No church for orgasms

Swedish high court upholds official rejection of 'Madonna of Orgasm' as worshipable religion. 

  • Art or pornography? - ”The Madonna of Orgasm,” Madonna oil painting by Carlos Bebeacua
  • Taking the legal position that an orgasm is not divine, Sweden's supreme court denied the ”Church of the Madonna of Orgasm” recognition as a legitimate faith community in the nation.

  • Carlos Bebeacua, artist extraordinaire, now defrocked church of orgasm priest.
  • The church is the religious organization founded by Carlos Bebeacua, who presents himself as a cardinal and espouses the belief that an orgasm should be worshiped. Born in Uruguay in 1954, Bebeacua moved to Sweden after college, whereupon he gained popularity for outdoor environment art, action and event art, graffiti and similar expressions. Today, he lives in the small village of Lövestad in Sweden's southernmost province, Skåne, where the headquarters of his religious movement has also been located.

  • In the Danish Pavilion at the Expo 1992 in Seville, Spain, Bebeacua painted ”The Madonna of Orgasm,” which Spanish authorities censured on the grounds that it was pornographic. Protests and publicity resulted in launching his church in 1996.

  • Arguing that the word "Madonna" does not mean Jesus' mother, Beceacua had obtained spiritual support, among others, from the local Lutheran parish priest. After an overturned ruling in Stockholm's court was subsequently referred to the supreme court, where the unappealable rejection as an official religion in Sweden was upheld.