"You cannot make God a fairytale!" declared the woman in the second row, her face blotchy with outrage. "The Blessed Mother and Mary Magdalen are holy people. They would never act like the people in your book." (Who are guilty, from time to time, of humor, outspokenness, and occasional irreverence).
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This appearance at a public library was the last of long drawn-out book tour. I'd presented my novel The Passion of Mary Magdalen close to eighty times all over the country in all sorts of venues. People always asked if my book had stirred up controversy, but in all that time I had never come up against this. Until that night.
"Your book is offensive. It is blasphemous. It has hurt me. God has anger," the woman warned. "If God were in this room right now," (which apparently he was not) "God would be so angry with you. You cannot escape the anger of God."
The rest of my audience -- mostly senior citizens from my aunt's Congregational church -- sat in embarrassed silence, except for one seminary student in the front row who clearly wanted a theological brawl. But this was my show.
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