Gotcha, Mr Green!
BROADCASTING watchdog OFCOM has given Stephen “Birdshit” Green a well-deserved brush-off over a vexatious complaint he and an orchestrated band of his loopy devotees registered over Rowan Atkinson’s Wedding feast at Cana sketch on ITV’s We Are Most Amused programme last year.
The sketch was a special comedy gala performance held to mark the 60th birthday of the Prince of Wales.
The humorless Green immediately complained:
It was just insulting, mocking, crass and disrespectful. Civilised, decent people do not behave like that. Plainly Atkinson thinks there is not enough disrespect in our society already today.
Ofcom then received 540 complaints. In a recently published adjudication in which the complaints were rejected, it said:
The complainants considered the sketch to be offensive and blasphemous, and some complainants questioned whether a similar sketch would be permissible if the subject had been one of the world’s other religions, such as Islam. There was evidence that the complaints were part of an orchestrated campaign.
Mediawatchwatch points out that OFCOM, “in a tone pleasingly reminiscent of someone explaining the obvious to a halfwit” ruled:
In particular, this was a comedy sketch, by a performer well-known for his depictions of clergymen in comedic situations. The sketch was an absurd interpretation of a well-known biblical miracle story, and was not intended as a serious interpretation of Christian belief, nor would it be realistic to make such an inference. It superimposed onto the original story the concept of how some people might react today, if Jesus were to appear in modern society. In making an analogy between miracles and magic, the comedian used the well-known comic device of placing theological figures in a contemporary and everyday human situation. The overall tone of the sketch was affectionate and not abusive of the Christian religion.
Ofcom considered that the approach would have been well understood by the vast majority of the audience and would not have gone beyond what would normally be expected in a programme of this type. Therefore, the programme was not in breach of Rule 2.3 (material that may cause offence).
Green, believe it or not, has today managed to squeeze some grudging admiration out of Telegraph columnist Urmee Khan, who writes:
Let’s give this man his due. For someone with no professional media background, who doesn’t live in London and who probably lacks any friends in high places, his media successes put some PR professionals to shame. He’s made his small organisation one of the first ports of call for quote-hunting reporters. And above all, we know who he is. Who is the president of the Methodists? The general secretary of the United Reformed Church? The moderator of the Church of Scotland? So come on Stephen Poxon, Roberta Rominger and David Lunan – show that others can do Protestantism every bit as staunch as Stephen Green – but with added wit.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
January 13th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I dont think that anyone could accuse Stephen Green of ever having “…added wit”.
January 13th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Grow up, Christians; you’re constantly telling us that your faith is the foundation of Western culture but refuse to accept the obvious implications of that (historically dodgy) statement. If it’s part of the social order (and in the case of the CofE, the political establishment) it’s a legitimate target for satire.
I am so sick of this ‘Yes, but you wouldn’t do a sketch about Islam, would you?’ crap. Has it ever occurred to these cretins that educated people in the West know dozens of stories from the Bible and know bugger-all about the Koran? There is no point in satirising something you and your audience have never heard of, is there?
‘Oh, you wouldn’t do a sketch about Zoroastrianism, would you? And while we’re on the subject, we’ve yet to see the beliefs and practices of mediaeval Chinese alchemists roundly mocked.’
Jesus Christ Almighty. On a bike.
January 13th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
I can only deduce that Ms Khan measures ‘media successes’ purely by a person’s amount of coverage, as almost any Green-related article or speaking appearance is in reference to his latest time-wasting failure.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Reply to Valdemar: you are wrong, people do know about Islam even if they have not read the Koran. The reason why people won’t mock the peadophile muhammed is twofold 1) They don’t wish to get blown up 2) The Devil inspires people to mock Jesus and the Christian faith because Jesus is the only way to Heaven and the Christian Gospel is the truth.
Reply to Stuart W: It is not a failure to speak up for Christ and spread the truth of His word. The Bible states that God’s word “will not return unto Him void but will accomplish what He purposes” Isaiah 55 verse 11. God is always glorified when His word is declared whether it leads to the salvation of the elect or the damnation of the reprobate.
January 14th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Bob –
Stephen Green often does not merely wish to ‘spread the word’, but will set out with the specific goal of having somebody charged or their work banned. Almost every time, he fails, probably because he is an ill-prepared and hypocritical enemy of free speech who makes an art form of playing the injured party to justify subtle intimidation tactics.
Perhaps it is this ineptitude of religious fanatics that forces you to operate on the cock-eyed notion that failure is glorious.
January 14th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I will pray for you that God, in His mercy, might be pleased to open your eyes to your need of Christ.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:37 am
Hey Bob, you great boring wind-up, can you pretend to pray for me too? There’s nothing more I’d like to see than you, or those you’re impersonating, down on your miserable knees for the rest of your lives, grovelling before your invisible man to have ‘Christ’ open my eyes to him.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see all Christians wasting their time in endless begging, dribbling, teeth-grinding, hair-pulling, wailing and gnashing, day in and day out, year in and year out as your all-powerful ‘god’ fails miserably to convert me–such power this gives me!
On your knees is where such people belong, your heads bowed, your eyes downcast, your slack lips mumbling to the nothingness over your donkey-brained head. Shouldn’t you be in church, on your knees now?
what joy!
January 15th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Oh dear, you have really lost it haven’t you?