‘Anti-Christ’ play gets judge’s nod

refused to sign an interim ruling prohibiting the opening of the show.
Judge Magali Bouvier decided not to “destroy a work of art” which, she wrote, will only be seen by a few hundred spectators at the “Théâtre du Rond-Point” on the Parisian Champs-Elysées, regardless of its offensive content and messages of hate against all Christians.
An emergency proceeding was introduced on these grounds a few weeks ago by the French and Christian rights defence group, AGRIF. In French law, emergency proceedings are intended to put a stop to situations which “disrupt the public order”.
AGRIF’s counsel argued that the showing of “Golgota Picnic” would do that on several counts.
The play’s Hispano-Argentian author, Rodrigo Garcia, expresses hatred towards Christ throughout the play, accusing centuries of Christian art of being directly responsible for sex abuse of minors by priests and religious, violence, and more generally all that is wrong with the world.
Christ Himself is portrayed as a selfish, antisocial fraud and covered with verbal abuse calling him a “devil whore” or the “messiah of Aids”.
The play visually attacks Christians’ central, treasured beliefs about all things related to the Crucifixion. Hundreds of bread burgers cover the scene in a parody of the Multiplication of the Loaves; the actors, five male, one female, repeatedly mock the Crucifixion while endlessly reciting rambling prose, then sing and dance the last words of Christ to strident guitar music.
The AGRIF, one of whose objects is to combat pornography and to protect the dignity of women and children, argued that some scenes in the play constitute “sexual exhibition” which is prohibited by law, and should at the very least justify banning “Golgota Picnic” from being shown to minors under eighteen.
French law does not prohibit blasphemy, but it does affirm all believers’ right to freedom of religion and to the respect of their beliefs.
AGRIF argued that “Golgota Picnic” violently disregards this right and adds incitement to hate against Christians by its repeated desecrations of Christian beliefs and its central figure Jesus Christ.
Emphasising that these actions are subject to prosecution under the law, the AGRIF asked that the most objectionable passages of the show be scrapped and that its name, which the group called an insult to believing Christians, be replaced by a less provocative title.
All the demands of the AGRIF were rejected by judge Magali Bouvier, who openly disregarded the unanimous reactions of the French episcopate against “Golgota Picnic.”
Bouvier quoted admiring lines from the progressive Catholic newspaper La Croix to justify Rodrigo Garcia’s artistic portrayal of his “doubts and interrogations” about the God he feared as a young boy in Argentina.
The judge went on to assess the AGRIF for court costs of over US$4 600 legal expenses incurred by the “Théâtre du Rond-Point” for its defence.
The archbishop of Paris, cardinal André Vingt-Trois, said the play “insults Christ on the Cross”, and called Catholics to participate in a “meditation of the Passion of Christ and the veneration of the Holy Crown of Thorns”.
The relic is usually only shown to the faithful on Fridays in Lent and on First Fridays during the year.
Some French Catholic bishops have openly supported “On the Concept of the Face of Christ”, another “blasphemous” play which they excused on the grounds that they found it “thought-provoking”. – lifesitenews.com