Editorial

It’s happened again: our tax dollars have been used to denigrate our most deeply held beliefs and, more importantly, blaspheme our Lord and Savior.

Corpus Christi, a notoriously controversial play, was performed last week at Boca Raton’s Florida Atlantic University, a public school funded by Florida taxpayers to the tune of more than $112 million every year.

The play burst onto the national scene in 1998 in New York where it was immediately the center of controversy. Why? The play retells the story of Jesus as a young man named Joshua who grows up as a homosexual in the Texas Gulf coast town. Homosexual playwrite Terrence McNally authored the production.

Joshua gains 12 disciples, all of whom are depicted as homosexuals. The play begins, according to one reviewer, "To the tune of ‘Were you there when they crucified my Lord,’ the actors gather in a circle and ‘spin the bottle’ to see who will introduce the play to the audidence. Then each character is baptized and introduced." On the cross, Joshua is mocked as "King of the Queers." Another reviewer contends that McNally wants to teach us that Jesus loves homosexuals, and "lest we miss the point, one of the apostles appears onstage to explain it to the audience after the crucifixion. ‘If we have offended so be it....He belongs to us as well as you.’"

A FAU news release gushes of McNally, "His story presents an update of the Bible in thoughtful, vividly human ways." Baptist Press quotes university spokesperson Lynn Laurenti defending the play as "a matter of academic freedom."

"The basis for choosing this play was its simple message to love humankind," said Department of Theatre chair Jean-Louis Baldet in a news release. "It is an uplifting affirmation of the humanity in us all. It challenges our prejudices and demands that we accept human beings, without judgment."

And there you have it. The university insists that we accept homosexuality without judgment—and, even worse, it is "Jesus" teaching the lesson! Further, we pay for it with our tax dollars. And this is not the first time. The National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency) helped fund the 1998 performance of Corpus Christi in New York.

University President Anthony James Cantanese, a professed Christian, said in a prepared statement that he did not know about the content of the production. That seems possible in a large university. Nevertheless, if President Cantanese didn’t know about the controversial play, it wasn’t because the Theatre Department didn’t work hard to get out the word! I found no less than three news releases or promotions about Corpus Christi on the university web site. Each one labeled the play "controversial."

It’s one thing to claim academic freedom and the right to express beliefs that are contrary to what Christians hold most dear. It’s quite another to do so in a fashion designed to attack Christians and denigrate Christ—and do it with our own tax dollars! Do you think it was an accident that such a play would be performed in the weeks leading up to the celebration of Easter? I don’t think so.

In recent months there has been much discussion of President Bush’s faith-based initiative. Conservatives as well as liberals have raised concerns about the use of government funds for religious purposes. Clearly, there are important issues to resolve with respect to this matter. Nevertheless, it’s amazing that the use of tax dollars to attack Christianity never seems to raise the ire of the ACLU. It’s okay to use government money to denigrate Jesus, but it’s wrong if tax dollars are used promoting Jesus?

Several Florida legislators have threatened to cut state funding of FAU because of Corpus Christi. President Cantanese instructed Provost Richard Osborn to convene a committee of senior scholars to review policies and procedures with respect to controversial material. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what they’re going to recommend—business as usual.

What are you going to do about it? FAU can be contacted at (561) 297-3000. Letters can be addressed to President Anthony James Cantanese, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, Florida 33431. You can determine who your state representatives are and contact them by visiting the Florida Legislature’s web site: www.leg.state.fl.us.