by Meagan DeJong

Created on: April 04, 2009   Last Updated: April 05, 2009

No, they are not. It is not against any Christian denomination or Catholic denomination. I will explain why.

This is another instance of cherry-picking information from the Bible, which some Christians like to do quite often. The passage that these "followers" will use to defend themselves that tattoos and body piercings are against Catholic or any Christian denomination is contained in Leviticus. There are several things wrong with this.

First, Leviticus is contained in the Old Testament, otherwise known as the Jewish Torah, or holy book. My first suggestion would be that any Catholic or Christian ask a person of the Jewish faith to interpret Leviticus for them, so that they have a better understanding of the book and stop using it as a tool of persecution. Also related to this is the issue that, although I understand that Catholics and Christians follow the Bible as a whole, Christ-ians means follower of Christ. Christ is not in the Old Testament, therefore, I am surprised that a "follower of Christ" would be so concerned with the writings contained in Leviticus.

I would also like to point out that even though Leviticus is used quite frequently by some Catholics and Christians to explain why God hates homosexuals and apparently, people with tattoos, they are leaving out the rest of Leviticus, which is quite interesting. In Leviticus, there are also rules against wearing cotton and wool on the same day, properly cleansing yourself after menstruation, and even sacrificing birds after certain actions are performed. The punishments for these actions are the same as the others, but I find it interesting that THESE laws are never mentioned, but those that support their agenda of judgment and hatred are spouted incessantly.

The third and final point that I will make is that even if by some stretch of the imagination you could interpret a small portion or verse in the New Testament to mean that tattoos or anything else is against Catholic or Christian teachings, why should that be the focus of your attention, as a follower of Christ? I would imagine that your time would be better spent following Christ- that is, helping the poor, loving your neighbor, and being free of judgment. If the message taken away from the New Testament is something about tattoos, then I would think some self-examination would be in order. Jesus mentions the poor more frequently than any other subject in the New Testament, and so I would think that one would concern themselves with helping the poor, above all else.

Love and acceptance were the main teachings of Christ. It is a shame that some people and some organized religions in general have skewed portions of the Bible to fit their agenda instead of changing themselves to fit the teachings of Christ, loving their neighbor and freeing themselves from judgment.

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