A new play from Jo Clifford portrays Jesus as a transgender.
Jennifer LeClaire, senior editor of Charisma News, said the play, The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven, is “perverted.”
The play’s description reads: "Join Queen Jesus for a revolutionary queer ritual in which bread is shared, wine is drunk and familiar stories are reimagined by a transgender Jesus. Team Jesus is now embarking on a national and international pilgrimage of creative, spiritual and LGBTI sites and spaces, forging partnerships with theatres, church groups and communities on the way."
Clifford, the playwright, is a transgender woman and says she is a practicing Christian.
"As a practicing Christian myself, I have no interest in attacking the church or mocking the church or make fun of the church or in anyway being blasphemous or offensive," Clifford said. "I simply want to assert very strongly, as strongly as I can that Jesus of the gospels would not in any way wish to attack or denigrate people like myself."
But LeClaire argues that the play is blasphemous.
“Jesus is not the Queen of Heaven,” she writes in a column for Charisma News. “Jezebel is—and portraying Jesus as a drag queen is offensive to authentic Christians. Painting Jesus as a gender-confused Messiah is blasphemous. And perverting the image of Christ is exactly what Jezebel does.”
Publication date: November 12, 2015
