The new stations of the cross at Saint Paul's on the Green in Norwalk Connecticut are under fire. The commissioned paintings by artist Gwyneth Leech represent Christ in the midst of current armed conflicts, including the Iraq war. Conservative Christians have denounced them as a political statement inappropriate for a house of worship. Leech responds, "I was asked to combine the traditional stations iconography with elements of the world we live in. This brief eventually led to my vision of Christ as a prisoner of war, and as a hostage tortured by insurgents. The crowds are refugees. The people weeping at the foot of the cross are grieving Iraqis and Americans who have lost family members to bombs and to violence." All 14 artworks are on the Web. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham