Christians lose blasphemy battle

Victory for Springer opera

A fundamentalist Christian group has lost its battle to prosecute Jerry Springer: The Opera for blasphemy.

Christian Voice had taken its legal fight against BBC director-general Mark Thompson and producer Jon Thoday, of Avalon, to the High Court after being denied a prosecution by a district judge.

But two judges today ruled that the play co-written by comedian Stewart Lee and composer Richard Thomas, could not, in context, be considered ‘blasphemous’.

Judge Anthony Hughes said: ‘The play had been performed regularly in major theatres in London for a period of nearly two years without any sign of it undermining society or occasioning civil strife or unrest. There had been no violence or even demonstrations.’

However, that changed when Christian Voice orchestrated a campaign against the show, which includes scenes with Jesus in a nappy. As a consequence, the BBC received a record 63,000 complaints when the musical was broadcast in January 2005.

Judge Hughes and fellow judge Andrew Collins said the production ‘as a whole was not and could not reasonably be regarded as aimed at, or an attack on, Christianity or what Christians held sacred.’

The last successful prosecution using blasphemy law was brought by Mary Whitehouse in 1977 against Gay News for publishing a poem about a Roman soldier's love for Christ.

Civil liberties group Liberty made a written submission during the Jerry Springer case, which called Britain's blasphemy law outdated and in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights guaranteeing free speech.

Before the case, Christain Voice’s Stephen Green said: ‘There is a ancient law against blasphemy in this land because the law believes it should not occur. It is as simple as that. If artistic people do not where or how to stop as they push against the boundaries of decency, then the law must step in and tell them.’

And he claimed ‘a most odious and wicked blasphemy was perpetrated against Almighty God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Clearly, justice must be done. The holiness of God's name is at the root of this case.’

Here’s Jesus renouncing Satan from the show: