Catholic church seeks ban on 'Agnes of God'

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NEW DELHI: Oct 1, 2015, DHNS
Demands for ban seem to be increasing in India with the Catholic church now wanting the Centre to ban the play ‘Agnes of God’ across the country, saying it mocks their beliefs.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) shot off a letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who also holds Information and Broadcasting portfolio.
In his letter, CBCI president Cardinal Baselios Cleemis has said the play, written by John Pielmeier, “hurts religious sentiments of millions of Christians”.
The play, loosely based on an incident in the suburbs of New York in the early 1980s, tells the “story” of a nun who gives birth and insists that the child was the result of virgin conception.
The film adaptation, which opened to mixed reviews when released in 1985, got three Oscar nominations.
The demand for banning the play, which is scheduled to stage its first show in Mumbai on October 4 and later in Hyderabad and Kerala, comes at a time when there are voices against the “ban culture” following demands for banning beef and cow slaughter on ground of religious sentiments and prohibition of screening of documentaries like ‘India’s Daughter’.