Sunday 5 August 2007

Edinburgh Fringe satirists aim their fire at Christian right

(Ed: The best motivation I've had yet to write part two of my series on the need for a new right-wing politic.)

We have nothing to fear from al-Qa'ida. Christian fundamentalists are the real extremist threat. That's the message from the writers of a new play being shown at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival.

Cash in Christ, a sing-along play satirising the modern capitalist "mega- church", is arguably one of the most controversial productions in a Fringe with the largest satirical content in living memory.

Other offerings this year include Jihad: The Musical, Tony Blair – The Musical, and others centred on the porn film Debbie Does Dallas, orgasms, Asbos and thoughts of BNP members.

Cash in Christ is so controversial it had to be passed by three lawyers before it could be performed at a festival in Australia. Read more

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now, now - if you're going to satirise anyone's beliefs, the Jews and Christians are safe bets. Rather like the "daring" art of Gilbert and George (in reality infantile and hackneyed) which pillorises Christianity - genuinely brave artists would be examining Islam, but, as we know, that's genuinely dangerous. A few weeks before September 11th 2001, the Observer ran a piece arguing how the abolition of Christianity would make the world a better place. That they would not DARE to write the same about Islam even AFTER 9/11 evidences the lack of courage of the media elite.

Anonymous said...

Fern, you're quite right. I mean what a dangerous place the world would be if all these Christian fundies were going round turning the other cheak all over the place!

That's not to say that the Christian far right in the USA is without it's problems, but Christianity is very self critical, even within it's various sub-groups. For the writer to say we get away without criticism makes you wonder if he has been living in a cave on Mars for some time.