One Britain’s most respected Anglican theologians (who respects Anglican theologians these days? Answer: other Anglican theologians) has decided that Monty Python’s Life of Brian is not blasphemous but a tribute to Jesus, thus confirming what most of us already know: it really is blasphemous – funny, perhaps but still blasphemous.

From here:

It was once denounced as blasphemous and an insult to Christians, but Monday one of Britain’s most respected theologians insisted that Monty Python’s Life of Brian is in fact a “remarkable tribute to the life of Jesus”.

The Rev. Prof. Richard Burridge, Dean of King’s College London, said that Christians who called for the satire to be banned after its release in 1979 were “embarrassingly” ill-informed and missed a major opportunity to promote the Christian message.

[…..]

He added: “They were satirizing closed minds, they were satirizing fundamentalism and persecution of others and at the same time saying the one person who rises above all this was Jesus … and I think that the Church missed that.”

Satirising fundamentalism is de rigueur for Anglican theologians – I suspect there is a non-optional course on it in seminary – but only Christian fundamentalism. Neither Anglican theologians – a congenitally poltroonish bunch at the best of times – nor Monty Python have the temerity to mock Islamic fundamentalism:

During his Monty Python days he poked fun at everyone from the Establishment to Christianity.

But thanks to the threat of ‘heavily armed’ fanatics, Michael Palin has admitted there is one comedy taboo he is too scared to break- Islam.