Editing Monty Python's Life of Brian (section)

===Initial criticism and blasphemy accusations===
[[Richard Webster (British author)|Richard Webster]] comments in ''[[A Brief History of Blasphemy]]'' (1990) that "internalised censorship played a significant role in the handling" of ''Monty Python's Life of Brian''. In his view, "As a satire on religion, this film might well be considered a rather slight production. As blasphemy it was, even in its original version, extremely mild. Yet the film was surrounded from its inception by intense anxiety, in some quarters of the Establishment, about the offence it might cause. As a result it gained a certificate for general release only after some cuts had been made. Perhaps more importantly still, the film was shunned by the BBC and ITV, who declined to show it for fear of offending Christians in the UK. Once again a blasphemy was restrained – or its circulation effectively curtailed – not by the force of law but by the internalisation of this law."<ref name="Blasphemy">{{cite book |author=Webster, Richard |title=A Brief History of Blasphemy: Liberalism, Censorship and 'The Satanic Verses' |publisher=The Orwell Press |location=Southwold |date=1990 |page=[https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofbl0000webs/page/27 27] |isbn=0-9515922-0-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofbl0000webs/page/27 }}</ref> On its initial release in the UK, the film was banned by several [[town council]]s – some of which had no cinemas within their boundaries, or had not even seen the film. A member of [[Harrogate (borough)|Harrogate council]], one of those that banned the film, revealed during a television interview that the council had not seen the film, and had based their opinion on what they had been told by the [[Nationwide Festival of Light]], a grouping with an evangelical Christian base, of which they knew nothing.<ref name="Channel 4" />

In New York (the film's release in the US preceded British distribution), screenings were [[Picketing (protest)|picketed]] by both rabbis and nuns ("Nuns with banners!" observed Michael Palin).<ref name="autobiography" /> It was also banned for eight years in Ireland and for a year in Norway (it was marketed in Sweden as "The film that is so funny that it was banned in Norway").<ref name="Python's Jones Passionate About 'Life Of Brian's' Return">{{cite web |author=Lammers, Tim|date=17 May 2004 |title=Python's Jones Passionate About 'Life Of Brian's' Return|publisher=[[WNBC]]|url=http://www.wnbc.com/entertainment/3316054/detail.html |access-date=6 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070327153944/http://www.wnbc.com/entertainment/3316054/detail.html |archive-date=27 March 2007}}</ref> During the film's theatrical run in Finland, a text explaining that the film was a parody of Hollywood historical epics was added to the opening credits.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://elonet.finna.fi/Record/kavi.elonet_elokuva_113451 |website=[[Elonet]] |title=Life of Brian |access-date=April 29, 2020 }}</ref>

In the UK, [[Mary Whitehouse]], and other traditionalist Christians, pamphleteered and picketed locations where the local cinema was screening the film, a campaign that was felt to have [[Streisand effect|boosted publicity]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dvdivas.net/movies/reviews/l/lifeofbrian-BLUERAY.html |title=Monty Python's Life of Brian – The Immaculate Edition (Blu-Ray) |access-date=6 September 2008 |last=Klein |first=Wayne |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090405062250/http://www.dvdivas.net/movies/reviews/l/lifeofbrian-BLUERAY.html |archive-date=5 April 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Leaflets arguing against the film's representation of the [[New Testament]] (for example, suggesting that the Wise Men would not have approached the wrong stable as they do in the opening of the film) were documented in [[Robert Hewison]]'s book ''Monty Python: The Case Against''.