An angry Catholic protester armed with scissors has destroyed a church billboard depicting a shocked Virgin Mary holding a positive pregnancy test.
The billboard, outside St-Matthews-in-the-City Church on Hobson St in Auckland, has created controversy since going up this month.
Yesterday, Whangarei man and member of the Catholic Action Group Arthur Skinner was seen cutting down the poster, leaving it in tatters.
Mr Skinner says he is furious.
“Everyone knows instinctively, you don’t muck around with God’s mother. This is devil’s work. This is luciferian. The attack on the blessed virgin.”
The church had said the billboard aimed to “avoid the sentimental [and] trite” and “spark thought and conversation”.
St Matthews has caused controversy with numerous provocative billboards in recent years.
In 2009, their Christmas billboard showed Mary and Joseph in bed with the tag line, “Poor Joseph, God was a hard act to follow.”
This year Vicar Glynn Cardy says St Matthews wanted to focus on what it was like for a real mother with a real child.
The church’s website says the billboard had purposely been left blank of any text.
“We hope to do so with an image and no words. We invite you to wonder what your caption might be.”
The billboard was planned to stay up until Christmas Day.
3 News