Star Wars fans defy church protesters over Sunday screening on the Isle of Lewis
Star Wars fans on the Isle of Lewis defied protests from church-goers yesterday, turning up to attend the first ever movie screening on a Sunday on the Hebridean island.
183 people turned up to see The Last Jedi at the An Lanntair arts venue in Stornoway.
The Presbyterian church has long demanded proper observation of the sabbath, with the local swimming pool, golf club and other amenities all closed on Sundays.
“This is a serious breach of God’s law,” Rev. David Fraser of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) told the Daily Telegraph.
“The Sabbath is to be kept holy – people are forgetting about higher things and going against the the Christian tradition of our island heritage and culture.
“There should be freedom of choice within the limits of respect of the religion and culture here.
“We are making our convictions clear – we are not trying to block people going in, but making clear what we believe in and that they should be seeking their own salvation and God’s ways. Spending Sunday in a cinema is not God’s way.”
Fraser and another protester picketed the cinema with placards yesterday as fans arrived for the screening, while a Death Star making workshop also took place beforehand.
“We have been really careful to do this in the least disruptive or offensive way. It is about a quiet afternoon for families,” said David Green, the chairman of the board at the An Lanntair centre.
“How we continue, and if we continue, with this will be decided at the end of the trial,”
“The only regret I have is that some members of staff have been put under pressure over this – some have family members who have objections for cultural or religious reasons. But no member of staff has been forced to work on a Sunday.”
It appears that attitudes have been changing on the island in recent years, however.
Despite protests, ferry services have operated on a Sunday since 2009 and more than half of the tickets have been sold for the centre’s next Sunday screening, of the new Pixar movie Coco.
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