A couple of days ago, I came across a post on a Monty Python Facebook fan page complaining that a film like Life Of Brian could never be made today as it would cause too much offence. Faith is one of those culturally sacrosanct things which we are no longer allowed to question or mock. I replied that, on the contrary, as society becomes increasingly aware of the inherent idiocy of religion, we become more accepting of films and other artworks mocking it. In these postmodern, intellectually engaged times, religion seems more absurd and anachronistic than it ever did. Besides, when Brian first came out in the seventies, the clergy were up in arms: how dare people poke fun at the set of nonsensical myths they based their authority on!? If everyone realised the myths were bollocks, how could they continue to use them to control us? Thus to pretend the film was universally welcomed when it first hit cinema screens is a clear misrepresentation.

That is, of course, still very much my position. Even so, thinking about it, the question is valid and worth exploring. Would a contemporary film mocking the Christ figure be welcomed or seen as discriminatory? And what if it mocked Mohammed or the Buddha instead? Is this something that I should look into more deeply? In these days of Political Correctness, Wokeism as well as heightened intercultural animosity, how might such a film be received?