Christians Protest over spoof Jerry Springer show

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Dear friends

I put this in the spirituality thread and on reflection it was the wrong place, maybe this is the right place for this posting.

BBC Braced for ‘Jerry Springer’ Backlash

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The BBC was bracing itself for further criticism today as it prepared to screen the controversial Jerry Springer musical.

Critics have complained that the show, to be shown uncut on BBC2 tonight, features more than 8,000 swearwords and portrays Jesus in a nappy admitting he is "a bit gay’’.

The decision to broadcast Jerry Springer - The Opera has sparked a record 7,361 complaints to TV watchdogs and protesters have burned symbolic TV licences over the issue.

The previous record holder for complaints, Martin Scorsese’s film The Last Temptation of Christ, sparked just 1,554 when it was shown on TV in 1995.

The leader of the Christian People’s Alliance Party, Cllr Alan Craig, called for the suspension of BBC2 controller Roly Keating and an investigation into why the programme had been deemed suitable for broadcast.

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    Yesterday BBC director general Mark Thompson defended the move, saying that as a practising Christian he found nothing in the show that he believed to be blasphemous.

    He said viewers would be warned that the West End musical contained strong language.

    Mr Thompson said: "It’s going out at 10pm, one hour after the watershed, and on BBC2 not BBC1.

    "An hour-long programme is going out in front of it, putting it into context, and making it very, very clear to the public that it does include a great deal of strong language.’’

    Protesters gathered outside the BBC’s Television Centre in west London yesterday in an attempt to persuade the corporation, which has received more than 30,000 calls and letters over the issue, to scrap the musical.

    TV lobby group Mediawatch-UK has written to BBC chairman Michael Grade claiming the show breached the corporation’s guidelines on respecting religious sensibilities.

    But the National Secular Society has urged the BBC to stand firm against "religious bullies’’.

    The show will form the centrepiece of Jerry Springer Night on BBC2.

    The opera, still playing to packed houses in the West End, contains a total of 3,168 ‘f’-words and 297 ‘c’-words.

    The expletive-laden songs - including Pregnant By A Transsexual and Here Come The Hookers - are sung by the lead cast members and the 27-strong chorus.

    The total number of obscenities is calculated by multiplying the number of swearwords by the number of people singing them.
 
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Roses:
BBC Braced for ‘Jerry Springer’ Backlash
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The BBC does what IT wants. It answers to no-one.
Its a sad fact of British life that every household with a TV has to pay money to the BBC.
I wonder how many people will watch it though. BBC2 is not exactly a big audience grabber (maybe thats why they’re showing it).
So to me its pretty simple - if you think you won’t like it, don’t watch it.
But to be fair, the BBC did axe plans for a vatican comedy (or something - can’t remember exactly).
I wonder what the reaction would be like if the BBC aired a show which suggested that Mohammed was a bit gay?
 
I started a similar thread a few days ago forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=30654

I e-mailed the BBC and got an e-mail back saying they had aknowledged my complaint, but it is still being aired on T.V. :mad:

Although it is titled Jerry Springer The Opera, Jerry Springer does not appear in the play; The character Jerry Springer is played by David Soul.

Yours in the Spirit

Pious
 
I wonder why they don’t make fun of Buddha or Mohammed?
 
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Lilyofthevalley:
I wonder why they don’t make fun of Buddha or Mohammed?
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Jesus is regarded as a prophet who is very highly esteemed by Muslims so all those suggesting that the BBC would not dare insult Muslim belief’s while referring to a programme that does just that are simply demonstrating their own ignorance.

For the record my faith as a Catholic is likely to remain undisturbed by this broadcast which I now intend to watch. Thanks to everyone who drew it to my attention since I missed it when it first appeared here in the festival a couple of summers ago.
 
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Lilyofthevalley:
I wonder why they don’t make fun of Buddha or Mohammed?
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Dear Lily

I have noticed in the media an increased and formidable onslaught against Christianity. It’s not my imagination and it is all pointed towards hatred and defamation of Christ Jesus.

On the BBC they had on Christmas day night, a programme , ‘Who Wrote the Bible’ which was all designed to cast doubt and ridicule towards Christians. There was on our UK Channel 4 last night Derren Brown show which also did the very same thing to Christianity. There has over the last few months been numerous programmes and written material all designed to stir up hatred and ridicule against Christianity and Christians.

