A film portraying Jesus and his disciples as gay men has caused ripples of anger and complaints to the film classification board, leading to many people sending around hoax emails urging protests to block the release of the film, even if it is non-existent.
Although the viral petition began circulating in the last three decades, a movie by that name, a documentary depicting a controversial play about a gay Jesus was released in 2012.
The British Board of Film Classification’s (BBFC) senior examiner Craig Lapper said there was a “constant issue” with rumours that a movie version had been made of a controversial play called Corpus Christi.
The play, by Terrence McNally, is set in modern-day America and deals with issues including gay marriage but has never been made into a film.
Lapper said:
“I think it was a bit of an internet hoax several years ago suggesting a film was being made of the play in which Jesus and his disciples were portrayed as homosexuals, and I can remember replying to people concerned about this blasphemous film back in the late 1990s. And this year again, for whatever reason, there was another spike in people writing to us to insist that we ban this terrible blasphemous film. We just had to write back and say, ‘This film doesn’t exist’.”
The BBFC received six complaints about it in 2011 and another two queries late last year, with complainants often asking them to ban the film on the grounds it is blasphemous and offensive.
Here is the mail:
The movie Corpus Christi is due to be released this June to August. Let’s stand for what we believe in and stop the mockery of Jesus Christ our Saviour. If the Muslims do what they believe to be right when films or mockery appears against their religion, where do we stand as Christians? This disgusting film set to appear in America later this year and it depicts Jesus and his disciples as homosexuals! As a play, this has already been in theatres for a while. It’s called Corpus Christi ‘ which means ‘The Christ Body.’ It’s a revolting mockery of our Lord. But, we can make a difference. That’s why I am sending this e-mail to you. If you do send this around, we may be able to prevent this film from showing in America and South Africa.
Apparently, some regions in Europe have already banned the film. We need a lot of prayers and a lot of e-mails.
As a Christian I want to take a stand in what I believe in and stop the mockery of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
At the risk of a bit of inconvenience, I’m forwarding this to all I think would appreciate it. Please help us prevent such offenses against our Lord. It will take you less than 2 minutes! If you are not interested, and do not have the 2 Minutes it will take to do this, please don’t complain when God does not have time for you, because He is far busier than we are.
Remember, Jesus said ‘Deny Me on earth and I’ll deny you before my Father’.
In 2012, a documentary film was released chronicling a touring production of Terrence McNally’s stage play “Corpus Christi.” The play does, in fact, depict Jesus Christ as a gay man.
The documentary is titled “Corpus Christi: Playing with Redemption.” IMDb, the internet movie database, describes the movie as follows:
Inspired by Terrence McNally’s Passion play told through the lens of a young gay Jesus, Corpus Christi: Playing with Redemption follows a group of actors who began production on the play seven years ago in a small church. Within months they suddenly found themselves thrust in the world spotlight touring to international acclaim.
The 2012 documentary of the gay Jesus Corpus Christi is available on streaming services such as Amazon Prime.
You can also check it out on YouTube below:
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