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> That show was blasphemy!
The concept of blasphemy (the action of speaking sacrilegiously about a god or the sacred) may speak to you, but it explicitly does not exist in secular France [i]. In France, religions are treated as mere ideas, and like all ideas, they can be examined, praised, criticized, and even mocked. In the eyes of the secular French republic, no text or religious icon deserves special protection, no matter how holy to some.
That aspect of freedom of speech is as foundational to the French as the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is to Americans.
Of course, people whose identity is rooted in faith might take offense at that, which leads me to... 2/9 6 replies
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> Why pick on religion though?
I can't speak for the artistic director (Thomas Jolly)'s decision to add religion to the show. But one clue is that France has had a long adversarial history with religion. Until the Revolution of 1789, the Catholic church ruled over all of society. The clergy ran civil registries, public schools, higher education, tax collection, and courts. You had better be a good Catholic or you would be subject to arbitrary abuse, including massacres of people of other or no faith.
All that changed not just in 1789 but also as recently as 1905, when a law [ii] put a final end to Catholicism being the state religion of France. Common people revolted, fought, and died for the right to criticize religion.
Furthermore, the show also picked at another ancient French institution, the royalty, by prominently displaying a beheaded Marie Antoinette. The French maintain a certain pride in having ousted their king and clergy simultaneously, and have kept a deep distrust of both ever since. 4/9 3 replies
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