Prickly Protest

CONTROVERSIAL Pastor Jack Glass donned a crown of thorns in protest at a Fringe play which depicts Jesus as a homosexual.

He led 70 members of the Zionist Baptist Church outside an Edinburgh Theatre in condemning ‘Corpus Christi’.

The angry preacher said he did not know too much about the play, but described it as “hateful and “fundamentally wrong”.

“This is a spoof about a poof,” he said. “This blasphemous play is making the Lord out to be a homosexual - it’s wrong and vile.

He added: “Our protest is not hatred for homosexuals but a protest about the practice of homosexuality and portraying our Saviour as one. We love the sinner, but hate the sin.”

The pastor launched into a passionate sermon which pleaded with those entering the Bedlam Theatre in Forrest Road not to “crucify Christ afresh”.

“This will bring the wrath of God upon you!” he shouted.

 

The theatre carried out a search for explosives before the performance of the play, starring actor Stephen Billington, who played Coronation Street bad boy Greg Kelly, as Judas Iscariot. Bedlam press officer Sarah Gibson said: “Our main concern was that when they had protesters in America, they had bomb scares, but we were prepared for that.

Seduced

“The protesters stood outside and sang hymns. We did have to get the police to stop them singing because they were spoiling the show, but that was not because we did not want them protesting.”

The play, written by Terrance McNally, is about a gay Jesus being seduced at school by Judas Iscariot and later marrying two of his disciples.

When the play opened in New York, 2000 angry protesters gathered outside the theatre and hurled violent threats at the cast and theatre staff.

Extract Edinburgh Evening News 10.8.99