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Woman Claims Spider-Man Sculpture Is A 'Hate Crime Against The Church'

LINCOLN, Neb. (CBS Local) -- A woman in Lincoln, Nebraska, is demanding the city move a 6-foot Spider-Man fiberglass sculpture in front of the Lincoln Children's Zoo, complaining it is "anti-Christian" and "demonic."

The fiberglass sculpture is of Spider-Man's hands in their traditional web-shooting position with two middle fingers touching the palm.

However, in an email to Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird on Friday, the woman insisted it's "a sculpture of two hands open, painted Red & Black, and formed into Devil Horns." She also called the art ugly, perverse and a "hate crime against the church."

City ombudsman Lin Quenzer responded to the concerned woman via email to explain that the Spider-Man hands wasn't devil horns or even a city issue at all.

It's actually one of 50 sculptures installed across the city in the "Serving Hands Lincoln" public art project, which will benefit Campus Life, a ministry of Lincoln Youth for Christ, a nonprofit faith-based community organization.

"The sculpture is most definitely not a devil-related sculpture," Matt Schulte, Campus Life's executive director, told the Lincoln Journal Star. "It clearly has a very playful child-like intent."

The Spider-Man sculpture, along with the others in the collection, will be auctioned in October with two-thirds of the proceeds benefiting Campus Life. The remaining proceeds from each sale will go back to the artist.

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