RIOT police and guard-dog patrols were called out yesterday in Paris to safeguard one of city’s most prestigious theatres when it became the latest target in a wave of Catholic protests across France against so-called “blasphemous” plays.
Catholics in Paris protesting against Golgota Picnic
According to this report, the head of the Théâtre du Rond-Point on the Champs-Elysées complained of death threats in the run-up to this week’s premiere of the play Golgota Picnic by the Madrid-based, Argentinian writer Rodrigo García.
Two men reported to have links to fundamentalist Catholic groups were arrested at the weekend while attempting to disable the theatre’s security system.
The demonstrations over Golgota Picnic come after a rise in fundamentalist religious protest action against some of France’s most high-profile theatres, including pelting the audience with eggs, letting off stinkbombs and the invasion of the stage of Paris’s esteemed Théâtre de la Ville mid-performance by outraged Catholics carrying banners reading “Stop Christianophobia”.
Earlier this year, young French fundamentalist Catholics staged an unprecedented attack on a gallery in Avignon, slashing photographs including Piss Christ by the New York artist Andres Serrano.
Golgota Picnic, which takes place on a stage strewn with burger buns, has several religious references including readings and a crucifixion scene. But Paris theatre critics said it was absurd to call it anti-Catholic or blasphemous and questioned whether its religious critics had actually seen it.
Yet in a move that went further than the recent protests over Théâtre de la Ville’s staging of On the Concept of the Face, Regarding the Son of God by the Italian Romeo Castellucci, Paris’s archbishop, André Vingt-Trois, deemed Golgota Picnic, which he had not seen, “deliberately offensive” and said he would lead a protest prayer at Notre Dame.
Jean-Michel Ribes, head of the Théâtre de Rond-Point, appealed for calm. He said:
The Théâtre du Rond-Point isn’t an anti-Christian, anti-Muslim or anti-Jewish place.
But he said the role of artists was to fight against “suffocating dogma”. Theatregoers have been advised to arrive an hour early to get through the airport-style security before reaching their seats.
Paris city hall’s art supremos rushed to defend the theatre community against what it said was fundamentalists holding art to ransom, saying a “silent minority” of Catholics did not share the notion of making threats or stifling freedom of expression.
Civitas, a lobby group that says it aims to re-Christianise France, has called for a large, peaceful street demonstration “against Christianophobia” this weekend.
Hat tip: Marcus
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
December 9th, 2011 at 11:38 am
“The demonstrations over Golgota Picnic come after a rise in fundamentalist religious protest action against some of France’s most high-profile theatres, including pelting the audience with eggs, letting off stinkbombs and the invasion of the stage of Paris’s esteemed Théâtre de la Ville mid-performance by outraged Catholics carrying banners reading “Stop Christianophobia”.”
Why does it seem to me that relionist’s brains stop developing at age 10?
December 9th, 2011 at 11:48 am
Looking at the braindead catholics in this picture reminds me of the quote by Zapata – ‘It’s better to die upon your feet than to live upon your knees.’
December 9th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
I wonder how Catholics would react if non-Catholics, objecting to the vile dogma and doctrines of the Catholic Churuch, protested outside churches on Sunday, intimidated worshippers, pelted them with eggs etc. Can you imagine what the reaction would be?
December 9th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
There is “Christianophobia” everywhere nowadays:
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011.....christmas/
December 9th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
So where were these zealots when their leaders were abusing children; didn’t see them on the street protesting about that did we?
December 9th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
barriejohn
Some atheist wag has made an excellent response to Perry’s vile ad.
December 9th, 2011 at 1:20 pm
They’re learning from Mo’s Boys.
December 9th, 2011 at 1:48 pm
Very good, AgentCormac!
December 9th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
The picture say’s it all. I hate people ridiculing my beliefs so I’m gonna do my Toulouse-Lautrec impression in front of le twat holding a plank.
Yeah, that’ll show ‘em.
December 9th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Remigius: Someone commented only recently upon what The Dear Lord Jesus said about praying in public. That ridiculous display is so ostentatious that it makes me want to vomit!
December 9th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
On a related note, India’s government is threatening a crackdown on Google, Facebook etc for ‘blasphemous content’, which they openly define as anything which provides strong religious offense.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worl.....a-16044554
December 9th, 2011 at 5:46 pm
So typical of the religious. No debate. We will tell you what is right and you must believe it.
Bit of Christmas Cheer. Richard Dawkins will guest edit the Christmas edition of the New Statesman. The response on the NS blog is overwhelmingly, close too 100%, enthusiastic – including my tuppence worth.
December 9th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
“Christianophobia”? if they want to see this they should witness the persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt by islamist mobs – but I guess protesting outside a Paris mosque is a bit too heroic for these cowards, better just pick on a few artists.
December 9th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Angela_K
Spot on! These revolting zealots are only too happy to ignore the terrible failings of their own revolting institution while taking their ‘offended’ sensibilities onto the streets over a play not one of them has actually seen.
