According to an article at CNSNews.com, MTV is taking on Jesus in Germany:
As Christians around the world prepare for Easter, magazine readers in Germany were confronted this week by full-page advertisements depicting Jesus, wearing a crown of thorns but descended from the cross, enjoying a television program.
"Laughing rather than hanging around," (Lachen statt rumhaengen) reads the tagline of the ad, which has drawn strong protests in Germany, where two-thirds of the population identifies as Christian.
The ad promotes MTV's plan to broadcast a cartoon lampooning the pope and Vatican hierarchy. The series, "Popetown," was considered too controversial to be aired in Britain, and it caused an uproar in the one country where it has appeared, New Zealand.
A snippet from Now Playing Magazine describes the show:
"Popetown" is about one Father Nicholas, a priest who is in charge of the back office of the Vatican and must corral the whacked-out pope and his cardinals. The show was pulled by the BBC in 2004 because of similar protests, but MTV is describing the program as a satire, albeit one that's not for everyone's tastes, and will therefore air it as planned.
Popetown.com has a picture of the DVD's cover, which depicts an evil-looking Pope brandishing a machine gun. According to CNSNews.com, German bishops have said the magazine ad was "a provocation for Germany's Christians just a few days before Good Friday and Easter." And Joachim Herrmann of the Christian Social Union party was quoted in the article as saying that MTV would have thought twice before poking fun in a similar way at Muslims.
That's because you won't see Christians in the streets screaming insanities and threats at the world, blowing up cars or killing people.
