Marking the death of an atheist by depicting Jesus Christ in sex scenes might seem like a non-sequitur. Somehow, it made sense to the Portuguese edition of Playboy magazine.
The magazine features an actor portraying Jesus in at least four pornographic photos, including the cover, where he cradles an apparently dead – and bare-breasted – woman. Another photo depicts Jesus watching a lesbian kiss, while another shows him observing a topless woman reading a book.
The images are reportedly meant to commemorate the death of Portuguese author Jose Saramago. He wrote, among many other books, “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ,” which “explored the psychological motivations [1] that led Jesus to become a prophet.” Saramago later wrote [2] that the controversy around the book led him to move from
It's not the first time an international edition of the “men's magazine” has caused a stir by depicting a Christian figure. In its December 2008 issue [3], the Mexican edition featured a model dressed – barely – like the Virgin Mary
The U.S. edition of the magazine raised the ire of political conservatives in 2009 when it published an article by Guy Cimbalo [4] in which he described the violent sexual acts he wanted to commit against conservative women, calling the acts a “hate f***.”
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