But what happens when god’s little storm troopers don’t get their own way? Aw – the police are such ‘christianophobic’ bullies too, aren’t’ they!
December 9th, 2011 at 7:13 pm
It’s like all the religions of the world are in a pissing match to be the most offended and the most over zealous and to over react to the most trivial of things, fuck the lot of them they’re all tossers.
December 9th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
Apparently every time someone blasphemes or denies the divinity of christ then he goes through all the agonies of crucifixion over again. The young woman who put this idea to me was sincere to the point of tears and, although this was long ago and well before Gibson’s gore-fest, she had a very vivid idea of what that entailed.
Anyone else heard that proposition?
I’m more mellow than I was and would probably not now respond as I did then: ‘I think you’re confusing Jesus with Tinkerbell.’
I don’t know if there is a theological basis for this but either way there are probably those who think that a play or a work of art is literally torturing their most beloved. Or profoundly offending their most feared.
That can make people dangerous.
December 9th, 2011 at 7:52 pm
Yes, Don. I was taught that.
“For it is/i> impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” (Hebrews 6: 4-6 KJV)
December 9th, 2011 at 7:56 pm
Well, I buggered that up, and now I can’t edit it! The words that are supposed to be in italics are it is, at the beginning, and him at the end. Is anything going to be done about this, because it’s infuriating.
December 9th, 2011 at 8:18 pm
Don
Don’t know if this is what you meant by your Tinkerball reference, but isn’t a fairy supposed to die every time someone says they don’t exist? Same irrational, ludicrous nonsense – yet millions of people who would laugh at the thought of fairies living at the bottom of their garden are happy to believe in an invisible fairy in the sky. Which is, quite frankly, pathetic.
December 9th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Woggler, if only religious people allowed their kids independent development until the age of 10, the world would be a better place. By the time they’re 5 y.o. they’re all fucked up and over, thanks to their precious religion.
December 9th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
Shame that lot weren’t kettled.
December 9th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
Actually, just seen this in my weekly NSS newsletter;
A message on 18 December encourages children to pray, advising (quoting from Matthew 6:5-14) that when they pray, they should not “be like hypocrites, for they love to pray in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men”.
Seems to sum up that lot quite nicely.
December 9th, 2011 at 10:31 pm
AgentCormac
Yes, Thats what I meant.
December 10th, 2011 at 2:51 am
atheism is a religion, because it assumes the universe is an accident. A theory that is unprovable by science. When will see yourselves?
Sleepwalker
December 10th, 2011 at 7:12 am
Christianophobia, Islamophobia, we might be missing a trick here…
Atheophobia, anyone?
December 10th, 2011 at 9:03 am
@Martin Hatter: Atheophobia? Intriguing suggestion. I think the problem is, in all due modesty, that we are too civilised for that. The phobes tend to be locked in the far past, antagonistic to even evolution and they avoid critical thought. Their hatred and contempt for anything outside their narrow band of superstition is what sustains them. Ratzinger and co feed their internal mental violence.
December 10th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
@sheepwanker
atheism is a religion,
No it isn’t.
…because it assumes the universe is an accident.
No it doesn’t. It’s merely a disbelief in supernatural beings, such as gods. And trolls.
…A theory that is unprovable by science.
You obviously don’t know what a theory is, or that science does not, indeed cannot, prove anything. Except mathematics.
When will see yourselves?
I don’t know what this means. Do you?
December 10th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
@remigus: I’m afraid you are wasting your time with sheepwanker. He is beyond help. His mind is closed. He has embraced irrationality and all his thoughts will be twisted to support his brand of superstition. Pityful really to witness such a confused performance as he has exhibited. The old barren cliches picked up from some ignorant preacher.
The idea that the invention of a God as first cause is pathetic. All that does is complicate and blocks of scientific enquiry. Who caused God? And so on ad infinitum.
December 13th, 2011 at 10:33 am
Lots of born again atheists threatening all sorts of stuff in the comments. Of course its all virtual, none of you have the balls to do any of it, not to the catholics, certainly not to the muslims.
Truth is atheism is a faith position, its a belief in no gods/God (100% unprovable, ever, you can not prove that negative), just like theism is a belief in gods/God (99.99% unprovable, 0.01% is that Jesus/Mohammed/Krishna/Thor/etc actually turns up!), only agnostics truly have no faith.
Religious persecutions have been plenty, Christian, Muslim, whoever – Inquisition, Jihad, Crusades, Terrorism, Witchburning, etc.
Anti religious persecutions have been even more, atheists, communists, fascists, whoever – Purges, Noyades, Killing Fields, Holcaust, Cultural Revolution, Spain, Mexico, etc.
Non religious persecutions do not exist, agnostics don’t persecute.
Do the maths.
No doubt you will all shoot me down from the brave position behind your computer screens now.
Sad.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
I. Can’t. Even. Be. Arsed…
December 15th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
To. Such
December 15th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Bollocks