Fundamentalists lobby against Python musical

Fundamentalist Christians are boasting that they forced a national radio station to drop a campaign promoting Eric Idle's ‘blasphemous' Monty Python oratorio Not The Messiah.

Stephen Green’s hardline Christian Voice group said they deluged Classic FM with complaints about a competition to win tickets to a screening of the production, based on Monty Python's Life Of Brian.

The campaigners – which previously led a bitter protest against Jerry Springer: The Opera – called the musical 'a militant atheist production' that 'blasphemes the Christian doctrines of the awesomeness of God and depravity of man'.

Like the original film, the show revolves around Brian, who is mistaken for the Messiah. It was staged at London's Royal Albert Hall last year, and screened in cinemas last Thursday.

Last weekend. Classic FM, which attracts 5.5 million listeners, advertised a competition to win tickets to the screening both on air and online – but the campaign ended on Monday, after Green's intervention.

Green said: 'I congratulate Classic FM's Managing Director Darren Henley on doing the right thing and ending all reference to this divisive and offensive event on the radio station and website.

'I am also pleased that Christian Voice was able to play a small part in explaining to Mr Henley the offence caused by the station's promotion of Eric Idle's atheist rant.

'We give all the praise to God for the change of heart at Classic FM and we hope and pray they will be more discerning in future.'

Green also sneered: 'The trailers for Not The Messiah show that it is not particularly good and going to it will probably be an evening wasted. It seems to have been something of a vanity production for Idle, a bit like the young man who hires the Albert Hall so he can give a concert where he plays or sings less than convincingly.’

Green was concerned, for example, that in a nativity scene that the shepherds 'instead of glorifying God, ask "is it AD yet?" and sing about how much they love sheep'.

Classic FM played down Christian Voice's influence, saying the campaign had been due to end at the weekend anyway.

The film was accused of blasphemy on its 1979 release, with several local councils using their powers to ban it and Mary Whitehouse leading a campaign of pickets at cinemas that did show it.

In New York, screenings were picketed by both rabbis and nuns. It was also banned for eight years in Ireland and for a year in Norway. The Pythons argued that it was not blasphemous as Brian is clearly not Christ, but someone wrongly followed as a Messiah.

Idle does not believe in God and recently contributed to the book The Atheists' Guide To Christmas.

Click here to read Chortle's review of the Albert Hall show.

Published: 27 Mar 2010