Biblical Babes Bare All in HIS Name

The creators said they wanted to appeal to a younger generation
A German Protestant youth group has put together a 2006 calendar illustrated with erotic scenes from the Bible.
The 12 re-enacted passages feature a bare-breasted Delilah cutting Samson's hair and a nude Eve offering an apple.

The Nuremberg-based group said they wanted to represent the Bible in a way that would entice young people.

Nuremberg pastor Bernd Grasser said: "It's just wonderful when teenagers commit themselves with their hair and their skin to the bible."

"There's a whole range of biblical scriptures simply bursting with eroticism," said Stefan Wiest, 32, who took the racy photographs.
Wiest, spokesman for the Katzwang Evangelical Youth group, went on to say: "We wanted to bring old religious paintings to today's people by translating them in a contemporary context. "We did not intend to cause any provocation and have received more positive responses that negative."

Anne Rohmer, 21, wearing garters and stockings, posed on a doorstep as the prostitute Rahab.

"We wanted to represent the Bible in a different way and to interest young people," she told news agency Reuters.

"Anyway, it doesn't say anywhere in the Bible that you are forbidden to show yourself nude."

Rev. Grasser is pastor of the church in Nuremberg where the calendar is being sold and he said he was supportive of the project.

The calendar, on sale for £8 in the Katzwanger church in Nuremburg, contains photos such as a naked Eve holding an apple between her breasts for Adam. Another month shows a topless Delilah cutting the hair of a sleeping Sampson.

Other pictures portray the baptism of Jesus, Lot's daughters, the dance of Salome and the sacrifice of Isaac - many involving nudity.

Mr Wiest added that most of the criticism has come from the USA but said it has not slowed sales since the release: "Our first 200 have already sold out and we are printing another 300 today to meet demand."

But the feedback page on the group's website has been taken down due to the number of comments the calendar has caused.

Winfried Roehmel, a spokesman for the region's Catholic archdiocese, said: "It is not acceptable to pose naked in a church. The right way to approach the Holy Scriptures is not by pulling your pants down."