THE Southern Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland view with considerable alarm the decision of the British Broadcasting Corporation to broadcast a Passion Play to begin on December 21st, 1941, in which it is proposed to represent Christ as a living man. The Presbytery hereby expresses its grief at, and enters its emphatic Protest against the proposal. Such excerpts from the script as have been published in the Press indicate that the broadcast would be nothing short of blasphemy. There are thousands of loyal subjects in these islands, many of them already deeply grieved by war sorrows, whose religious feelings would suffer further torture by such a degrading representation of Him who is, and Whom they have learned to reverence as, the Eternal Word, Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. For these and other reasons the Presbytery is hopeful that the British Broadcasting Corporation will yet reconsider its decision in this matter and abandon the proposal.—J. MacLeod, Moderator.
In reply to this Protest the B.B.C. sent the following:—London, 31st January, 1942.—Dear Sir,—We thank you for your letter about the proposal to broadcast a series of plays on the life of our Lord, which has been most carefully considered by those in charge of our religious broadcasting. We do indeed understand and sympathise with the religious sentiments which are afraid of the broadcasts, and nothing could be further from our thoughts than to cause any offence to Christian feeling. We would, however, point out that there has been grave misrepresentation of what we hope to do. The Corporation has sought the advice of leaders of the different Christian confessions in this country and they have advised us to proceed with the broadcasts which are, in our judgment, reverent, moving and profound.—Yours faithfully, Mary P. Ussher, Director, Secretariat.
To the above letter the Presbytery sent the following reply:—Kames, 9th March, 1942.—Dear Sir,—Your letter of 31st January, 1942, in reply to the Presbytery’s Protest, has been received and read. I am instructed to inform you that the Presbytery consider it quite unsatisfactory. We regard any attempt on the part of a mere man to impersonate the Lord Jesus Christ, who is very God of very God, as the most glaring kind of sacrilegious presumption, which no explanation can mitigate; and we, therefore, adhere to our former Protest.
We note your expressions of understanding and sympathy with the religious sentiment which is outraged by these broadcasts, and your unwillingness to cause offence to Christian feeling, but we quite fail to reconcile such expressions with your determination to proceed with the broadcasts. That these plays may be moving and profound the Presbytery is prepared to concede, but that they are reverent we cannot allow; in our view, which we base upon the infallible Word of God, they are essentially irreverent, and no amount of encouragement from any member of so-called church leaders and others can sanction them. Moreover, we have been reliably informed that there is an Act still on the Statute Book which forbids the representation of Gospel Plays. May we hope that even yet the B.B.C. will alter their attitude and withdraw these plays.—Jas. A. Tallach, Clerk.
No reply has been received to the above.