Black Mass in OKC

It is always embarassing when I get scooped by Hemant Mehta here in my own backyard. My hometown newspaper, the Edmond Sun, is reporting on a Black Mass slated to take place here at the Civic Center in Oklahoma City, and the Catholic League is crying impotent rage tears, as per usual:

The Civic Center is funded by the taxpayers, many of whom are Catholic, and they are not obliged to pay for attacks on their religion. Moreover, there are strictures that must be respected. To be specific, performances at the Civic Center are not permitted if they violate “community standards,” including works that are “illegal, indecent, obscene, immoral or in any manner publicly offensive.” One does not have to be Catholic to know that if Catholics believe that a consecrated Host is considered sacrosanct, then public displays of desecration meet the criteria as outlined.

What country does Bill Donahue think we live in, anyhow? Just because you think a cracker is made of magical godstuff doesn’t mean you get to shut down someone else’s religious ritual or performance art, whichever this turns out to be. There is a reason why the First Amendment covers both freedom of expression and religious free excercise, after all. I do like his advice to contact the mayor, though, and I will be doing so at the earliest opportunity to thank him for making OKC a more diverse and exciting place to live.

For more information on the Dakhma of Angra Mainyu church, visit www.dakhmaofangramainyu.com and for more info on how Satanism relates to atheism in Oklahoma, please see Caleb’s excellent piece on that topic.