Thomas Kinkade, of course, is America's greatest living artist; but Jon McNaughton is America's greatest living artist in the medium of Paintings of Jesus Surrounded by Historical Figures and Patriotic American Symbolism. And McNaughton's fighting the scourge of liberalism, again!

The Brigham Young University bookstore, a notorious den of sin and liberalism that infects holy Utah like a cancerous node, decided to pull McNaughton's painting "One Nation Under God" (pictured) from its inventory, due to "negative feedback." Oh? From Satan? Or Stalin? Yes. From liberals. "It's only offensive to people who do not believe the Constitution is divinely inspired," says McNaughton. Now he's so offended that he's yanking all of his prints from the bookstore. That's a mighty blow, considering this actual quote from a BYU spokesperson: "The primary focus of the bookstore is to sell religious art." And McNaughton's beautiful masterpieces were doing boffo biz for BYU!

McNaughton said it was his understanding that BYU would make the decision [on which of his paintings to carry] based on which paintings sold best. By that criteria, he said "One Nation Under God" should have remained at the store. He said store managers told him the print sold so fast during the past 18 months that they could barely keep enough on hand.

Just try to imagine how many copies of this work are hanging on den walls (and—dare we say—dorm walls?) throughout Utah. The BYU bookstore is doing a great job.

[Salt Lake Tribune via Inside Higher Ed]