Foundation for Individual Rights in Education demands police art work be returned to Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Updated1,2,3,4,5,6,7.
Christian Post attacks art work. Dallas Morning News also. The Evangelical movement suffers from sex scandals involving youth so it seems they see everything in terms of their own problems.
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This is the Sistine Chapel censored so the cherubs aren’t showing their stuff. I don’t want to excite a youth pastor at one of our local churches to do something.
Also on the Sistine Chapel is this old man hanging out with naked children and adults and some of their stuff is clearly visible. I was shocked to find it at a depraved site called Wikipedia.
I understand that there are books in public libraries which show art works at the Vatican and I think the Fort Worth police might consider a raid on bookshops and the Fort Worh public libraries. There are university professors which show this image and it is in school text books.
Previous reports on this ongoing issue. Newest to oldest.
Dallas Morning News dumps on artist at Modern Art Museum.
Dallas Morning News, Feb. 6, 2025, “Photos of nude children at Fort Worth museum raise uncomfortable questions.”
Subtitle:
Sally Mann exhibit points to a larger concern about the sexualization of kids.
This is member exclusive content so it is behind a paywall.
The Dallas Morning News sees these pictures as examples on how “coarse our culture has become.”
Christian Post was gloating over their victory.
Christian Post, Feb. 16, 2025, “Christian advocacy group praises God for 'victory' after lewd exhibit ends run at Texas museum.”
The Danbury Institute, a nonpartisan association of Evangelical churches based in Dallas, first brought attention to the "Diaries of Home" exhibit by acclaimed photographer Sally Mann at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in late December, when police removed four photographs from the museum over allegations that the exhibit promoted child pornography.
The group shared an update on Feb. 11 announcing that the photos that were seized remain in police custody as the investigation continues as a “direct result of public pressure and God’s faithfulness in answering our prayers.”
UPDATE1: Dallas Express
Dallas Express, Feb. 20, 2025, “ACLU Defends Child Porn At Fort Worth Museum In Free Speech Fight.”
https://dallasexpress.com/tarrant/aclu-defends-child-porn-at-fort-worth-museum-in-free-speech-fight/
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education demands art be returned.
FIRE, Feb. 19, 2025, “FIRE demands Fort Worth police return artwork confiscated from museum.”
FORT WORTH, Feb. 19, 2025 — A trio of civil liberty organizations are speaking up today to demand the Fort Worth Police Department end its unconstitutional censorship and seizure of several pieces of art that were on display at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, National Coalition Against Censorship, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas are joining forces to demand the return of several pieces of art by Sally Mann, a renowned photographer with accolades from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Guggenheim Foundation.
In November 2024, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth began hosting an exhibition called “Diaries from Home,” featuring works that “explore the multilayered concepts of family, community, and home.” Included in the collection were some of the photos from Mann’s 1990 collection “Immediate Family.” Mann’s collection featured an intimate and candid look at her family’s rural life. As she describes it, “I photographed their triumphs, confusion, harmony and isolation, as well as the hardships that tend to befall children — bruises, vomit, bloody noses, wet beds — all of it.”
Of the 65 photos in Mann’s “Immediate Family,” 13 depicted her children in the nude. The selection of nude photos displayed in the Modern reportedly included depictions of Mann’s daughter jumping onto a picnic table in a ballet pose, Mann’s daughter lying in bed with a stain from a nighttime accident, and Mann’s son with a melted popsicle running down his body.
“Anyone who's ever taken a photo of their child or grandchild taking a bath understands that not all photographs of child nudity are malicious, let alone child abuse,” said FIRE Director of Public Advocacy Aaron Terr. “The seizure of Mann's works is an egregious abuse of power that dishonestly conflates artistic expression with sexual exploitation.”
The works are not the product of child abuse, and they are neither intended nor designed to excite lust in the viewer. They do what much art does — convey ideas and invite viewers to reflect on the human experience.
Nor do the works meet the legal definition of “obscenity,” an extremely narrow definition that does not apply to all depictions of child nudity. This should be common sense to anyone familiar with the iconic “Napalm Girl” photograph, National Geographic documentaries, or even major Hollywood films like the 1978 version of “Superman.”
“Immediate Family” was controversial even at its debut decades ago, but has been showcased in more than a dozen art galleries across the world, including the National Gallery of Art. But its inclusion in the Fort Worth exhibition reignited the debate when local press and politicians denounced the photos as “child pornography.” Fort Worth police seized the artwork last month ostensibly as part of an investigation into “child abuse,” even though all of Mann’s children, as adults, continued to support the collection and their mother and have never once suggested they were abused.
"Publicity stunts like this one — in which artworks that have been shown and discussed for over 30 years are suddenly the focus of an unfounded ‘investigation’ — do nothing to protect victims of child abuse, and serve only to chill the creative expressions of artists and cultural institutions by subjecting them to the threat of political prosecution and the unconstitutional seizure of artwork,” said Elizabeth Larison, Director of NCAC’s Arts and Culture Advocacy Program.
