LONDON (RNS) - The BBC's decision to broadcast a recording of the hit West End show Jerry Springer - The Opera has aroused strong reaction from some British Christians.

Even before the television show was broadcast Jan. 8, the BBC received 47,000 complaints..

The Sunday Telegraph lined up a panel of five commentators to watch the show. Two - Stephen Green, director of Christian Voice, and Pippa Smith, representing Mediawatch, found it offensive. Two others - Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, and Terry Sanderson, of the National Secular Society, were quite happy with it.

The fifth member of the panel was the evangelical Anglican columnist and broadcaster Anne Atkins, whose overwhelming reaction was one of "incredible boredom."

Since its initial screening, the BBC has received 900 complaints and 500 messages of support.