its adherents?
Actually, your post was kinda funny too, minty; I’m trying to imagine the shock and outrage of most American fundamentalists at the very thought of being falsely associated with a proposed monument with the name “The Arch of Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”. It’s a Catholic project, silly boy! 
That said, I agree that bad Catholic religious art is absolutely in the same class with the worst of bad fundamentalist religious art. Plus it tends to have more shiny red blood in it.
Well, having coming from a fundamentalist background (notice that’s past tense?! ), I can give an opinion on this topic.
I think it’s because many fundies are so rabidly Protestant, that anything that smacks of tradition (and, therefore, taste IMO) automatically corresponds with Catholicism in their minds. Hence, they resort to the Jimmy Swaggart School of Architecture for their designs.
Plus, the fact that you’ve attributed a Catholic project with fundies (as Kimtsu pointed out) is likely to have Jack Chick rolling in his grave (hopefully that’s where he’s at!)
I agree with Revtim: think of the unwed, teenage or homeless mothers that could be supported and helped back up on their feet with $100 mil. Sickening.
Is this monstrosity, assuming it gets built, also going to be dedicated to the hard working people that kill abortion providers or fire bomb womens health clinics?
I am sorry about my last post. I had entirely lost track of the forum that I was posting in. That was intended for a Pit thread and not a GD thread.
Oops. It smacked of fundamentalist funniness to me, I guess. Upon rereading the story, though, these folks still sound like free-lance zealots. I mean, it’s not like the Church itself commissioned this train wreck, right? The Sistine Chapel, this isn’t.
Maybe they can promise to smear it with dried elephant dung and get funding from New York City as an art project? 
I agree with Revtim, using the $100 million to do something productive, like providing quality sex education (so women don’t get accidentally get pregnant in the first place) and other resources to help women who do have an unexpected pregnancy rather than build a shrine would do more to solve the problem, if indeed there IS a problem.
I say, if they’re going to build anything that tacky,
large and expensive it should either be:the world biggest lava lamp, or a huge statue of Elvis covered in velvet.
The arch wastes money that could be better spent. Even the most fundamental fundie should see that it’s better to spend 100 million on orphanages or subsidies for young mothers. Secondly, the arch represents only one group of the many opposed to abortion. Only Christians in favor of building statues of Mary (I’ve found many non-Catholic-Christians are opposed to any statue other than Jesus) would possibly support this project.
Lastly from the perspective of the fundies building it, this arch is already complete. Their page contains an artists' conception. And of course, they believe life begins at conception.I didn’t see anything in either of the links that would indicate that these people have the support of the Catholic Church itself. Without them, I don’t think there’s any way they’ll raise anywhere near $100 million.
I’m interested in knowing what the Church thinks of this project. They probably feel that there are better things that could be done with $100 million… like buying up more hospitals.
Are they going to put it within view of the (former) home or (former) clinic of the late Bernard Slepian? :rolleyes:
Yup, this is right up there with the depictions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus complete with Sacred Ventricles and Sacred Aortas…
…or with the preserved heart of Frère André displayed at St. Joseph’s Oratory, which provoked one singer to warble, “Just like Frère André, I know my heart will always stay/here in Montreal…”
I’ll admite, female anatomy isn’t my strong point, but I can’t help but thinking that the Arch looks like this huge vagina, open and about to give birth.
Well, I think three things are very obvious here:
A) Mr. Behr is nothing but a common crank. If he was proposing the construction of a $100 million landing pad for alien spaceships, there would be few differences in his overall proposal (i.e. it might not necessarily look like a yellow croquet gate).
B) There is no way in the world they could ever, ever raise $100 million for such a dubious enterprise.
C) The overwhelming majority of Buffalo’s citizenry would certainly never tolerate the construction of such a thing.
Silly story, but the issue as a “real thing” is D.O.A.