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Church Billboard Depicting Donald Trump Mocking Jesus Has Been Stolen

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 04:20 PST, Mar 26, 2016

You just can’t make these stories up. Thieves have stolen a cartoon billboard – featuring Donald Trump and Jesus – posted outside The Community of Saint Luke church in Auckland, New Zealand.

The billboard features a cartoon depicting Presidential candidate Donald Trump mocking Jesus on the cross, with a speech bubble reading, “I don’t like losers.” From the image, with The Donald shown to be holding a large mallet in his hand, it also appears Trump himself put Jesus up there.

As reported by Stuff.co.nz, the sign was apparently stolen during the day on Good Friday while the Rev. Glynn Cardy was inside the church conducting a funeral. However, officials at the church are not sure if the sign was taken out of spite or because the thief or thieves admired the message it imparts.

While the sign appears shocking, – and rather surprising when considering its location – reportedly, the church said in a statement that the message was intended to show that the “values and views of people like Mr. Trump are completely at odds with those of Jesus.”

Newstalk ZB quotes Peter Lineham, Professor of History at Massey University, as saying it shouldn’t have been easy for someone to miss the satire in the billboard and get offended by it.

“So actually of course the poster is saying that this is the whole paradox of Christianity, that it follows a religion of a person that does look like a failure.”

According to Lineham, it’s possible the sign was taken by a religiously motivated group or individual that might be offended by the fact the image depicts Jesus.

Cardy himself was disappointed at the theft, saying, “It is disappointing that someone decided to break the law and steal something that was stimulating a meaningful discussion in our community about the meaning of Easter.”

Not to be outdone, however, The Community of Saint Luke is planning to erect a new version of the billboard after church on Easter Sunday. They have plans to keep up with the message throughout Donald Trump’s campaign.

According to The Blaze, they reported earlier this month that Cardy had taken offense to Donald Trump’s comments about Mexicans, woman and Muslims. Reportedly Cardy said the billboard was intended to take aim at Trump’s habits of name-calling, which he considers run counter to the biblical narrative.

Cardy added that some people don’t like the billboard simply because they like Donald Trump. Others don’t like the inference that Jesus was a loser.

By posting the billboard, Cardy says they are referring to how Jesus Christ “sided with minorities and those who were most vulnerable” which is what resulted in him being killed.

“For those of us at St. Luke’s, the cross is about politics. Jesus was killed – violently, publicly and shamefully – because he spoke truth to power and confronted the leaders of his day about their treatment of the outcasts.”

He carried on by saying, “To the Trumps of his day, and to those who see winners as having money and power, the Jesus of the Bible was a loser who associated with those rejected by society. And he died broke.”

This isn’t the first time someone in a foreign country has made a statement against Trump. The Inquisitr reported recently that residents of Mexico City will be burning a paper mache effigy of The Donald over the Easter weekend, in lieu of Judas Iscariot, pictured below.

As can be seen by a search on Twitter, there’s also another controversial billboard featuring Donald Trump out there.

In that particular case, no one is sure whether the person who installed the billboard actually meant to hang it upside down.

[Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images]

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