Vicar's 'revolutionary' poster upsets Lanlivery churchgoers

The Vicar of the parish church of St Brevita has caused controversy in the parish of Lanlivery and Luxulyan by putting up a poster depicting Jesus as a revolutionary Che Guevara-type figure.

The poster, measuring some six by three feet, was ordered by the Rev David Keighley from a London-based group, Christians in the Media and has been put on on the boundary wall near the gate to the church, in the centre of Lanlivery.

Mr Keighley described the poster as depicting the head of Jesus, in a pose which was 'only slightly influenced by the imagery of Che Guevara' and bearing the message 'meek, mild - as if' and inviting people to take part in the April 4 service.

He said that, although it had been 'remarkably effective' in that it doubled the size of the congregation and attracted a much larger number of children and young people than usual to the Easter Day service, that was not the main purpose.

'A lot of people said it was to get people to go to church,' he said. 'I don't believe in that. People have to decide for themselves. The point was to challenge people to ask questions: What does the church mean? What does Jesus mean?.'

Mr Keighley, who has four children and has been in the parish for 10 years, sees the poster as part of his attempt to update the Christian message for the next generation in the run-up to the third millennium. 'Overall, people have been very supportive of the campaign,' he said and have seen the poster as 'striking and challenging'.

'It's awful,' said parish council chairman Mrs Haley, who has stopped attending the church because of the vicar's controversial sermons and says that some of the regular churchgoers do not like the poster, but prefer not to break ranks and say so. 'There are other revolutionaries who didn't cut people's throats. You tell children what a good man Jesus was and they compare him with someone like that.'

The Easter sermon was, Mr Keighley admitted, 'critical of orthodox theology', and followed on from a popular Lent course, pursued by 'The Heretic Society', the original definition of the word meaning a search. He was pleased to learn that his words had generated a lively discussion in the village pub after the Easter service, during which he had reminded the congregation that Easter was 'not the Feast of St Cadbury'.