The huge ad erected in Auckland shows the unhappy couple in bed accompanied by the slogan: "Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow."
In the fresco-style work, Joseph looks down red-faced while an anguished Mary looks to the heavens.
The billboard, which has been vandalised by angry Christians who say it is blasphemous, was erected by progressive Christian church, St Matthew's Rev Glynn Cardy.
Its vicar, Archdeacon Glynn Cardy, said it was a cutting-edge strategy to engage non-believers. [It is humourus at least]
"Progressive Christianity is distinctive in that not only does it articulate a clear view, it is also interested in engaging with those who differ. [Traditional religion doesnt have a clear view either, it's just that they are convinced by themselves that they do]
"Its vision is one of robust engagement."
But the city's Catholic diocese said the implication that Mary and Joseph had just had sex was "disrespectful" and "offensive" to Christians.
Spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer said it was particularly inappropriate given the inference was wrong.
"Our Christian tradition of 2,000 years is that Mary remains a virgin and that Jesus is the son of God, not Joseph," she said.
But statistics show New Zealanders may need such edgy advertising to help spark interest in religion.
The 2006 Census showed that 32.2% - or 1.3 million Kiwis - profess to have no religion, an increase of 270,000 on the previous survey.
A recent atheist fundraising campaign to put controversial "No God" posters on buses was overwhelmed with donations.
Organiser Simon Fisher said the campaign, which mimics one that ran in Britain, was designed to break religious taboos.
"Religion should not be a taboo subject that no one brings up at dinner parties," he wrote on the NZ Atheist Bus website
Ah at last religion attempting to be rational. I will sleep contentedly tonight.
