Opposition to Canterbury Cathedral’s controversial graffiti art project has continued, with one Christian author describing it as a part of the “suicide” of the Church of England.
The temporary exhibition consists of inquiries to God written within the variety of graffiti. The questions ask, amongst other things, whether God is absolutely there and why he created hate.
The exhibition was defended by the Dean of Canterbury, the Very Rev David Monteith, who argued, “This exhibition intentionally builds bridges between cultures, styles and genres and allows us to receive the gifts of younger individuals who have much to say.”
Many public reactions nevertheless have been negative, with even international figures like US Vice President JD Vance and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, condemning the installation.
Adding their voice to the chorus is David Roseberry who, writing for The Anglican, argued that the Church of England was failing in its duty to supply spiritual guidance to those that are searching for it.
The questions posed by the graffiti shouldn’t be left as questions, Roseberry argued, but needs to be answered by a church which is self-assured and assured of its worldview. Instead, in an try and relate to a world without Christ, the Church has weakly posed the questions and left them unanswered.
Roseberry writes that “what we’re seeing in Canterbury— [is] questions in every single place, but no intention of finding answers—a cathedral stuffed with inquiry, but little hunger for the proclamation of the reality. The artist asks, ‘Are you there?’ and the Dean calls it profound.
“But it’s only profound if someone dares to reply. Otherwise, it’s just one other monument to unbelief.”
Roseberry also wrote that the choice to deface Canterbury Cathedral with temporary graffiti, combined with the Church of England’s decision to interrupt centuries of precedent by appointing a girl as Archbishop of Canterbury, combined to inform a concerning story.
“Put these headlines together, and also you see an embarrassing and tragic problem. The Church isn’t being murdered by outsiders. She’s doing herself in. This shouldn’t be vandalism or persecution. It’s suicide,” he said.
The installation was also condemned in a bit by Simon Evans in Spiked! Magazine, a publication with a Marxist background.
Evans described the project as “tiresome” and as a “desecration” and said that those behind the project had failed to contemplate their role as stewards of a history stretching back 1,400 years.
He said, “In a time once we fear that a lot of our most cherished traditions are being traduced, and our most fundamental national institutions hollowed out and deracinated, it is definitely with some relief that we realise that one such tradition remains to be alive and well – that of the stylish vicar.”
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