The show I mentioned and I am sorry to duplicate anyone else’s thread… is about to air here and I am going to watch it and then I am going to write a letter to my Minister of Parliament because in this country the MP’s intend to pass a law stopping anyone from religious hatred and I wish as an ex lawyer to raise a case against the bbc in this respect. How this will conflict with the freedom of speech act I do not know, but I am going to give a good shot as no-one is allowed these days to be racist and use racist language , so therefore no-one should be allowed to be ‘religionist’ and use ‘religionist’ language surely???

God bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
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Lilyofthevalley:
I wonder why they don’t make fun of Buddha or Mohammed?
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If you make fun of Mohammed, you end up dead. Next question. (not saying that is good or bad, just fact.)
 
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gilliam:
If you make fun of Mohammed, you end up dead. Next question. (not saying that is good or bad, just fact.)
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Dear friend

My boyfriend is Muslim and you are gravely mistaken. Not only that but he has great respect for my faith as a Catholic and supports and encourages me in my faith as I do in his. Your intolerance of religious differences is not only appalling but is also the stuff of conflict and of wars.

God bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
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Roses:
Dear friend

My boyfriend is Muslim and you are gravely mistaken. Not only that but he has great respect for my faith as a Catholic and supports and encourages me in my faith as I do in his. Your intolerance of religious differences is not only appalling but is also the stuff of conflict and of wars.

God bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
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You misunderstand. Probably my fault.

I have great tolerance of religious differences. Just stating a fact that there are Muslims in all countries who will kill anyone who makes fun of Mohammed, especially with something as public as a movie or play. Ask your boyfriend. It is a great offense, and some take the command to revenge it very seriously. Look at what happened to the author of the Satanic Verses and he wasn’t making fun of Mohammed.

Again, I am not passing judgement on whether that action is good or bad, just stating the fact of life.

The original question was why don’t people make fun of Buddha or Mohammed. I was addressing that original question.

Pax.
 
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Matt25:
Jesus is regarded as a prophet who is very highly esteemed by Muslims so all those suggesting that the BBC would not dare insult Muslim belief’s while referring to a programme that does just that are simply demonstrating their own ignorance.
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Thanks for pointing this out, Matt25.

It’s worth pointing out that when the digusting play “Corpus Christi,” which depicted Jesus as “King of the Queers,” the homosexual lover of Judas, began it’s run in London, the Muslim community of England was instrumental in having that play shut down within one week.

The same play ran for weeks in NYC.

People should be paying attention to where these horrible blasphemous movies and plays, these attacks on our faith, are coming from. These movies are not coming from Iraq or Palestine, they are coming from Hollywood and Broadway. This is not an Islamic threat. It is, in large part, a Jewish one.

Americans obssess a great deal over the physical threats of terrorism, but what of the threat to their minds and faith?

To the eternal souls of Christians, which is the greater threat?
 
If this is true…then why do they support murdering innocent women and children? Honestly…if they accept Jesus…why are they a bunch of murdering zealots?
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Matt25:
Jesus is regarded as a prophet who is very highly esteemed by Muslims so all those suggesting that the BBC would not dare insult Muslim belief’s while referring to a programme that does just that are simply demonstrating their own ignorance.

.
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St. James:
Thanks for pointing this out, Matt25.

It’s worth pointing out that when the digusting play “Corpus Christi,” which depicted Jesus as “King of the Queers,” the homosexual lover of Judas, began it’s run in London, the Muslim community of England was instrumental in having that play shut down within one week.
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Good for them!
 
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Matt25:
Jesus is regarded as a prophet who is very highly esteemed by Muslims
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gilliam:
No where near as highly esteemed as Mohammed.
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Jesus is certainly held in higher regard by Muslims than He is by Orthodox Judaics.
 
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dumspirospero:
If this is true…then why do they support murdering innocent women and children? Honestly…if they accept Jesus…why are they a bunch of murdering zealots?
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By they do you mean the entire Muslim population of the world?
 
Having just watched the opera I can now safely say that what Jerry Springer ths Opera is is a satire on modern american society and television. Jesus, Mary and God are clearly presented as fantasies in the mind of a dying Jerry Springer. He see’s himself as playing a Godlike role in the lives of his viewers. Its a bit of an echo of John Lennons’ remark in the 60’s that for some young people the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. It was both offensive and true.
Truth hurts sometimes you know.
 
