A Western Kentucky man pleaded guilty this week to a federal charge of damaging religious property after admitting to using an ax to chop off the heads of a statue that depicted Jesus and Mary.
Marley R. Taylor, 27, of Hopkinsville, said he destroyed the Italian-sculpted statue, which depicted the Christian biblical figure Mary holding baby Jesus, because he thought people prayed to them as an “act of worship.”
The statue was on display at an unnamed Catholic church. Federal court documents do not indicate where the church was…