You just couldn't make this stuff up!

Can it get any crazier in the modern church? It appears a German Protestant youth group has undertaken a fundraising tactic that boggles the mind. I'll let the India Times explain:

A German Protestant youth group has put together a 2006 calendar with 12 staged photos depicting erotic scenes from the Bible, including a bare-breasted Delilah cutting Samson's hair and a nude Eve offering an apple.

"There's a whole range of biblical scriptures simply bursting with eroticism," said Stefan Wiest, the 32-year-old photographer who took the titillating pictures.

Anne Rohmer, 21, poses on a doorstep in garters and stockings as the prostitute Rahab, who is mentioned in both New and Old Testaments. "We wanted to represent the Bible in a different way and to interest young people," she told Reuters. "Anyway, it doesn't say anywhere in the Bible that you are forbidden to show yourself nude."

Bernd Grasser, pastor of the church in Nuremberg where the calendar is being sold, was enthusiastic about the project "It's just wonderful when teenagers commit themselves with their hair and their skin to the bible," he said.

Sadly, this group isn't the first, as you can see from these stories from the BBC:

1. Assistant curate John Buchanan, of Holy Trinity Church, Barsham, hopes to raise £90,000 for the organ restoration fund by posing nude for a calendar. Assistant curate Buchanan said: "I recall that he (God) was wandering in the garden of Eden talking to two people who were starkers."

2. A Gloucestershire vicar is lending his support to a nude calendar by displaying the images in his church. The Rev Stephen Earley from St Martins in Horsley, launched 'Exposed 2005' after a service on Sunday commemorating the genocide in Rwanda, Africa.
   
   
3. The stars of a calendar featuring semi-naked builders in stages of undress, along with "spiritual words" underneath, produced to raise cash for a north Cornwall parish, have defended their vicar from criticism. Reverend Christine Musser, 48, who took over the seaside parish of Boscastle last year, revealed on Wednesday that she had received letters calling for her to resign after backing the calendar. Calendar producer Raymond Rogers praised the bravery of Mrs Musser, who appears on the front of the calendar backed by partially-clothed local builders. He said: "It was our idea to raise money for the parish. There's no way we would do anything to embarrass the Church." Rev Musser said: "Nudity and the Church are not traditionally linked, but to my mind, it was a group of guys who don't come to church, but are very much part of the community who wanted to show their support for their community church. How could I not support them?"
   
   
4. Male members of a cathedral choir have stripped off for the second year running to produce a saucy calendar for charity. The "Heavenly Hunks" of Portsmouth Cathedral Choir Association are back by popular demand, according to the group. David Price, 33, organist and master of choristers, stripped to the waist in front of the organ pipes. "It is a refreshing story about the Church of England and a great example of some young guys doing something fun because of their membership of the church and of Portsmouth Cathedral Choir." The Bishop of Portsmouth, The Right Reverend Kenneth Stevenson, said: "I support anything that involves young people having fun as part of the church and congratulate these lads who have bared more than their souls to raise money for these charities."