"What would happen if someone hung placards outside a Roman Catholic church attacking the ‘blasphemy and heresy of John Paul II,’ or the ‘blasphemy of Muhammad’ at a mosque?" said Mariusz Maikowski, a pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Lublin in eastern Poland, in a statement monitored by Swiss-based Adventist Press Service (APD). "These actions are clearly illegal [in Poland], yet the local council has said and done nothing," he said in remarks seen by BosNewsLife Friday, November 11.
The posters were reportedly captioned, "The blasphemy and heresy of Martin Luther", and pictured a ‘devil’ whispering in the Protestant reformer’s ear.
They were displayed throughout Lublin, one of Poland’s largest cities, to advertise lectures by Ryszard Mozgol, an official with Poland’s National Remembrance Institute, the body charged with handling records of the country’s communist-era secret police.
490TH ANNIVERSARY
The lectures were held on October 15 and 31, the 490th anniversary of Luther’s Protestant Reformation, and were planned by the Organization of Polish Monarchists, APD reported. Founded in 1989, the group claims to have several thousand members and seeks to establish a "Catholic state" within Poland. Of Poland’s 38 million people, 95 percent are Roman Catholic, according to estimates.
“It’s shocking and unbelievable that depictions of Luther as anti-Christ could still be appearing in the 21st Century," Maikowski said, adding that the campaign had "caused deep offense" to Lublin’s Protestant and Orthodox communities. He urged local prosecutors to mount an investigation.
The Rev. Dariusz Chwastek, a Lutheran pastor from Lublin, described the posters as "highly damaging." Chwastek, who overseas Lublin’s Holy Trinity parish, said, "I think too much blood has flowed, and too many stakes been burned, to re-ignite these disputes again centuries later," APD reported
The monarchist organization’s president, Lukasz Kluska, refused to apologize and was quoted by Poland’s media as saying that minority church representatives could have presented their opinions during the lecture.
