Express News Service By

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Almost four decades after it was first staged in the US, the play ‘Agnes of God’ about a young nun who gives birth and claims to be a virgin has kicked up a controversy.

The Catholic Bishops Council of India (CBCI) has demanded a countrywide ban on the play, which it said insults the “Christian faith and Christ himself.” CBCI president Cardinal Baselios Mar Cleemis has shot off a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley in this regard. ‘Agnes of God,’ a pun on Agnus Dei or ‘Lamb of God, is a play by John Pielmeier about a novice nun who gives birth, but insists that she is a virgin. ‘Agnes of God’ was adapted into a film in 1985 starring Jane Fonda.

The play has returned to the spotlight after all these years after a scheduled staging in Mumbai was cancelled the other day fearing protests by the Christian community there. “The theme of the play insults thousands of Catholic priests and ascetics and trivialises their life. The material used for the promotion of this play also ridicules the Christian community,” Cleemis said in a statement here.

He wanted the Centre to issue instructions in this regard to the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala where the play is scheduled to be staged.