Jerry Springer - the Opera. Not blasphemous?

Both the director of the BBC and the star of the show, David Soul, are practising Christians. Mark Thompson says: "'I am a practising Christian but there is nothing in this which I believe to be blasphemous.'" So what's the problem giving rise to a record number of complaints to the BBC even before the show is aired? Well, apparently: 'Critics have complained that the show features 8,000 swear words and portrays Jesus in a nappy admitting he is a "bit gay".'

My wife got an email from a mutual acqauintance protesting about the show and asking us to pass it on to others. The analogy was made with the recent SIkh protests that in effect closed a show in Birmingham. Tracy wrote a reply saying that we didn't think that censorship was a good way forward.

There has been some hype if this is to be believed: " one of the co-creators of the show, comedian Stewart Lee, said claims about the amount of swearing in the show had been overstated. He said the number of swear words in the show was 451 - 7,549 fewer than the number calculated by pressure group Mediawatch. This he said is because Mediawatch multiplied each utterance of a swear word by the number of people who sang in the chorus in the musical."
And I have to say that I do feel that such a misleading calculation is unworthy of Christian support.

We need to be very careful on the border between telling uncomfortable truths and offensive and provocative communications. We definitly need the right to the former and the cost will be that occasionally we will get the latter. I think that current GB government approach may be the wise one; only prosecuting the latter if it is an incitement to violence or hatred.
MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | Springer show not blasphemous, Thompson says: