Tales of Mary Magdalene and a 21st-century stripper hooked on heroin; Jesus Christ doing time at Guantanamo for aspiring to be a martyr; they’re just a few of the plays taking place at the Scottish festival.

Reuters:

Playwrights and comedians at the world’s largest arts festival have boldly marched into the minefield of religious extremism this year to explode myths and destroy taboos.

Little is off limits for artists at the Edinburgh Fringe, with a record 50 shows about religion, covering Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

Tackling faith has become a tempting challenge after the government introduced the Racial and Religious Hatred Act which sought to give all faiths equal protection, but was condemned by comedians such as Rowan Atkinson who feared it would turn satire into a criminal offence.

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