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Pious:
I
Although it is titled Jerry Springer The Opera, Jerry Springer does not appear in the play; The character Jerry Springer is played by David Soul.
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SPRINGER SHOW GOES AHEADBBC executives were tonight under guard after the controversial show Jerry Springer - The Opera was aired on BBC2.**

The corporation said it had received threats from individuals who objected to the programme’s “blasphemous” content.

It is believed Roly Keating, the controller of BBC2, and Jana Bennett, the director of television, are among those who have been given private security guard protection.**

A BBC spokesman said executives’ families had been subjected to “a large number of abusive and unpleasant calls”.**

Private telephone numbers of those concerned were posted on a campaign group’s website, which was later taken down following legal action by the Beeb.**

The corporation refused to bow to religious groups which had demanded the show not be aired.**

A record number of complaints, 40,000, were made prior to the show going out.**

Critics say the opera features more than 8,000 swearwords and portrays Jesus in a nappy admitting he is “a bit gay”.****

Tory deputy leader Michael Ancram joined the criticism.****

He said: “You can choose to go to the theatre, you can decide that you want to pay a sum of money to go to see something. That is where you go to see freedom of expression.”****

But BBC director general Mark Thompson said that as a practising Christian he found nothing in the show that he believed to be blasphemous.****

“An hour-long programme is going out in front of it, putting it into context, and making it very, very clear to the public that it does include a great deal of strong language,” he said.****

The opera, which plays to packed houses in the West End, contains a total of 3,168 “f”-words and 297 “c”-words.****

The total number of obscenities is calculated by multiplying the number of swearwords by the number of people singing them.****

Prayer group Christian Voice held a vigil outside BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, west London.
sky.com/skynews/article/0,30000-13279769,00.html
 
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Lilyofthevalley:
I wonder why they don’t make fun of Buddha or Mohammed?
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I see the Buddha being made fun of a lot. But I might have noticed because of my Buddhist roots. The big, round, rub the Buddha’s belly comes to mind. Also, for some time there was a show called Dharma & Greg which portrayed the American Buddhist as somewhat of an overly optomistic airhead who butted into everyone’s business, and her parents as pagan leftovers from the hippy days.

Mohammed, on the other hand, I guess wouldn’t be considered pc and would offend too many people. There’d probably also be an uproar from the left about how insensitive such a program is.
 
I saw this show on stage a couple months ago and was I was somewhat suprised to hear it would be on television. While I realize that it is a satire, the content- especially the second half when Jesus comes out in a diaper and Mary is portrayed as a less than viturous teenage mother- was so repulsive I almost left the theatre. Maybe I should have, I don’t know. What I do know is that most west end shows, films, and plays do not bother me and this one had me squirming in my chair.

What’s happened has happened, British TV will always be less politically correct that American TV, but what I can say is: if this show comes to a theatre near you, don’t waste your $$ or ££ on it!
 
Now heres a novel thought.

Has it occured to anyone that the Church, Catholic or otherwise needs such programmes as this.
The Church in ancient times thrived on adversity, it was as much the opposition to the the early Church as the belief within the Church that formed it into what it became. Whether it was from the abuse Christians suffered for having a faith contrary to everyone else or the horific fate that awaited some of them because of their convictions. It was this that bound the Church together and gave it strength.
Throughout all those times the Church did not lash out at its persecutors, it did not wage “Holy War”, it turned to itself; it turned to God and it prayed. It was the very adversity that we now see that gave the Church the strength it now has.
Programmes like this, and all the other tribulations of the world only serve Gods word, when you look at the number of people who have condemned this showing it demonstrates the strength of the Church and the weakness of those who apose it.
It is often said the Holy Spirit acts in misterious ways, well, if this show strengthens the Church, as it would appear to be doing, then we should welcome such things as Gods works. Lets be honest, do you think Jesus or Mary are so small minded as to take any notice of a play on British television. The’ve been the mainstay of our beliefs for two thousand years, I can’t see a one hour play making any difference.
Immerse yourselves in your beliefs, pray for those less fortunate and who believe that this sort on nonsense is entertainment, discourage those who threaten so called “Direct Action” (they are much more dangerous because they work from within the Church) and live your spiritual life outwardly so that all may see how little they can affect you and how much God protects you, maybe not in this world but certainly in the next.
God Bless.
Yours in Christ.
 
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