Bruxy Cavey wanted a tattoo. It wasn’t to express love for a family member or friend or to commemorate a special moment. He wanted a tattoo to spur religious debate. After mulling over various verses from the Bible, the evangelical pastor at the Meeting House, a megachurch based in Oakville, Ontario, got “Leviticus 19:28” inked along his left inner forearm—the Old Testament verse that forbids tattoos.
Cavey showed off his arm art when he preached in front of a crowd in 2017. The attendees laughed and cheered at the irony of it all. “A fantastic conversation starter about Jesus!” he said. For him, the tattoo encapsulated the “good news” he had been teaching congregants for decades: that Jesus came to Earth to make the old rules obsolete, that Jesus came to save humanity not only from sin but from religion itself. His tattoo, and Cavey himself, was giving religion the finger.
