Two Lebanese channels, Hezbollah's Al-Manar and NBN, owned by the speaker of the Parliament Nahi Berry, canceled an Iranian-produced television series depicting the life of Jesus following protests by Lebanese Christian groups, reports The Associated Press. NBN is affiliated with the leader of the Amal movement in Lebanon.

According to the Malaysian national news agency Bernama, the controversial 17-episode program described the Qur'anic version of the story of Jesus Christ. Although Jesus is a revered prophet in Islam, the Qur'an claims that Jesus ascended to heaven while he was still alive. Muslims differ from Christians on the topic of the influential prophet, as Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.

The television series is based on “The Messiah,” a film directed by Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh. The film received an award from the Vatican, heralded for promoting dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

Christians across Lebanon protested against the airing of the series, offended at the content. Eman El-Ahmar for The Daily Star explains that protesters gathered at the Catholic Media Center in Jal Al-Dib in the Metn district on August 13. Maronite Bishop Beshara Rai held a news conference, which turned into a heated debate. The argument took a turn for the worst despite the channels announcement to stop airing the series, when members of different Christian sects began arguing about who had “defended Jesus” more fervently.

Rai met with Beirut MP Nadim Gemayel, with Information Minister Tarek Mitri joining the conference. Gemayel, a Christian Maronite, firmly asserted his position. “We will not leave this place before we get what we came here for. This intrusion upon Christianity and our religion threatens national peace, and we are more than capable of taking this to the streets,” he stated.

Rai, a pastor of the Maronite Church in Byblos in Metn, stated that the story was the “biggest insult to the Lord Jesus Christ, and his church.” “By canceling the show, [Al-Manar and NBN] have given up large sums of money, and that is more important than any apology,” the bishop acknowledged.

According to iloubnan.info, Al-Manar and NBN published a joint statement about the decision to suspend broadcasting the series, stating that the stations “decided to stop airing it ... to prevent any attempt to use it in a negative way.” The series was originally supposed to air during Ramadan, a month when TV rating increases.

Some people speculated that the Lebanese General Security Office ordered both stations to suspend the series. However, the office denied the allegations and published a statement contradiction theirs. The statement elaborated that the General Security had reached an agreement with both channels, religious authorities and politicians to “stop broadcasting the series, as an initiative taken by the management of both networks.”

This situation re-sparked further debate regarding religion and free speech in Lebanon, where Christian and Muslim sects co-exist. The political structure in Lebanon, which dictates that the president must be a Maronite Christian and the Prime Minister must be a Sunni Muslim, deliberately distributes representation across the faiths. A series about the main figure in Christianity through an Islamic point of view resonated with many groups in the politically and religiously-charged environment.

For the Babylon & Beyond blog at the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Gallagher and Meris Lutz report that Talebzadeh, complained about the decision to the Iranian TV Channel 2. “[Lebanese Christian groups'] protest seems to be political to some extent,” he suggested.

According to Gallagher and Lutz, “The debate over the series also touches on the issue of free speech in Lebanon, which is considered freer than most countries in the region but which often censors cultural productions deemed too lewd, politically charged or offensive to religion.”

Bassim Hakim expressed his disappointment with the campaign against the television series. “The country of freedom fails the test of freedom, and it is the same country that cannot protect its journalists,” he wrote in an article for Lebanese daily newspaper Al-Akhbar.