COMMITTEE FOR THE PROMOTION OF VIRTUE AND THE ERADICATION OF VICE (U.K.)

In England, it seems that someone just committed an act of moral-values hooliganism, acting on the premise that wax figures of a pop singer and her soccer-star husband can be instruments of Satan:

The controversial waxwork Nativity scene depicting David and Victoria Beckham as Joseph and Mary has been wrecked in an attack.

Wax models of the stars, worth £50,000 each, suffered "extensive damage" when a young man attacked the display at Madame Tussauds....

The scene, which also featured Tony Blair, the Duke of Edinburgh and President George Bush as the three wise men, was condemned by church leaders when unveiled last Thursday....

(Go to the link and click on "Gallery" for pictures. It's funny.)

*****

Is there something in the water in the U.K. these days? A couple of weeks ago there was this:

The provocative sexuality of an ancient pagan symbol finally proved too much for one disgruntled visitor to a small church in rural Sussex.

1,000 years of history were destroyed when someone took a hammer to the lewd pagan carving in Buncton Church near Wiston, smashing it to smithereens.

The vandal's actions have horrified archaeologists who say it was the only example of a rare sheela-na-gig carving in Sussex. The overtly erotic pagan symbols have been described as medieval morality figures and are believed to have once served as warnings against lust....

(Before and after pictures here; more information about sheela-na-gigs here. And yes, there's the PJ Harvey song.)

Gee, I'm glad my wife and I took that hike to the Cerne Abbas Giant back in the '90s. It's probably next.

Oh well, at least no one's done any harm to this thirteenth-century penis-tree fresco. (Probably because it's in Tuscany.)

(Sheela-na-gig links via Tlatchga. Nativity story via Drudge.)