Protestant church receives death threats after pole dance show in church

The Saint-Guillaume church in Strasbourg is targeted by death threats after a performance.

The spectators were able to discover in the church a performance combining music and dance, with in particular an artistic pole dance show.

Anonymous and threatening letters. This is the unpleasant discovery made last Saturday by two people from the Protestant church of Saint-Guillaume in Strasbourg, reports the Latest News from Alsace, information confirmed by BFM Alsace.

When the civil service official and a parish official opened the church to visitors, they came across two handwritten threatening letters, slipped under the door, calling for parishioners to be beheaded for accepting a dance performance, held in the church the night before. The pastor also received a third letter threatening him.

A pole dance show decried

The crow(s) evoke(s) a show offered last week in the church. On Wednesday and Thursday, two concerts were organized in the parish of Saint-Guillaume by the association "Les Ornements - Passions Croisées".

"A large number of people came to attend this show, which represents open-mindedness and tolerance, which are values carried by our parish on a daily basis", the parish welcomed in a Facebook post.

The author of the anonymous letter refers to the pole dance show, presented by Vincent Grobelny, Alsatian and European champion in the discipline. The representation was intended to be artistic, far from the tumultuous image generally given. The dancer also performed in the aerial fabric, seven meters above the ground and in the hoop.

"We voluntarily combine classical music and dance (...) we are in the 21st century, we want to interest the new generations, show that the music is modern", indicated Cyril Pallaud, artistic coordinator of the Saint- Guillaume de Strasbourg, at the microphone of BFM Alsace, last week.

A complaint lodged

Daniel Boessenbacher, the pastor of the parish of Saint-Guillaume reacted. "I can understand that dancing can shock in the church but from there, to utter death threats, it is intolerable", judges the latter, who filed a complaint.

(1 Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians 

5:15 See that none render evil for evil to any man; but ever follow that which is good towards each other, and towards all men

Videte ne quis malum pro malo alicui reddat : sed semper quod bonum est sectamini in invicem, et in omnes. )

"I don't think we should let ourselves be stopped by these kinds of threats or by two or three individuals with very closed ideas. For me, the church is made to open up. Of course, we can't do anything, but you have to address people in a contemporary language, in 21st century ways, while keeping the message of the Gospel," he said.

"People often judge without having seen. The people who were there were not at all shocked and found it admirable to combine music and body expression. It gave an additional dimension to the biblical story. The reactions of those present were really positive", concludes the latter.

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