People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals debuts its "Immaculate Conception" campaign in the most Catholic state in the nation.

08:42 AM EST on Wednesday, December 3, 2003

BY KAREN A. DAVIS and RICHARD DUJARDIN
Journal Staff Writers

EAST PROVIDENCE -- The organization whose members are best known for throwing paint on fur coats and putting scantily clad women in cages to protest mistreatment of animals has sparked outrage in the local religious community by employing an image of the Virgin Mary on a billboard promoting vegetarianism.

The billboard -- which overlooks Route 195 east near exit 4 in East Providence -- was put up last week by the Virginia-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

It features the image of the Madonna cradling a dead chicken in her arms, alongside the message "Go Vegetarian -- It's an Immaculate Conception." A cross is placed inside the "o" in "Go."

PETA chose Rhode Island to debut the "Immaculate Conception" campaign because the state has the nation's highest percentage of Roman Catholics, according to Bruce Friedrich, PETA's director.

Friedrich said the billboard was not intended to offend Catholics -- who will celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Monday. He said what is offensive is the severe mistreatment and abuse of chickens, pigs and other animals at factory farms and slaughterhouses as they are prepared for human consumption.

PETA's campaign notes that such facilities burn chickens alive or drown them, brand cows, force farm animals to live in filthy cages and deny them sunlight, castrate cattle and pigs without painkillers and allow mass-produced animals to starve to death because their legs can no longer support the weight of their genetically engineered and drug-altered bodies.

Friedrich said PETA plans to install similar billboards in a half-dozen other cities before Christmas. He said the East Providence billboard will stay up through December.

Journal photo / Mary Murphy OPPOSING VIEWS: The word "shame" is spray-painted on PETA's billboard on Route 195 in East Providence yesterday. The animal-rights group is using the image of the Virgin Mother to promote vegetarianism.

The billboard -- which greets motorists not only on Route 195 east but also those on Taunton Avenue (Route 44) -- has drawn sharp criticism from leaders of various denominations.

The Most Rev. Robert E. Mulvee, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Providence, issued a statement yesterday saying that he understands PETA's "desire to draw attention to its cause," but finds it "highly inappropriate and disturbing" for the group to use the Blessed Mother on its billboard.

"This use of one of the most sacred images of the Christian faith trivializes not only the mother of Jesus but also the very cause PETA strives to advance," Mulvee said in the statement. "It is my fervent hope that they will abandon the use of this offensive campaign and show as much sensitivity to the faith of millions as they do to the plight of animals."

By midday yesterday, the billboard had been vandalized: The word "shame" had been spray-painted in the bottom left corner.

Friedrich said the billboard's owners had informed him of the vandalism. They believe the added word can be easily covered because it covers only a small portion of the text.

The East Providence police said they would investigate the vandalism if a formal complaint is filed.

Mayor Rolland Grant, who is Catholic, called the billboard "insulting" and sacrilegious.

"It's gross, to be quite frank with you," Grant said yesterday. "I find it totally offensive."

The Rev. John Holt, executive minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, said that when people told him about the billboard Monday night, he considered the idea so outrageous he thought they were making it up.

"I think it's insulting to Christian people regardless of denomination, and wish they would take it down," he said yesterday.

All of the Christian faiths hold the Virgin Mary in high esteem, Mr. Holt said, and to use her image in such a way during the holy season of Christmas is appalling.

"I also think it's insulting to all religious people when our religious symbols are defamed like that," he said.

PETA's CAMPAIGN marks the second time this year that the group has disturbed religious groups.

Last winter, it launched a traveling exhibit "Holocaust on Your Plate," which juxtaposed images of Jews in concentration camps with farm animals in cages. The montage included a photo of a heap of naked human corpses next to a photo of animal carcasses.

Above the images, a sign read, "To Animals, All People are Nazis."

The exhibit so infuriated Jewish leaders in Boston last May that they took turns denouncing it at a gathering at the New England Holocaust Memorial. Abraham Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor, said the campaign took "chutzpah to new heights."

William Donohue, president of the New York-based Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, made reference to both exhibits in a statement yesterday. Donohue suggested that PETA suffers from "an inability to get its message across without exploiting others."

Rabbi Wayne Franklin of Temple Emanu-El in Providence said he wasn't aware of PETA's earlier controversial ads, but thinks the current billboard is "a rather tasteless ad."

"It sounds like they are trying to use the symbolism for humor and for effect, taking one religious community's sacred teachings and using it cheaply," he said.

"If there is a serious case to be made for vegetarianism, I think they could do it in a straightforward manner. The ads might not be as clever, but they would be more respectful."

PETA leaders say it is appropriate for them to use religious symbols to draw attention to animal treatment that they believe is uncaring and un-Christian, Friedrich said.

He said the billboard's depiction of the Virgin Mary is "respectful and reasonable," and notes that she was chosen because her selfless love and kindness are the anthethisis of the treatment of chickens, pigs and other farm animals.

"If cats and dogs were treated the way chickens, pigs and other farm animals are treated, everybody involved would be charged with felony cruelty to animals and prosecuted," Friedrich said. "We need to get over our prejudices and treat all of God's creatures with His kindness and tender mercy."

Friedrich said he believes that the campaign -- which he said is based on the premise that "the only pure and compassionate diet is a vegetarian one" -- has yielded positive results. He said the vegetarian Web site listed on the billboard has seen an increase in local requests for vegetarian starter kits.