Catholic League president William Donohue issued the following statement today regarding the decision of the Manhattan Theatre Club to stage “Corpus Christi,” a play that features a Christ-like person who has sex with the 12 apostles; the Club previously said that it had pulled the play from its schedule due to threats and protests:
“The moral nihilists who defend ‘Corpus Christi’ as artistic expression have a deep-seated hatred of any institution that rejects its libertine understanding of sexuality. That is what this fight is all about: their crazed rejection of the virtue of restraint and the Catholic Church’s warm embrace of it.
“The mad rush on the part of many noted playwrights to defend ‘Corpus Christi’ has nothing to do with defending freedom of expression. No, it has everything to do with endorsing a frontal assault on Christianity while promoting the radical gay agenda. Here’s the proof: would the Arthur Millers of this world rush to defend a play entitled ‘Shylock and Sambo’? Would they defend it knowing that the script calls for gay Jewish slavemasters who sodomize their obsequious black slaves? Is there anyone who would doubt what would happen if such a play were to be staged? All hell would break loose. And the Catholic League would be there leading the protest.
“The Manhattan Theatre Club is bending to the furor of anti-religious zealots, some of whom have bombarded our office with the most notorious hate mail and viciously anti-Catholic phone calls in memory; I have also been the subject of veiled threats. This will not, however, dissuade us from joining the culture war that the Club has triggered.
“There will be a media campaign against the play, attempts to halt all public monies to the Club and the formation of a coalition of religious organizations to protest the play. And there will be more. Much more.”
