December 20, 2004

Bishops support Sikh community over controversial play

BRITAIN
ekklesia

The Anglican and Catholic bishops of Birmingham have publicly expressed their support to the city's Sikh community over a play which they say portrays the Sikh religion in an offensive way.

The Archbishop of Birmingham, Rt Rev Vincent Nichols, lent his support on Sunday, and the Bishop of Birmingham, John Sentamu, expressed his sympathy with the Sikh community on Radio 4's Today Programme, on Monday.

On Saturday, Birmingham Repertory theatre had to cancel the production of Behzti - which means dishonour in Punjabi - after several hundred people tried to disrupt the production.

It is written by actress-turned-playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti - herself a Sikh - and is scheduled to run until the end of December.

Mohan Singh, a local Sikh community leader, said: "When they're doing a play about a Sikh priest raping somebody inside a gurdwara, would any religion take it?"

Posted by kshaw at December 20, 2004 07:50 AM