On Thursday 24 May, high mass at the Basilica of KOEKELBERG, which had the honour of hosting a delegation of 70 priests, was somewhat disrupted. Archbishop Monsignor Leonard unfortunately was unable to participate in this great celebration, but this did not prevent a small group of people from coming to interfere with the solemn and silent procession of the Eucharist, the ritual moment of communion with God. Condoms filled with shampoo were thrown through the flocks of the faithful, red dye coloured the water in the sacred font, slogans were yelled, and on leaving the hostile assembly two helium balloons with alarms suspended from them were released and soared to the heights of the basilica. They rested against the ceiling and were to resonate their sweet melody long after their stealthy appearance.
The following text was is also dispersed in the air above the crowd:
My body, I want to feel and satisfy it, listen to its needs, desires and its cries of distress. Because they are mine.
And if I am hungry, I will not prostrate myself, I will not pray for redemption, I will not await paradise. I hate hunger, cold and suffering, so I will steal from shops, churches, the rich.
If I feel attracted to someone of the same sex, I will not confess and atone, I will not be ashamed of my love and desire. No, I will enjoy myself and voluptuously taste my body and that of my lover.
If I do not want a baby and I end up pregnant anyway, I will not feel guilty. I will not try to hide myself in the eyes of any god. No, me, if I want, I'll remove the fruit of my body and live in harmony with my decision concerning my future.
No, I will not beg, I will not pray, simply because I want neither mercy or pardon. I hold my life in my own hands and no one is worthy of my kneeling down to.
Because I have a head, and with my head I can think. I have a body, and with my body I can feel. I can be myself, develop my own thoughts, clear my own path. I set fire to the Bible, all holy books and legal codes with the sulfur of my individuality.
And by that I am now able to dream and fight anything that stifles my reveries. I can enjoy my body and my erotic imagination. I do not want to get married, ever. But I want to kiss and fuck a lot. Develop relationships based on freedom, based on a mutual understanding of desires and ideas, not on the prison bars of a compulsory eternal union.
Today I am here. I came here to block your words. Because I do not accept your lies about gods, devils and paradise. I do not accept the deadly disease you preach; the chains you forge; the hypocrisy which you smother your actions and those of your peers ; the power you wield and draw profit from ; the blood with which you build churches and palaces ; the countless wars that you've waged and continue to wage on behalf of a dead Christ and an authoritarian god. I do not accept the fables that are used for caging and destroying people.
Yes, I sin, and I shout it high and loud. It is not the devil that seduced me, but rather the hot blood that boils in my own body ; and my own thoughts that I give form to every day with what I see, experience, hear, read and sense. Religion is the death blow to life, all religions and all their preachers are responsible.
If I come today to spit in the face of one of these preachers, Bishop L. , it is because of his poisonous breath, which spreads the submission of women in books, reinforcing the position of the pious against abortion, is now the head of this patriotic institution.
I'm not afraid of the words of such a miserable mean guy.
I won't resign myself to aggressions of my being, whether they come from religion, or they come from this world that constantly brings oppression. I refuse to play the game. So, I dance to the rhythm of my life, the rythm of revolt that despises the symphonies of death.
On behalf of myself.
http://sysiphus-angrynewsfromaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/search?q=koekelberg
Translated by Sysiphus. Published in Hors service 7, July 2010.
