“I refuse to give in to religious extremists,” vigorously launches Didier Boessenbacher, the pastor of the Saint-Guillaume church in Strasbourg. While Bilal Hassani’s concert scheduled in a desecrated church was canceled in Metz on Wednesday, this religious refuses to do the same in the Alsatian capital when he is threatened with death. In question: two shows organized in his parish, on March 29 and 30.
“It was two evenings mixing organ, singing and pole dancing”, explains Didier Boessenbacher. And it is indeed the performance of a gymnast around a metal bar during these two evenings which is in the crosshairs of writings found under the door of the church, on Saturday April 1st. “In a letter, we could read that the parishioners had to be beheaded and that our church was a cabaret. And on another sheet slipped under the door, an anonymous writing called for my head to be cut off, ”says the pastor.
For several years, the parish of Saint-Guillaume has regularly hosted cultural events such as the screening of the film “The Exorcist” or the organization of an escape game. “We are committed to hosting original and cultural events to attract younger devotees. It is not these death threats that will make us go back, ”promises Didier Bossenbacher.
While two new shows combining opera and pole dance will take place again in the Strasbourg parish on May 31 and June 1, police rounds will take place around the building after the pastor filed a complaint.