Student Union censors and university chaplains ordered a sketch featuring Mohammed cut from a student comedy show, because it supposedly caused great offence. Bath Impact , the student newspaper, reports that union officials said the censorship
decision had been taken to maintain the inclusivity of the university and to avoid complaints. However, it has emerged that chaplains were involved in the Union's decision, and that they had denounced the scene as graphic and
offensive. The Comedy Writing, Improvisation and Performance Society (CWIPS) staged a performance called The Bible According to CWIPS . But just four hours before the opening night a union official who attended a rehearsal told the
society that a sketch depicting the religious character Mohammed, called Cooking With Christ , had to be cut from the show. The Chaplaincy is said to have described the cut sketch as extreme , but the organisers commented that they
had: Worked very hard in order to make sure [the] material was enjoyable and pleasant for people of all faiths and background.
NSS president Terry Sanderson said:
This is another example of Islamic blasphemy codes being normalised. The decision taken assumes that Muslim students would have been offended, and takes that as a sufficient reason to curtail the students' artistic expression. It
is also very troubling to see 'inclusivity' being used as a spurious reason to shut down parts of the performance. It is telling that only material related to the Islamic Prophet Mohammed was cut. There is an atmosphere of hysteria around satirising or
criticising Islam, particularly since the Charlie Hebdo attack. We must start reclaiming ground from those who would silence free expression and satire.
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