2005年1月，基督教团体抗议BBC电视台播放“Jerry Springer: The Opera”这档节目。Maryam Omidi将讨论BBC播这档节目的决定是否正确。
2005年1月，基督教团体抗议BBC电视台“Jerry Springer: The Opera”这档节目。一名抗议者接受BBC采访时说：“人们是应该有言论自由的，但绝对不应该有亵渎的自由。” 有破纪录的63,000人投诉这个节目“亵渎”宗教的台词。有报道指出节目中说脏话的次数高达400次，这些脏话包括“fuck”和“cunt”等词。而且节目中的一个角色是一穿尿布的耶稣，他承认他自己“有一点同性恋的倾向”。
节目播出后的三天，节目制作人Antony Pitts辞职，他认为投诉是没有道理的，而BBC也没有遵守自己制定的节目规范。BBC总裁马克•汤普森（Mark Thompson）为公司的决定辩护：“我也奉行基督教，但这里面没有我觉得亵渎的内容。”他的解释可以见此。
一个叫做“基督教声音”（Christian Voice）的团体控告BBC犯了亵渎宗教罪，不过两个高等法院的法官裁定广播机构和剧院不可以被控以这条罪行。他们补充说节目只是模仿美国清谈节目“Jerry Springer”，而不是讽刺基督教，所以不能认为触犯了亵渎罪。
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I was recently reminded that at the time of this great fuss the British Gov were trying to get legislation onto the statute books to create a new offence: Incitement to Religious Hatred. This context undoubtedly encouraged religious groups to vent their wounded feelings and try to prevent someone else from speaking (the almost simultaneous Sikh protest against the play Behzti even resorted to violence and death threats). This is a good reason why legislation should NOT be brought into the arena – it brings out the worst in us.
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On the one hand the author says the Jerry Springer programme gave sufficient warning before it was aired, so “anyone who felt uncomfortable with the subject matter could choose not to watch it”, whilst on the other hand the author argues how “most of the burners of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses had reportedly not even read the book”. So citizens of religious faith have to watch/read offensive material before they can criticise it and yet should at the same time not criticise because they weren’t forced to watch it in the first place and should have chosen not to.
Living this contradiction is fine for only a few. More heed should be taken on the question of what a good religious citizen should do when confronted with public and sustained humiliation. At the moment, free speech principles seem to comply only with those who follow a liberal norm and a liberal lifestyle.