Prayer for Bradford is an informal network of multi-denominational Christian ministers in the Bradford area who meet regularly to pray, especially for the city. Prayer for Bradford does not see itself as a campaigning organisation but when its members heard Jerry Springer: The Opera was coming to Bradford they felt something had to be said. Nick Jones, speaking for both himself and Prayer for Bradford, told the BBC Bradford and West Yorkshire website: "I think we felt it wouldn't be good for Bradford and I also think it's not particularly wanted in Bradford. Our conviction as a Christian group is that it is a show that denigrates Jesus - and therefore our faith - and it is not something we want to see in our theatre and that's why several of us felt we should do something. We are a prayer group and not an action group so we don't organise around issues but we felt this was something we needed to give a voice on.  | | Nick Jones |
"A group of us were then asked to take on that responsibility and one thing we decided we would do was to make our view, and the view of many in the Christian communities here, known to the Council so we put together a petition in January and presented it to the Council because they own the Alhambra. Ultimately they are responsible for what goes on there. We gathered our petition just over a short period really – for three weeks in January it was in various churches and 2208 people signed it with 59 churches and church organisations represented, most of them part of our informal network. However, quite a number got about and at a particular Roman Catholic church that isn't linked into our network the whole congregation signed. In one case people who just came along to a community centre signed, so the signatures weren't all from the Christian community as such... "I was invited to go and talk to the Bradford Faith Forum and they were very sympathetic. Our petition called for the Council to withdraw the play. They had a discussion on the Faith Forum and they didn't necessarily feel they could unanimously support that but they were very supportive, very sympathetic. The Faith Forum hasn't taken a stand that's the same as ours but they have written to the media to say they think this is bad for the city and for relationships within the city. "[Our position is based on] the portrayal of Jesus. The show has quite a lot of strong language in it. It's notorious for how many swear words it has, but it's not the only show even in the current season that has a lot of swear words in so that's not our particular objection. Actually I've read the script and a lot of it is gratuitous – not all of it because it is a portrayal of the the Jerry Springer Show - but I think the way Jesus is portrayed is the key thing and I do believe that is gratuitous. There's four aspects to that: there's the portrayal of Jesus in a nappy and that is quite unpleasant in itself. There's the language that's used to address Jesus. I think it's one thing having strong swear words but when they actually relate to someone you think is the Son of God and he himself uses that language and there's the notorious phrase where Jesus says, 'Actually I'm a bit gay.' | "The best thing would have been for Jerry Springer not to have been booked in the first place and then you've got no issue." | | Nick Jones, Vicar of St John's |
"There are the comments which are made both about the crucifixion which is obviously at the heart of our faith, and the Virgin Birth which is very important too. All of that is very offensive – it's not just offensive to the Christian community, it's also offensive to the Muslim community because Jesus is a highly respected prophet in the Muslim community. While Muslims don't, as I understand it, have the same understanding of the crucifixion they do believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus and they do obviously believe Jesus to be expected so it's offensive there too. Currently there's a lot of sensitivity around how you portray the significant figure in a world faith and because we have a mixture of faiths here in Bradford, it's something I think the city should have taken more careful account of. "Censorship is an interesting question because it has a bad name for various reasons and this is something we've debated quite a lot. We've talked to quite a number of Council members and officers and freedom of speech, freedom of expression, is something that's come to us as a contrary argument and I think that needs to be taken very seriously. I think I speak for myself and Prayer For Bradford in saying we believe in freedom of speech and freedom of expression and when we had the opportunity to speak to the Council last month this is what I spoke about because I wanted to stress this is something we hold dear as well, the hard-fought freedoms that we have. The whole creative and artistic area is something I think is a very precious part of our culture and of course I don't want to align myself with those contexts where artistic expression is highly constrained for socio-political relationships in dictatorships and so on. We all know the history of that. "But there's another side isn't there? What I've said to the Council is that freedom of speech can't have the last word. It has to be held in balance. There are the other things we hold dear in our culture, particularly as British people. One of these is courtesy and one of them is respect, and another that I think is particularly important in our city is the equal valuing of one another in a multi-cultural society and the religious dimension is an important aspect of all that. I think these things need to be balanced. We could be represented as calling to bring back censorship in the theatre and, if push came to shove, then my argument is there are times when freedom of expression crosses a line and we have to say, 'No.' We have to say in a decent society that's not acceptable. Obviously people aren't going to always agree where that line is, but in our view - and I think we represent a considerable proportion of the Christian community, and probably a lot of other people of a lot of other faiths, and people of no faith really (if you like, decent people) - this crosses the line. It's the same when I've shown people the script, the offensive part. A lot of people are horrified to be honest.  | | 'We are really blessed to have the Alhambra!' |
"What we've tried to be very careful about at Prayer for Bradford is that, in calling for respect and courtesy, we actually conduct ourselves and behave in a way that is also courteous and respectful. Otherwise you can really lose the argument in the way you conduct it, and without wanting to mention any groups we've been careful to run our own local campaign, if you want to call it that. We've sought to do what we feel is right in this context, in a balanced way we hope, and with prayer. We've made our representations to the Council and actually we are still waiting for an answer which is a little disappointing – they've said that their next Executive meeting will discuss it but that isn't until after the show on June 20th. We've been hoping they would be able to give us an answer before then on what their considered view is on our petition and what we've called for so we're still in that discussion. "Also we've asked if we can put a postcard out in the theatre which has a positive message in it – it simply says: 'Now you've seen Jerry Springer: The Opera, why not find out about the REAL Jesus? Who he is, what he's done, and what he can do for you today.' The postcard will just be about in the theatre in the same way as you see such cards in cinemas and the theatre management have agreed to have them. We're not going to be troubling theatregoers – we think that's counter-productive. There may be others who are outside the theatre next week but that won't be us. We'll just be quietly bringing it into our prayers and our part there is to put these cards out. Really our argument is not with the theatregoer, or even with the theatre management who are required to make an artistic/commercial decision on what they put on, but it's the Council who need to have the overall picture. In as much as there was a protest it was on April 4th when I addressed a Council meeting and a lot of supporters of Prayer for Bradford came. They gathered in a prayer vigil outside, and they filled the public gallery and gave us a resounding applause with quite a number of the councillors joining in which was a nice moment.  |
"As well as what the petition asked for, which was for the show to be banned, we've also asked the Council for two other thing. One is that there will be an expression of regret which we can pass on to the community that the show was booked in the first place, and the other is really that we want to be part of a constructive process in the future because our belief is that there ought really to have been a better mechanism for considering whether it was right for a show that has this sensitivity to actually be brought here. "Perhaps I'm speaking more for myself here, but I'm committed to the arts and the engagement between the Christian community and the world of art is an important one. Certainly for myself and my church, and members of many other churches in the city, we are all patrons of the Alhambra and St George's Hall and I think we are really blessed – to use a religious word – in our city to have these. Our theatre has excellent and very interesting shows. My Fair Lady has just been here and Trainspotting, while it is one of the shows to have strong language, is a very serious show and tackles a very serious social issue. Prayer for Bradford is not an organisation to speak out. Nor is it really a campaigning organisation, but the churches we represent are involved in a whole range of social projects and a number of churches are very practically engaged on the ground with the drugs issue. "We want to offer ourselves as people who can be consulted with and there are other bodies too such as the Faith Forum who it would be useful for officers and members to consult with on matters like this because it will come up again. But the best thing would have been for Jerry Springer not to have been booked in the first place and then you've got no issue." | 
