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The Naked Cowboy

The Naked Cowboy is a fixture around Times Square, New York.  His chosen means of making money is to appear in public dressed in cowboy hat and boots, a pair of jockey shorts, and a strategically placed guitar that makes it appear from the front that he is naked behind the guitar.  I don't know whether he is a busker who accepts donations for singing or whether he charges tourists for pictures taken with him.

Recently, Hillsong, New York, hosted a large women's conference with an "I Love New York" theme.  During the event, a youth pastor from Hillsong dressed up as the Naked Cowboy and appeared on stage.  So . . . during a ladies' event a youth pastor from the biggest megachurch in New York appeared on stage in church wearing nothing but a tight pair of briefs, cowboy hat, boots and guitar. 

If that were all there was to the story, it would certainly be enough to cause raised eyebrows.  A Christian women's conference with the equivalent of a male stripper on stage is certainly questionable enough.  However, that is only the beginning of this strange saga.

Robert Burck is the real Naked Cowboy.  He also holds all the trademark and licensing rights to the name "Naked Cowboy" and to all uses of the image.  Hillsong, of course violated those rights when they dressed up their youth pastor as the Naked Cowboy.  Now there is no information about whether the real Naked Cowboy intends to sue Hillsong for violating his copyright, but the information available is even stranger.

This is what his lawyer posted about Hillsong's violation:

"Mr. Burck is an Ordained Minister and would NEVER attend church in the house of the Lord in his Trade Dress and is EXTREMELY offended by this activity due to his deep Christian beliefs and respect for the process of gathering in the name of Jesus Christ and in the presence of God to worship and praise the Holy Father."

Wow. Where do you even go with this?  A man who says he is a committed Christian and makes his living by strutting about in his underwear is offended by a church that had an imitation of him strutting around on the church platform.  There is no winner here.  Neither side has any clue whatsoever about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

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