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Penn State Abington Professor Objects To Crucified Frog Christ

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A Penn State Abington professor is outraged that a crucified frog appeared in a student art show on campus. Karen Bettez-Halnon, who spoke with Dom Giordano on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT believes the piece is sacrilegious and offensive.

She accused the school of violating the own standards by allowing the exhibit.

 

"If you take a closer look at the image, the so-called art, there's a mound of ashes in front of the crucified Jesus. It doesn't take a rocket social scientist to figure out what this might be. There's a burned book in the ashes. So, what does this say about educational values at Penn State?"

Bettez-Halnon is calling on the school to answer a series of questions she has about the display, hoping, ultimately, to force its removal.

"Why doesn't Penn State Abington take down that desecrated, crucified Christ Jesus if they're truly concerned about student safety? Why did Penn State Abington fund and authorize this so-called piece of art in the first place? Did they consider the public outrage it would likely produce? Did the mentors of this art student consider the consequences the student might face? Why did the art program choose to feature, showcase, centralize this piece of unholy desecrating, so-called, art?"

She also revealed that school officials attempted to dissuade her from appearing on the radio, but wanted to push for answers to her complaints.

"I received a call from a member of the administration urging me to consider not doing this interview and I thought about it for a while, prayed about it and decided to proceed. The issue is concern over student's safety...The administration is concerned about student safety and, obviously, I would be as well, but I think it's important to ask some further questions for public consideration about a public university."

Bettez-Halnon also became the object of scrutiny in 2015 when she was arrested for disrupting a flight from Nicaragua to Miami after loudly protesting the US government's treatment of Venezuela and lighting a cigarette on the plane.

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