Christian Lawyers sue comedian Ane Lindane for "simulating masturbation" with a crucifix in a church.

After leaving the sacristy , he climbs onto the altar of an unconsecrated church and pretends to masturbate with a crucifix. All amid shouts of Hil da Jainkoa! (God is dead! in Basque ) and thanks to the audience of around 200 people gathered inside. The improvised gesture is part of a monologue by Basque comedian Ane Lindane . “We shook the foundations of Catholicism with hearty laughter. We desecrated, blasphemed, and denounced the sexual abuses of the Church ,” the performer writes alongside a video of the moment on social media. Similarly, through X, the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers has announced a complaint against these events.

According to the ultra-Catholic foundation, Lindane may have committed the crime of mockery, classified under Article 525 of the Penal Code. The president of Christian Lawyers, Polonia Castellanos , believes that "the actress went to France to do it because it is one of the few European countries where this crime is not included in its penal code." Castellanos believes that this type of behavior is "a clear example" of what could happen "in Spain if crimes against religious feelings are decriminalized," as she writes in another social media post.

The performance took place last Sunday during the Euskal Herria Zuzenean (EHZ) festival held in the town of Arberatze-Zilhekoa, in the French Basque Country (Aquitaine, France, population 300). The town's church itself was one of the venues designated by the festival organizers for the day's events. In fact, immediately afterward, Lebanese multidisciplinary artist Queer Falafel took over the program at the same venue.

“I didn't know I was going to perform in a church,” Lindane admits in a telephone conversation with EL PAÍS. “In fact, I was able to do it because it was a small town, abandoned by God—never better said. They're still un-Romanized and un-evangelized there,” he jokes with laughter. When he entered the church, he explains, he began improvising with what was around him. He recounts that he had the idea of ​​“emulating the scene from The Exorcist ” with the cross; then, making “that gesture” and, finally, beginning his “usual monologue, in which, of course, there are many digs at the Catholic Church.”

Lindane didn't think publishing the video would generate such a stir. "I've received rape and death threats from extremist groups," the artist complains. "It was all a comic fiction, a performance , since I believe comedy is as valid a tool as drama for denouncing realities, such as abuse within the Church. That's what I do in all my stand-up comedy," she maintains.

The matter has crossed a line that she considers “ridiculous.” For her, it’s “a monumental load of rubbish.” “One of the things I think we clowns are obligated to do is precisely this: point out these realities, ridicule them, humiliate them, and piss ourselves on them. That’s my obligation as a comedian,” Lindane notes.

Ane Miren Hernández, as she really is called, is a 36-year-old Basque stand-up comedian. She rose to fame thanks to social media and Despotorropen , a comedy and open-mic show for women and gender-nonconforming people that she presents with Raquel Torres. In addition, in September they return with the late-night show La Galerna , which, incidentally, houses another church, this time in Bilbao and deconsecrated: Bilborock . Lindane has also collaborated on comedy shows on Basque public radio and television and has written articles in feminist magazines.