Email petition aims to block the release of a movie (sometimes referred to by the title 'Corpus Christi') allegedly depicting Jesus Christ and his disciples as gay.
Description: Email petition / Urban legend
Circulating since: 2000
Status: False
Example #1:
Email contributed by Waddell W., July 13, 2000:
Fwd: Jesus
I Can't belive it. There is a movie that is coming out in 2001 saying Jesus and his disciples were gay! There is already a play that went on for a while,but never stopped! Maybe we can all do something!
Please send this to ALL of your friends to sign to stop the movie from coming out. Already certain areas in Europe have started to ban it from coming to their country and we can stop too! We just need a lot of signatures and you can help! Please do not delete this! Deleting it will show your lack of faith and a lack of respect for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died for us! Please help!
PLEASE SIGN AND SEND TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW! PLEASE IF WE WORK TOGETHER WE CAN BAN THIS! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Example #2:
Example contributed by Matt W., April 10, 2003:
Note: Hi Friends,
A disgusting film set to appear in America later this year depicts Jesus and his disciples as homosexuals! As a play, this has already been in theaters for a while. It's called "Corpus Christi" which means "The Christ Body." It s a revolting mockery of our Lord. But we can make a difference. That's why I am sending this e-mail to you. Will you please add your name to the bottom of the list at the end of this e-mail? If you do, we will be able to prevent this film from showing in America. After all, they're in enough trouble as it is Hey, it's worth a shot! Apparently, some regions in Europe have already banned the film. All we need is a lot of signatures! Remember, Jesus said "Deny me on earth and I'll deny you before of my Father".
Please copy this message "Ctrl C" (i.e.. Please don't just forward it!!!) Paste the ! text in a new e-mail "Ctrl V", then add your name to the list and send it to all your friends. When the list you sign reaches 500 names, please send it to: > homasg@softhome.net And then start again. IF WE WORK TOGETHER WE CAN DO THIS.
Thank You!
Comments: Every urban legend provokes an emotional response in the hearer (or reader), be it horror, hilarity, outrage, or disgust. The best urban legends "hit us where we live," one of the reasons these apocryphal stories persist.
The emotional impact is strongest when a story is geared to a target audience — for example, a warning to college-age women about a supposed date-rape drug that causes sterility, or rumors circulated within the African-American community to the effect that black voting rights are slated to expire in the United States. Beliefs such as these, though false, touch on legitimate concerns of the communities in which they circulate and are therefore granted more credence than they deserve. Understandably so.
There are several long-running urban legends of this ilk among mainstream Christians. One is the claim that Procter & Gamble, the household products manufacturing giant, is owned by devil-worshippers and tithes a portion of its profits every year to the "Church of Satan." Nothing seems to be able to quell this rumor, not even the accumulation of decades of disproof. Another is the claim that atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair has lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to ban all religious broadcasting in the United States. Petitions expressing Christians' moral outrage over this nonexistent affront have circulated for a quarter-century in spite of the best efforts of the FCC and others to debunk the misinformation, not to mention O'Hair's untimely death.
The so-called 'gay Jesus' movie
Another Christian urban legend more than two decades old and making the rounds in email form since 2000 claims there is a Hollywood film in production portraying Jesus Christ and his disciples as homosexuals. For many Christians, this is about as offensive as it gets. Like the O'Hair story, this legend circulates in the form of a petition. Participants sign and forward the message on the assumption they're doing God's work, when in fact they're perpetuating falsehoods.
