A Christian activist has urged the community members to unsubscribe from Netflix for airing The First Temptation of Christ , a series being offered as a Christmas special. In his appeal, Abraham Mathai has said that the series is blasphemous, vulgar, and disrespectful.
“The series should have been pulled off the air immediately after the initial protests as it is highly offensive to our Christian faith,” Mr. Mathai, president of Indian Christian Voice and former vice-chairman of the minorities commission, stated in his letter.
He said the series depicts Jesus in a gay relationship. “Even though freedom of expression is a fundamental and constitutional right, using the same liberty to offend our sentiments is highly abhorrent and unacceptable,” he said, adding the community members had urged Netflix to withdraw the series and offer an unconditional apology but their protests had gone unheard.
“I am thus appealing to all community members to unsubscribe from Netflix,” said Mr. Mathai, who has unsubscribed from the platform. He said the series is being aired in the U.S. and is yet to come to India.
A statement from Porta dos Fundos, the creators of the series, said they value artistic freedom and humour through satire on the most diverse cultural themes of society and believe that freedom of expression is an essential construction for a democratic country.