“It's shameful that government officials would use the criminal legal process to censor art and expression,” said Adriana Piñon, legal director of the ACLU of Texas. “This is a clear violation of the First Amendment and of the guardrails against abuse of the criminal justice system. Artistic expression should not be subject to the whim and punishment of government officials' personal taste.”
https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-demands-fort-worth-police-return-artwork-confiscated-museum
This is the letter they sent to the Fort Worth Police Department, Feb. 19, 2025.
“Letter from FIRE, NCAC, and ACLU of Texas to Fort Worth Police Department, February 19, 2025.”
You can download the PDF of the letter.
Texas Evangelicals with their endless sex scandals, often involving youth, of course see child porn everywhere.
It is a full time activity of these three investigators on X tracking Evangelical sex scandals.
Amy Smith https://x.com/watchkeep
Julie Roys https://x.com/reachjulieroys
Dee parsons https://x.com/wartwatch
Numerous examples could be mentioned. I will just throw out a few recent examples.
KERA, Jan. 8, 2025, “North Texas church leader serving at multiple churches has previous child sexual assault conviction.”
KERA, Dec. 31, 2025, “Rocked by scandals, North Texas churches faced a reckoning in 2024.”
Cindy Clemishire was just 12 years old when she says she was first sexually abused by her pastor in 1982.
Robert Morris was close friends with Clemishire’s family and had been staying at their home for Christmas, she said. During a car ride, Clemishire said Morris asked her to visit him in his room later that night.
She thought nothing of it. But Clemishire said Morris told her to lie down and close her eyes before he molested her.
Since Morris’ departure, more than a dozen pastors and church leaders have been removed or stepped down due to sexual and physical abuse accusations.
The controversies sparked conversation about accountability against those in power — and the way churches handle abuse allegations. [Boldface added.
KERA, Aug. 9, 2024, “Several North Texas pastors step down, removed from positions amid controversies.”
https://www.keranews.org/news/2024-08-05/north-texas-pastors-step-down-amid-controversies
RealClear Religion, Oct. 4, 2024, from the New York Times, “Around Dallas, the Church Scandals Seem to Have No End.”
Christianity Today, Sept. 3, 2024 , “Deep in the Heart of Megachurch Country, Dallas Mourns a Summer of Pastor Scandals.”
https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/09/megachurch-dallas-mourns-pastor-scandals/
The subject of the Southern Baptist Convention and sexual abuse scandals is a whole other thing entirely.
Assoc. Press, March 8, 2024, “Sex abuse survivors dispute Southern Baptist leadership and say federal investigation is ongoing.”
UPDATE2:
Christian Post, Feb. 20, 2025, “SBC disfellowships 7 churches over abuse hotline calls: report.”
From the hotline allegations, according to Iorg, 128 cases were referred to the SBC Credentials Committee, with the entity having investigated or in the process of investigating all cases.
Iorg said that, as a result, seven churches had been deemed to be “not in friendly cooperation” with the SBC and were removed from membership “based on their responses to the Credentials Committee on these issues.”
“Sexual abuse is a serious and real problem,” said Iorg. “And when it happens, it is devastating for the survivors, the church, the community, and every person who is involved.”
UPDATE3:
The Christian Post, Feb. 22, 2025, “Why have so many church leaders fallen?”
https://www.christianpost.com/voices/why-have-so-many-church-leaders-fallen.html
UPDATE4:
Dallas Express, March 17, 2025, “Fort Worth Police Investigate Controversial Art Exhibit For Alleged Child Pornography; Reports Sent To DA.”
UPDATE 5: Grand jury no bills case. That is no charges will go to the DA.
WFAA, March 26, 2025, “Tarrant County grand jury declines to take action against Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth over controversial exhibition.”
KERA, March 25, 2025, “No charges against Fort Worth Modern Arts Museum after child pornography allegations.”
Dallas Morning News, March 25, 2025, “No charges against Fort Worth museum after allegations that exhibit included child porn.”
The following behind a paywall.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 26, 2025, “Child porn investigation of photos from Fort Worth museum closed; grand jury no bills case.”
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article302849189.html
Update 6:
Dallas Express, March 27, 2025, “No Charges Filed Against Artist And Museum After Pictures Of Naked Children Displayed.”
Update 7:
Of course they see porn in everything.
They need to focus on keeping it in their pants instead.
Other news articles
Editorial
The City of Fort Worth seems to have fallen under tthe control of religious lunatics and it isn’t a safe place.
Next thing they will be pulling art books out of the libraries because those baroque churches have cherubs and some are naked. (Nekid, for our Fort Worth readers.)
