Unholy

Diane Flacks

• Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780369100276
• eBook ISBN: 9780369100290
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Canadian Drama
• Index: Literature

Should women abandon religion?

Four female panellists face off in a wild, whip-smart televised debate about the intersection of religion and misogyny. On one side, there's Maryam, a progressive Muslim lawyer, and Yehudit, an Orthodox Jewish spiritual leader. The other has Liz, a lesbian antitheist pundit, and Margaret, an excommunicated nun. The debaters wrestle with themselves and with each other: Can you be a feminist and believe in religion? What can or can't be forgiven? Why do we have faith to begin with? Between the arguments, each of the debaters return to a seminal and secret moment in their past that represents a crisis of faith, leading the debate to become more and more personally charged, until it climaxes in an epic battle.

Unholy delves into the biblical struggles that tear us apart and make us who we are. It's about having the courage to take the leap in life and into love. What is more holy than that?

The stage is set up for a debate with two teams. There are four comfortable chairs, situated behind two tables, and a podium in the centre. The chairs all have mics.

A slide at the back of the stage reads, “Should Women Abandon Religion? A Unique Ideas Now Debate, with your host: Richard Morris.”

At the downstage is a long, low narrow beam.

There are four panellists on stage. On one side is Maryam, a poised young lawyer wearing a light silk scarf around her neck, and Yehudit, a confident Orthodox Jewish scholar in her late thirties to early forties. On the other side is Liz, a middle-aged antitheist, stylishly dressed, and Margaret, an ex-nun in her seventies.

At a podium is the moderator, Richard, smooth, charming, smarter than he looks.

Lights snap up on the debate. They are mid-fight, all loudly talking at once, concurrently, overlapping. The debate is played realistically — the women listening and taking notes and fighting for their points.

Maryam: No no no wait wait wait —

Liz: Answer the question —

Maryam: Listen, listen —

Yehudit: Unbelievable!

Richard: One at a time! One at a time.

Liz: I’m simply asking —

Margaret: Richard . . . Can we . . . oh my . . .

Yehudit: Outrageous!

Liz: Wow, this is —

Maryam: I’m trying to —

Richard: All right all right all right! One at a time! Ladies ladies! Mics!

Richard motions to the booth to cut off the women’s mics, which they do. For a minute, everyone is still arguing with less sound.

(to audience) That was Dominic. Give us a flash, Dominic.

The stage lights flash.

Dominic is our floor director. He’s the grand overseer of the five TV cameras that are recording this debate tonight for our YouTube channel. He swears this debate will help us break one million views and I tip my hat to that. Now, ladies, ladies, ladies, we appreciate your passion, believe me, and I did promise a brief free discussion before your opening statements, but free does not mean yelling. We have to at least be able to hear / each other —

Liz starts talking, despite her mic being off. After a beat, Richard motions for it to be restored.

Liz: What I hear, with respect, are apologists. Look, Richard, I want to say that every religion has at its core a hard and polished gem of beauty. I want to say that the goal of religion is to bring love and compassion to this sadistic and lonely world. I want to say that . . . But I can’t. Because it’s not true. In Tennessee, a bill was voted into law almost unanimously, and it’s one of a wave of these bills eviscerating the US — in this handmaid’s-tale dystopian deathly reality show we are living in — but this one is for schools: the Religious Viewpoints Anti-Discrimination Act. Sounds affirming, right? Like “men’s rights”? Or “REAL Women” or “alt-right”? Or “populist.”

Well, it would allow homophobic kids to physically assault gay kids in the name of freedom of religious expression. This is happening now.

Yehudit: Exactly. In the name of religion. Religion is being used. I can’t speak for the alt-right Christians, but in Orthodox Judaism this is not acceptable. A key tenet is Kvod HaBriyot, respect for all creations, for human / dignity.

Liz: This is happening now, in the name of our religion: in Jerusalem, an eight-year-old girl is surrounded and spat on by a group of bearded, sweating Haredi men for “dressing immodestly.” She’s eight! She should be able to dress like a unicorn if she wants to!

Richard laughs.

Or a TV host. Journalist?

Richard: Ya.

Liz: Ya. This is happening now: ISIS, ISIL, whatever, are —

Maryam: We prefer “Daesh,” which is pejorative.

Liz: You don’t want to talk about ISIS, can we talk about Boko Haram, then? Which translates as “education is forbidden,” if I’m not mistaken, Maryam?

Maryam: I don’t speak Arabic. I’m Iranian. I speak Farsi. / As you know.

Liz: Do you? Remember those two hundred girls who were kidnapped in Nigeria four years ago? We had to forget about them in the face of the next atrocity perpetrated in the name of Islam. Boko Haram is now using girls as walking explosives, / as human bombs —

Maryam: Boko Haram do not represent Islam. The prophet Mohammad, upon him be peace, said the opposite, “seek education from the cradle to the grave.”

Liz: And if you’re a Muslim girl, seeking education can get you shot in the face.

Richard: Margaret — you believe that women sh...

Table of contents

• Preface
• Characters
• Unholy
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author