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Cardinal draws fire for use of a word

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 16, 2007

BERLIN - A Roman Catholic cardinal used the term "degenerate" at the opening of an art museum on the ruins of a church, drawing criticism Saturday for employing a phrase strongly linked to the Nazi persecution of artists.

Joachim Meisner, the cardinal of Cologne, warned in a sermon at the opening of a museum built on the ruins of Cologne's St. Kolumba Church that it was dangerous to allow art to break away from religion.

"Let us not forget that there is an indisputable connection between culture and religion. Where culture is uncoupled from ... the worship of God, religion becomes moribund in rituals and culture degenerates," he said Friday.

In German the phrase "degenerate art," or "entartete kunst," carries deep associations with the Nazis' attempts to ban artworks. In 1937, they staged an exhibit in Munich called Entartete Kunst, which included 650 artworks confiscated from museums and considered unacceptable.

"Meisner ... is a notorious spiritual firebrand who tries not just to test the boundaries of what is allowed, but to deliberately overstep them," said Stephan Kramer, a leader in Germany's Central Council of Jews. Germany's main Jewish group.

Meisner was one of three German bishops who compared the barrier in the West Bank to the Berlin Wall. He also recently criticized the taste of a leading artist who designed stained glass windows for Cologne Cathedral.

[Last modified September 15, 2007, 23:40:40]