Waterstone's cancels poetry reading following Christian Voice protest threat
A reading by poet Patrick Jones from his collection Darkness is Where The Stars Are at a branch of Waterstone's in Cardiff has been cancelled after threats of protests by the campaigning organisation, Christian Voice.
Patrick Jones told the Western Mail: “I’m proud of this book There are poems about the state of society, poems about war. I also exercise the right to free speech and criticise certain religious practices like female circumcision, George Bush’s use of religion, as well as Christians’ treatment of homosexuality and the treatment of women, especially in Islam and Catholicism."
Waterstone’s spokesman John Howells told the Western Mail: “We have cancelled the planned event involving Patrick Jones this evening at our Cardiff Hayes branch as we felt it was not appropriate to go ahead in the light of potential disruption.
Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said:
"This is a triumph for the Lord, not for us. The Lord had not even showed me what we should do at Waterstone's, only that it should be Christlike.
"Nor was I even praying for the event be cancelled. But I now know many were, and their prayers have been answered, by a mighty God. We have not even had to go down to the battleground, let alone fight (2Chr 20:17). Just the knowledge that we were on our way has put the fear of God into the opposition.
"But the fact is, we were prepared to go and do something, and it is that which I believe caused Almighty God to take our prayers seriously and perform a miracle."
Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society told Media Watch that he thinks the time has come for the police to get involved.
"Stephen Green is becoming a real threat to artistic freedom. It seems a mere phone call from him threatening some kind of demonstration can cause a bookshop to capitulate to his demands and cancel an artistic event. His increasingly bullying behaviour needs to be challenged by the police. We simply cannot allow this man to dictate what can and cannot be said by artists. It is really up to the authorities to protect artists and their promoters from such intimidation."
Update: 16.11.2008
More on this story from BBC News, including the fact that Jones sent copies of his poems to religious organisations "to stir up debate".
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