Canterbury Cathedral is facing sharp criticism after unveiling a graffiti-style art installation dubbed “Hear Us” that is sacrilegious and aesthetically jarring. The display consists of removable sticker graphics with questions addressed to God—phrases like “Are you there?” and “Why did you create hate when love is by far more powerful?”
The cathedral says the project aims to engage “marginalised communities”—including people of color, neurodiverse individuals, and LGBTQIA+ groups—inviting them to handwrite responses to the question, “What would you ask God?” The installation, created by “vegan/queer” poet Alex Vellis (who uses they/them pronouns) and curator Jacquiline Creswell, will run from October 17, 2025, through January 18, 2026.
Critics—including parishioners and public figures—have uniformly denounced the display. Some called it “sacrilegious,” and one remarked that the medieval structure now looks like a “Peckham underground car park.” U.S. Senator Ted Cruz warned that the installation reflects how nations fall when elites embrace “self-destructive pathologies,” while JD Vance commented on the irony of uglifying a historic landmark under the banner of “honoring marginalized communities.”
This episode comes on the heels of the Church of England’s recent announcement that Sarah Mullally will become the first female Archbishop of Canterbury. The installation is yet another example of the church’s increasingly “woke” orientation—prioritizing trendy ideological displays over reverence and tradition.
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