Well, crucify my corpse!
Christians are up in arms about a Channel 4 show by controversial TV anatomist Gunther von Hagens. Entitled Crucifixion, the show will use a real body to explore the mechanics of this method of execution.
The reason some Christians are upset is because they believe their religious leader was executed by this method. It is not clear why they think that this means they have the right to prevent people from making TV documentaries about it. Crucifixion was once a common method of execution.
Simon Jenkins, spokesman for the Church of England, said:
This will upset and offend a lot of Christians as it seems he is using the Crucifixion simply to grab attention.
Stephen “Dog Shit” Green, who had only recently been converted to the cause of free speech, has sadly reverted to his censorious former-self:
This sounds gratuitously offensive and blasphemous. It could well be we would want to take some action against it.
MWW wonders if Christian Voice will take this legal action before or after the blasphemy prosecution of the BBC for which they started begging funds back in March 2005. It just that we’ve been waiting for that particular sideshow for 18 months now, and they are still soliciting cash for it. Surely they must have enough by now?
Monitor says, ‘It just that we’ve been waiting for that particular sideshow for 18 months now, and they are still soliciting cash for it. Surely they must have enough by now …’
Makes you want to organise a whip-round, doesn’t it?
Is the “up in arms” bit an intentional pun? If so, it’s a damn good one.
It’d be good if he can get the corpse to sing “Always Look On The Bright Side of Life” over the closing credits to the show.
Arf arf.
They must be wearing their knees out praying. Makes you think though, you’d imagine they’d get the message when almost none of their prayers ever get answered – and even the ones that “do” are mere conincidence.
I just wish they’d do it quietly!
Is the “up in arms†bit an intentional pun? If so, it’s a damn good one.
Actually it was an accidental pun – but you’re right, it’s a good one. I think I’ll pretend it was intentional. Ssh.
No chance Green could actually WATCH the programme before condeming it as blasphemous and threatening action? No? Thought not!
Insects must drive Green insane with their constant mocking of christ with their walking on water antics
I agree with that Jenkins chap – it *will* upset and offend a lot of christians (not that I care overly much) and sadly, von Hagens does seem to be the sort of person who is just doing this for publicity instead of as a serious investigation into an interesting subject. He’s really a showman, not an anatomist these days.
David has it pinned there, regretably.
There is an interesting anatomical study there to disprove some of what is claimed of Jesus’s crucifixion. Studies I have, seen suggest strongly that the guy was cut down long before he was actually dead!
Course, on the other hand, even IF we did prove that Jesus (or whoever he’s based on) didn’t die on the cross (thus laying waste to the resurrection myth!) the fools wouldn’t believe it anyway. Seems to that these days, a fundamental requirement of being religious is the ability to be in a constant state of denial. The idea of being just worm food (or fertilizer if you get toasted) must really scare the crap out of them.
The easiest thing to do to get the religious zealots off this is simply to find out the name of someone whom it has been proven actually WAS crucified. The programne then then start by saying “Fred Bloggs was crucified by the Romans in 4BC. The following programme investigates, scientifically, the effects of this form of execution on the human body.”
You would think Jesus was the only person who was supposed to have been crucified.
[…] MediaWatchWatch, who found this story before me, wonders whether Green’s threatened legal action will take place before or after the blasphemy prosecution of the BBC which he’s been threatening since March of last year. Posted by Paul in UK (September 24, 2006 at 7:37 pm) […]
The bugger of it is, Steve, that some idiot at Firefly has leaked a “memo” in which it’s stated that the dude on the cross is actually supposed to be Jesus. Doubtless this is just meant to stir up Beyer Syndrome among the faithful.
It would be more intertesting to actually hang real people there (a couple of names come to mind) and see how long it is before they pass out. This is what’s more interesting in fact. It seems likely that the real guy wasn’t dead when his followers cut him down: and this would be a great way to prove that.
Do you think it taught him how to respect the romans? Who was the one who was crucified upside down because he didn’t want to be offed the same way as jeebers, was it peter?