Editing Monty Python's Life of Brian (section)

===Responses from the cast===
Shortly after the film was released, Cleese and Palin engaged in a [[Friday Night, Saturday Morning#Monty Python's Life of Brian|debate]] on the [[BBC Two|BBC2]] discussion programme ''[[Friday Night, Saturday Morning]]'' with [[Malcolm Muggeridge]] and [[Mervyn Stockwood]], the [[Anglican Bishop of Southwark|Bishop of Southwark]], who put forward arguments against the film. Muggeridge and Stockwood, it was later claimed, had arrived 15 minutes late to see a screening of the picture prior to the debate, missing the establishing scenes demonstrating that Brian and Jesus were two different characters, and hence contended that it was a send-up of Christ himself.<ref name="autobiography" /> Both Pythons later felt that there had been a strange role reversal in the manner of the debate, with two young upstart comedians attempting to make serious, well-researched points, while the Establishment figures engaged in cheap jibes and point scoring. They also expressed disappointment in Muggeridge, whom all in Python had previously respected as a satirist (he had recently converted to Christianity after meeting [[Mother Teresa]] and experiencing what he described as a miracle). Cleese stated that his reputation had "plummeted" in his eyes, while Palin commented, "He was just being Muggeridge, preferring to have a very strong contrary opinion as opposed to none at all."<ref name="autobiography" /> Muggeridge's verdict on the film was that it was "Such a tenth-rate film that it couldn't possibly destroy anyone's genuine faith." In a 2013 interview on [[BBC Radio 4]], Cleese stated that having recently watched the discussion again he "was astonished, first of all, at how stupid [the two members of the Church] were, and how boring the debate became". He added: "I think the sad thing was that there was absolutely no attempt at a proper discussion – no attempt to find any common ground."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-25464820/cleese-and-palin-relive-the-1979-life-of-brian-debate |date=30 December 2013 |title=Cleese and Palin relive the 1979 Life of Brian debate |work=BBC News |access-date=5 September 2019 }}</ref>

{{Quote box|width=29%|align=right|quote="We always stated Brian wasn't blasphemous, but heretical. It wasn't about what Christ was saying, but about the people who followed Him – the ones who for the next 2,000 years would torture and kill each other because they couldn't agree on what He was saying about peace and love."|source=—Terry Jones speaking in 2011.<ref name="Bevan"/>}}
The Pythons unanimously deny that they were ever out to destroy people's faith. On the [[audio commentary (DVD)|DVD audio commentary]], they contend that the film is [[Christian heresy|heretical]] because it [[Parody|lampoons]] the practices of modern organised religion, but that it does not blasphemously lampoon the God that Christians and Jews worship. When Jesus does appear in the film (on the Mount, speaking the [[Beatitudes]]), he is played straight (by actor [[Kenneth Colley]]) and portrayed with respect. The music and lighting make it clear that there is a genuine [[aura (paranormal)|aura]] around him. The comedy begins when members of the crowd mishear his statements of peace, love and tolerance ("I think he said, 'blessed are the cheese makers'").<ref name="theologian">{{cite news |title=Monty Python's Life of Brian 'extraordinary tribute to Jesus', says theologian decorated by Pope Francis |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10543149/Monty-Pythons-Life-of-Brian-extraordinary-tribute-to-Jesus-says-theologian-decorated-by-Pope-Francis.html |date=31 December 2013 |first=John |last=Bingham |access-date=5 September 2019 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> Importantly, he is distinct from the character of Brian, which is also evident in the scene where an annoying and ungrateful ex-[[leper]] pesters Brian for money, while moaning that since Jesus cured him, he has lost his source of income in the begging trade (referring to Jesus as a "bloody do-gooder").

James Crossley, however, has argued that the film makes the distinction between Jesus and the character of Brian to make a contrast between the traditional Christ of both faith and cinema and the [[Historical Jesus|historical figure of Jesus]] in critical scholarship and how critical scholars have argued that ideas later got attributed to Jesus by his followers. Crossley points out that the film uses the character of Brian to address a number of potentially controversial scholarly theories about Jesus, such as the [[Messianic Secret]], the Jewishness of Jesus, Jesus the revolutionary, and having a single mother.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Crossley |first=James |date=2011 |title=Life of Brian or Life of Jesus? Uses of Critical Biblical Scholarship and Non-orthodox Views of Jesus in Monty Python's' Life of Brian |journal=Relegere |volume=1 |publisher=Relegere 1 |pages=93–114 |doi=10.11157/rsrr1-1-10 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |issn=1179-7231 |url=https://relegere.org/relegere/article/view/10 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In the DVD's audio commentary, Terry Gilliam says, "We were pilloried by religious groups on all sides from Jews to Catholics to Protestants. To me, what's important is that we managed to offend a lot of people. But as you notice, we were very cautious about offending any Muslims. We would say ''nothing'' negative about a Muslim, 'cause we'd get a [[fatwa]] after us. But your Jews, your Christians, they're easy to push around."<ref>Nesteroff, Kliph, "Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars," 2023, Abrams Press, pg. 169</ref>

Not all the Pythons agree on the definition of the movie's tone. There was a brief exchange that occurred when the surviving members reunited in Aspen, Colorado, in 1998.<ref name="Aspen"/> In the section where ''Life of Brian'' is discussed, the following dialogue ensued:<ref name="Aspen">{{cite episode |title=Monty Python's Flying Circus: Live at Aspen |series=Monty Python Live! |date=21 March 1998 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0287570/}}</ref>

<blockquote>
{{dialogue
|[[Terry Jones|Jones]]|I think the film is heretical, but it's not blasphemous.
|[[Eric Idle|Idle]]|It's a heresy.
|[[John Cleese|Cleese]]|I don't think it's a heresy. It's making fun of the way that people misunderstand the teaching.
|Jones|Of course it's a heresy, John! It's attacking the Church! And that has to be heretical.
|Cleese|No, it's not attacking the Church, necessarily. It's about people who cannot agree with each other.
}}
</blockquote>

In a later interview, Jones said the film "isn't blasphemous because it doesn't touch on belief at all. It is heretical, because it touches on dogma and the interpretation of belief, rather than belief itself."<ref>{{cite web |first=Kevin |last=Mcgue |url=http://www.alifeatthemovies.com/monty-pythons-life-of-brian/ |title=Monty Python's Life of Brian Movie Review |date=23 October 2010 |work=A Life At The Movies |access-date=2 February 2016 |archive-date=2 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302010754/http://www.alifeatthemovies.com/monty-pythons-life-of-brian/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>