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Oct 11 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai)Thinking Christians and a play that
questions virgin birthJulio RibeiroI had not heard of the play ` Agnes of
God' till the controversy erupted. In the theatre production of the play ,
written originally for American audiences by a New York based playwright some
thirty years earlier, Agnes is a fictional character, a consecrated nun of the
Catholic Church, who conceived a child despite her vow of celibacy. On being
questioned by her Superior she insisted she was a virgin! The obvious intent of
the playwright was to question the Catholic Church's dogma of the Virgin Birth
of the central figure of Christianity , Jesus Christ.
It is this aspect of the controversy that roused the ire of fringe Christian
groups and must certainly have disturbed the Catholic clergy . The ancillary
damage to the regard and respect commanded by nuns in the Catholic world would
be of secondary importance though the fringe groups I spoke about would harp on
that aspect as well.
Delving first on the honour of the nuns I can only say that it is not
impossible for a woman dedicated to a life of chastity and service, to err. An
odd case in some remote corner of the world can occur. After all, priests and
nuns are too numerous to count.They are human and human beings do deviate from
the beaten path at times. Nuns who feel the urge for male companionship usually
resign from their Orders and marry . There is nothing wrong in that. But
instances like the one depicted in the play would be very unusual.
The Church would be able to absorb accusations about the sexual misconduct of
their religious. It is common knowledge that many priests have transgressed the
boundaries of propriety or worse paedophilia and homosexuality have attracted
adverse notice in the West in particular.Even the greatest of Catholic
theologians, Augustine of Hippo, had led a colourful life before he gave up
philandering and devoted himself entirely to Christ. His seminal work “Civitas
Dei“ or the “City of God“ is testimony to his absolute devotion to his beliefs.
Pope Francis has not hesitated to admit that the Church has been amiss in
trying to sweep misconduct of its priests under the carpet.
The sting in the play ` Agnes of God' lies in the allusion to the `Virgin
Birth'. A nun going astray is small change to the larger issue of questioning a
well-held belief. Christians have been indoctrinated in the last two millennia
in the dogma that Jesus was born of a virgin. Thinking Christians will not
object if the dogma is questioned. They know that beliefs cannot be put to the
strict test of scientific proof. Every religion has its quota of beliefs that
cannot stand scientific scrutiny. The mass of the followers of any religion are
brought up on faith. In our country blind faith and belief is ingrained in the
Indian psyche unlike in the Christian West where the spirit of inquiry has
mellowed religious practices to much more moderate levels.
Virgin birth finds mention in Hindu mythology also! Kunti, daughter of the King
of Kuntibhoja was granted a wish by the sage Durwasa, whom she had looked after
so well when he stayed as an honoured guest in her father's palace. She
conceived by the Sun God and gave birth to Karna without carnal intercourse.
There are many such stories which have crystallized into beliefs in the sacred
texts of every recognized religion.
My own take on such weighty matters that intrude into the realm of the
meta-physical is not to spend too much time and thought on them lest it leaves
one confused and isolated from the mainstream.
Go along with the beliefs and practices of the religion you are born into but
never forgot that the most important and the common skein that flows through
all religions is to do the right thing and not to wrong others.That is a tall
call for us mortals to follow and hence is often forgotten in practice.
Some years ago the same Christian group objected to the screening of the film
`Da Vinci Code' because it spoke of a fictional descendant of Jesus Christ by
his fictional marriage to Mary of Magdalene. The Censor Board invited me to
view the film be fore it was released. I did not see any challenge to my faith
or beliefs after viewing the film and I am sure I will not find any such
challenge after viewing ` Agnes of God'. Those who object on principle should
not view it themselves but they should allow others with stronger faith than
theirs to do so.
Personally , I believe that the teachings of Jesus Christ as reflected in his
Parables are much more relevant to Christianity as a religion. The Parable of
the adulterous woman and who should throw on her the first stone, the Parable
of the Prodigal Son and the Parable of the Good Samaritan who tended to the
traveler when he was attacked by thieves are what define the teachings of
Jesus. It would be much more edifying if the protestors follow these teachings
instead of trying to make themselves prominent through protests and demands for
bans.
(The writer is a former police commissioner of Mumbai)
