OXFORD author Philip Pullman’s appearance at the Oxford Literary Festival failed to attract any religious demonstrators today.
As part of the festival, Mr Pullman, 63, best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy, spoke about his new book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, to about 500 people at the Sheldonian Theatre.
Mr Pullman’s book re-examines the Gospels in a story that suggests Jesus had a brother called Christ.
It was claimed last week that Mr Pullman might need security guards for the talk, after receiving angry letters, but there were no protesters outside the theatre and the writer received rapturous applause at the end of his talk.
When a member of the audience said some Christians would be offended by the book’s title, Mr Pullman replied: “No one has to read this book – no one has to pick it up.
“If you read it and dislike it you can write to me or write to the publisher.
“No one has the right to stop me writing this book or stop it from being sold and read.”
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