There will be some who will say that without Saturday night's disturbances Behzti (Dishonour) would have been consigned to the pages of history as another Asian play.

But not anymore.

After such intense television and radio coverage a debate has begun over freedom of speech and "blatant censorship" - the Rep's words - versus cultural and religious insensitivity.

Neither side looks like backing down and tonight the play is scheduled to re-open. So the first question has to be: is anyone breaking the law?

Protests, say the police, are fine but they have to be peaceful.

Superintendent Russell Smith, from West Midlands Police, said: "Our stance is to enable people to make a peaceful protest.

"But they have to respect the public and they have to respect the people who want to actually attend."

Broken windows

This one was not entirely peaceful.

According to the Birmingham Rep some protesters broke windows.

A young Sikh man I spoke to said most of the 400-odd demonstrators were old men and women. He was there on Saturday night.

Kam Singh did not condone the violence. But he admitted there were some hotheads whose passions were inflamed.

"But why did they have to set the play in a temple with all our holy symbols?" asked Mr. Singh.

He said the play was racist.

Inquiry report

A lawyer might well argue there are grounds for a police investigation.

After all, the following is enshrined in the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report:

• That the definition should be: "A racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person."
• That the term "racist incident" must be understood to include crimes and non-crimes in policing terms. Both must be reported, recorded and investigated with equal commitment.

• That this definition should be universally adopted by the police, local government and other relevant agencies.

But some politicians have another take.

'New climate'

The Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris says the problems have been exacerbated by proposals for laws to incitement to religious hatred.

Dr Harris is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.

He says the proposed new law has "created a climate whereby any religion's assertion that their beliefs, leaders, icons and places of worship are protected from criticism, ridicule or parody".

So one side says sacrilege, the other declares rubbish.

Sikh campaigners say theatre managers and the playwright should answer the following question - would the play lose any meaning or impact if it were set in a community centre rather than a temple?

What this reminds me of, so far in a very small sort of way, is the row over Satanic Verses, the Salman Rushdie book.

Prominence given to a book that few had heard of until a fatwa had been issued against its author

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Prayer group Christian Voice said the hit musical was "totally offensive".

The BBC has received 900 complaints since the broadcast, with 500 people calling or e-mailing in support.

Those come after 47,000 complaints were received before transmission. But the corporation has denied BBC Two controller Roly Keating was in hiding.

The musical, which has been in London theatres for three years, features Jesus, Mary and God as guests on Springer's TV show and up to 300 swear words.

He said the show was "much worse" than he expected when he saw it and said it portrayed Jesus as a "coprophiliac sexual deviant". A coprophiliac is someone sexually aroused by faeces.

"[Jesus] proclaims he is a bit gay, he has this shouting match with the devil - it's just foul-mouthed tirades against the devil and against his blessed mother," Mr Green said.

"The damage that must have done to impressionable young people is incalculable."

He said his group would meet lawyers this week to begin legal action, adding he did not ask the police to undertake a blasphemy investigation because "we don't have a great deal of confidence in the ability of the police to take any action".

The BBC has defended the award-winning opera, saying: "We are pleased that a wider audience has been able to see an important piece of contemporary culture."

"This has been reported to the police in the normal way. The calls followed the publication of their private numbers on a campaigning group's website," the BBC added.

The Metropolitan Police said they had no record of complaints about threats.

Christian Voice, who posted the phone numbers on their website, said they had nothing to do with the alleged abuse.

"We totally abhor stuff like that, it does no credit to the cause of Christ," Mr Green said. "But I was a bit naive in thinking perhaps our website would only be visited by Christians."

Hundreds of Christian protesters rallied outside BBC buildings on Saturday before and during the broadcast.

Mr Green said his group may now turn its attention to lobbying the Cambridge Theatre, London, where the stage show is currently in production.

A spokesperson for the stage show said there were "sizeable" protests outside the theatre at the weekend and they had enlisted security staff to protect the cast and audiences.

More than 1.7 million viewers watched the opera on BBC Two on Saturday.