I have blogged before about German sociologist Gabriele Kuby, author of The Global Sexual Revolution: Destruction of Freedom in the Name of Freedom, here and here. To speak out in defence of traditional Christian morality in our western post-Christian world as she does, is a brave thing to do. It is much safer, if more cowardly, to keep your light well hidden under a bushel.
These thoughts were prompted by a recent news item with the headline: “German pro-family leader sues theatre for play depicting her mutilated on stage.” I guessed it might be referring to Kuby and it was. It seems that the play, Fear, written and directed by Falk Richter, has targeted five women who promote the natural family in Germany and portrays them, as it states in its introduction, as “zombies, returned from the past, who reiterate a vocabulary and rhetoric that throws us back to the time of National Socialism.”
In the play these “zombies” are objects of derision and portrayed as “Christian fundamentalist hatemongers” whose death is the only solution for their “antiquated” beliefs. Actors poke out their eyes on enlarged photographs which include their names. Kuby, one of the five women, is not taking this lying down. She is suing the Berlin theatre, Schaubuhne, where the play is being performed, as well as its author.
She accuses Richter of character assassination, violation of personal rights, manipulating quotations and symbolic violence. Defending her action, she explains: “I am carrying out this lawsuit because freedom of speech is at stake … democracy thrives on free open discourse. This discourse cannot be sacrificed to political correctness. Whoever does not comply will be ostracised, bullied and punished with public smear campaigns. We should not allow this.”
Over here we have laws against hate crime, designed to protect Christians as well as others from attacks such as Richter’s. In practice, it is something of a minefield. How many people have been accused of causing distress for publicly stating that marriage has always meant the union of a man and a woman?
Christians are enjoined to “turn the other cheek”. On a personal level this might be the right thing to do; but when one’s beliefs are being held up to public ridicule it is a different matter. It is not merely a matter of defending one’s good name; it is about the right of Christians not to be bullied and marginalised.
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