No one is safe from ridicule these days, even a deity. You put yourself into the limelight, you have to suffer the consequences of being looked at irreverently. This could be cartoons or a musical show, either way, like it or lump it says the media. It comes under the banner of Freedom of Expression and is one value that society is prepared to fight for-strongly. Which is interesting because it looks like certain factions are willing to take them on in the fight, but in different ways.
Being a Christian, I was interested to see that Jerry Springer the Opera was causing such a stir. I couldn't imagine that a pastiche of the downmarket TV show would sustain a Broadway show. Then I heard it was to be screened on TV, allowing my curiousity to be satisfied without having to pay West End theatre prices. I did feel like a Bad Christian because unlike the Good Christians who sent round circular emails saying how outrageous this was and who we should send our letters of protest to at the BBC, I was planning to watch it (well at least some of it). I have to say when push came to shove, Jerry Springer the Opera did not maintain my interest. It was a one joke pony and I decided that my cosy bed was a better option for the evening. I didn't even get to the blasphemy although I had endured a fair amount of swearing!
I had a chance to redeem myself though when JStO did a tour and came to Norwich Theatre Royal. Did I go and join the protesters? I'm afraid, dear reader, I did not. I must confess that I believe...well it's hard to know what I believe...that my God is bigger than ridicule? Maybe it comes down to that, I don't know. From the BBC news site Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said:
"I find it astonishing that Mark Thompson and David Soul [the show's star] claim they are Christians and they can see nothing wrong with Jerry Springer - The Opera.What kind of Christians are the sort of people who find mocking God and Jesus Christ acceptable?"I hang my head in shame. I did not protest, but worse, I really don't believe that protesting about this is something that is a good use of my time or will enlighten people about the true nature of God. My Bad...
Stephen Green goes on to say:
"If this show portrayed Mohammed or Vishnu as homosexual, ridiculous and ineffectual, it would never have seen the light of day."Ah! Now you are getting there! What difference is there between the reactions of Christians and Muslims to blasphemy? Well, there are protests with placards but I'm guessing that's where the similarities end. 150 protesters, some bearing placards calling for senior BBC staff to be sacked, were gathered outside BBC Television Centre on the Saturday night before JStO was screened. I am unsure how many protesters were gathered outside the Danish embassy but it would appear that many of the placards were asking for retribution not resignations.
In the debate about whether the British press should print/publish/broadcast the cartoons, Peter Arnold commented about the BBC news:
"It appears that you are scared of the reaction from Muslims, while you were not concerned about offending Christians when you screened Jerry Springer - The Opera. This is a case of double standards."
Peter Horrocks, the editor of BBC TV News, said there wasn't a direct comparison with the broadcasting of Jerry Springer - The Opera.
"The BBC is not the primary publisher of these cartoons so to some extent it's different from Jerry Springer where the BBC was responsible for commissioning that programme."
I don't know about you but that sounds a little bit like a cop out to me. Maybe if you're white, middle aged and wear a nice knitted cardi you present less of a threat than an irrate, bearded bloke shouting for jihad. And certainly if I were working in the media and wanted to sell newspapers, I think that the "fanatical fundamentalist" stereotype is much more newsworthy. Do Christians need to shake off the "bland" stereotype in order to gain those column inches? Do they want to?
So we come full circle back to Freedom of Expression. I think the sentence "Freedom of Expression as long as it suits us" sums it up for the media. Not sure personally where the line should be drawn but I'm of the opinion God is more concerned at the thousands who die from poverty than some little oiks who think they're proving a very clever point.
