Religious Group harnesses power of FaceBook to ban gig

This post was originally posted on Freedom4All, you can view the original in the Freedom4all archive

The Catholic Group ‘Catholics Taking Action’ have successfully used Facebook to oppose the ‘Black Metal’ festival scheduled to run in Sydney, Australia next weekend. 

The facebook page states that a ‘satanic festival’ is scheduled to take place and that it is ‘disgraceful’. 

The advertising which features the insignia of the Church of Satan and an inverted crucifix is encouraging people to come and partake in an “unholy spell to be cast upon the city of Sydney” featuring the “ultimate of soul possessing occult revelations...unbridled blasphemy... [and] a union of all things unholy”. 

The group has elicited such support that the host – Returned & Services League – has withdrawn its support for the event. The organiser’s promoters have written that RSL have withdrawn from the event on forums here. 

They have blatantly cancelled with no prior notice and with no option of negotiation or compromise. They have sadly bowed under pressure from Christians who have lobbied them to cancel the show 

The posting notes the timing of the protest, which due to it’s late hour has left the organisers little time to seek out an alternative venue. The planned venue has been used in the past for numerous alternative gigs and one can easily see why the promoters are disgruntled. 

Supporters of the event have, not unsurprisingly, set up their own facebook page.

Is it right?

We all have the right to hold our own beliefs and opinions, and we all reserve the right to be offended by what others say and do. Do we have the right, however, to control what others do? 

Do we have the right to prevent others from participating in a relatively harmless activity? Can we afford ourselves such a level of arrogance that we may hold our own beliefs above those of everyone around us? 

This is exactly what ‘Christians Taking Action’ have chosen to do. Because they believe that their religion is the only true way, they have actively acted in order to prevent others from attending a gig that they believe to be ‘satanistic’. The event’s organisers may have referred to satanism in their advertising, but this matters little; 

Do we believe it right to try and prevent the building of Mosque’s in our communities (and we’re not saying it doesn’t happen.). Do we believe it tolerant to try and keep the Jews out of our community? 

So why is it considered right for a group to try and disrupt a legal event because they believe it to be ‘illegal’? The actions of Christians Taking Action are nothing but censorship. As such, they should not be tolerated. 

Everyone is free to hold their own beliefs and opinions, but no-one has the right to try and enforce those beliefs on any other.