behzti, jerry springer and christian voice...

[bananabrain]

i don't know if any of you saw that "dispatches" the other night, called "holy offensive" on channel 4. it was very interesting, but what particularly intrigued me was the statement (i think it was by the producer of "behzti", the play which was forced offstage by extremists in the sikh community) that liberals are now being forced to choose between two fundamentals of their creed, free speech and cultural sensitivity - and he wondered which would win.

http://www.channel4.com/culture/micr...offensive.html

issues discussed were the current new legislation to outlaw religious discrimination, which is annoying rowan atkinson so much because he thinks he won't be able to play comedy vicars any more (hah!), the "satanic verses", the "behzti" controversy and the furore over "jerry springer - the opera", which appears to have given a platform to this rather scary group, "christian voice", who appear to be employing the tactics of sikh extremists with the rhetoric of omar bakri muhammad.

what do other people think about these new developments? do you find them disturbing? do you think religious discrimination legislation is necessary or dangerous? how about the free speech/cultural sensitivity problem? are christians and christianity "fair game" in a way that muslims and sikhs are not? or do you feel that any religion worth its salt ought to be able to stand up for itself to questioning?

one thing i don't understand is precisely why the author of behzti, who is a religious sikh, felt it necessary that the rapes and so on in the play should occur within the gurdwara. i just don't see the dramatic necessity for it, which i find very vexing and confusing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...io/4154071.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ts/4170297.stm

b'shalom

bananabrain