Is the topic and imagery of Jesus Christ's crucifixion too graphic to discuss with children? Too graphic for main forums? Inappropriate?

Personally, I would hope so.

I remember once, when travelling in Florence, I wandered into the cloisters of a medieval nunnery.
I chanced on an 18th century bronze statue of a woman crucified with ropes on a cross -


It was similar to this image, except the figure was completely naked.

I was shocked to the point of nauseous at the sight of it.

It made me realise how desensitised I'd become to the sight of Christ's Crucifixion.
And the odd part about that is that I grew up in an atheist household where there were no such images.
I had to have seen it only in passing in art textbooks and old films on TV.

To be desensitised does not seem to me like a good thing.

Interestingly enough, a short (let's say 15 second film of a happily married couple) engaging in sexual intercourse by which they show their love for each other, heal each other, forgive each other, and make life worth living for each other (why, incidentally, the Catholic Church calls it a "Sacrament," i.e., a sign instituted by Christ to give grace) may well engender a more disturbing reaction in the short term than visuals of the suffering and death of Christ.

So I think whether it is "too graphic" or "inappropriate" depends on the audience and the reason and perhaps whether there is an appropriate "heads up" to those who are about to see what is to be presented.

Personally, aside from meditation purposes, I am sufficiently aware of the "details" of the passion and death of Christ.

As to the 15 second film, I don't have to watch it---I can easily be a participant in the real action it reveals.

Edit---replaced two words This post was edited by tom jackson at July 17, 2019 11:12 AM MDT

We have a diverse group of people—a community. Each person has a unique background and preferences. Now, in everyday life, people take that into account before they speak. We generally don’t go into the office and talk about our drunken binges or debaucheries. We don’t curse like sailors in front of our grandparents and elders. True, some of us do, but these are examples of how most of us segment our content for the audience we have.

Online, it’s harder to see who the audience is, but they’re there none the less. And, in order to facilitate discussions and hopefully make everyone comfortable here, we ask you to segment your content for the audience. That means you keep the general areas clean and save the more colorful stuff for venues like adultMug and Free-for-All. If you aren’t sure if what you want to post is appropriate for a general audience (we use PG-13 as a general guideline because most people can identify with it), then don’t post it in a general area. If you have to stop and consider whether something would be allowed or not, chances are, it will be removed.

It’s impossible to write policies which cover every possible circumstance. No site has that. Not even the Goliaths like Facebook. Every site has moderators, and sometimes, the moderators have to make judgement calls. It’s a fact of life. The best way to avoid having your content become a judgement call is to be mindful when you post—either don’t post questionable content or put it someplace where it’s going to be allowed regardless.

You have all made the choice to be here and that’s no small thing. I love the diversity of our community and appreciate that there are so many opinions, cultures, and backgrounds represented here. I’d like to keep it that way and I hope you guys feel the same. Let’s be considerate and take personal ownership for what we post—keep the colorful and questionable stuff out of the main sections.

Is the image you posted acceptable here? Yes. Is it possible a more graphic image would be removed? Also yes. Again, if you question if it would be allowed, it's better not to post it. 

Properly done, I am pretty sure most young children can accept that long, long ago people were executed in horrible ways, and crucifixion was one. It's not the fact of the execution that's the problem, but how graphic the illustrations. Church and religious book images tend to be a bit sanitised, and for one thing allow Jesus to wear a loincloth, but children do have good imaginations and would soon realise it is a terrible way to die.

I do not accept going too far and giving merely gratuitous horror-pictures, not because it might frighten children because it might lead to them accepting gratuitous violence is somehow normal: they see and hear enough in the news and films.

The history-books I remember when I was about 10, in primary-school, showed some pretty gruesome torture and execution scenes, courtesy of contemporary wood-cuts. I do not recall nightmares from them; but they did fuel a salacious fascination for the subject. Luckily I grew out of that in my teens, perhaps when I began to learn of similarly cruel atrocities in our own times.


Something other contributions to this thread show, is rather darker aspect: hypocracy and censorship for dubious motives.

If you are going to teach children the story of Jesus, even just to understand the faith irrespective of your or their actually believing in it, you cannot avoid the Crucifixion, and you must answer their questions directly and honestly - but only you can judge the level of detail and understanding appropriate to your audience at the time. Children are more analytical than many adults think, and soon spot cant and evasion. They have their adult lives to come, in which to lose analytical skills and gain those of evasion and self-interest.

It's not for the would-be censors and self-righteous to tell you - they are acting only for themselves.