Remember when this stuff was actually surprising, even shocking? Not anymore.

It remains, however, awfully sad.

Estonia’s National Museum opened on September 29, and there’s a part of it devoted to the Reformation in that country. A related exhibit features a virtual image of the Virgin Mary projected on to a screen. Visitors are invited to kick a designated spot at the base of the exhibit, at which point the image of Mary is shattered, and the word “Reformation” appears in her place.

Estonian Christian leaders and politicians are none too pleased with the exhibit, as you might imagine. In reaction to the display, the Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church has posted the following:

“I very seriously doubt that this exhibit is suitable for the permanent collection of the National Museum of Estonia, even if it is interesting from a technical point of view or from the perspective of modern approach to the depiction of historical events. The Virgin Mary for a huge number of believers is not some historical figure or event, gone into oblivion, but a reality today. The ridicule was an insult to the feelings of believers.”

The chairman of the Conservative People’s Party and a former ambassador to Russia, Mart Helme, took issue with the exhibit on behalf of the substantial population of Russians living in the country:

“Most Russians living in Estonia are actively religious people and their integration is not helped by religious insult approved on a state level. The image should be removed as soon as possible because the virtual destruction the authors offer insults the feelings of religious Russian-speaking residents and hinders their integration.  Mocking the symbols of faith also has a political dimension to it. An attack on symbols may lead to an escalation of social tensions and a cooling of inter-state relations.”

Once again, we are reminded that secular progressives are…everywhere.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large