Lakewood Streets Fill With Religious Protests Again!

[Jim O'Bryan]

Tonight the group The American Society for the Defense of Tradition Family and Property hit
the streets in front of The Beck Center, to protest the musical and satire, "Jerry Springer
The Opera." A smash musical from Broadway that has been getting rave reviews and wild
protests wherever it plays.


Protesters lined up outside of The Beck center for the second night of Jerry Springer
the Opera. Which was sold out and very few seats remain for the hit musical from
Broadway. The protesters were local and some flown in from The American Society For
The Defense Of Tradition Family and Prosperty. A group along with another group
from Kansas that has put together a war chest of $12 million dollars to travel and
protest the musical.


Joining in was Lakewood's "Joe" who has been sitting in silent vigil on Sundays at
St. James, and now was here to protest the satire.


Paul Sykes from the Beck Café showed just how much we love visitors, even rioters
by coming out and offering them coffee to stay warm.


And of course there were some fun lovers and lovers of the Beck Center there, just to
make sure things were taken in perspective.


It would seem the fun lovers got most of the TV attnetion.


Which drove some of the out of towners to the point of pushing and yelling sinner at them.

WOW, what a night at the Beck.

If you want tickets you better hurry, most shows sold out!

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[Grace O'Malley]

That's hysterical. If they think the play makes Catholics look bad and that's what bothers them, then why don't they protest in front of the bishop's office for moving pedophile priests from parish to parish?

Just seems like a big to-do about nothing.

[sharon kinsella]

Instead of making the world a better place and living their religion by feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, they do this. Things that make you go hmmmm...

[jennifer scott]

What great press for The Beck....as the saying goes, "I'd rather get talked about...."
For all the great things The Beck Center does it's too bad that this is what gets all the attention.

If I were Gary I would say with a or two....
Back to the banjo.

[Jim O'Bryan]

What great press for The Beck....as the saying goes, "I'd rather get talked about...."
For all the great things The Beck Center does it's too bad that this is what gets all the attention.

Cindy handled this perfectly as did the city.

Great night for free speech, and the arts.

I really have to give a tip of the hat to Paul Sykes at Beck Café for offering coffee to protesters, police and
media alike as it turned cold. The police we just very supportive of everyone while keeping it safe. And
with the exception of one shoving incident, everyone involved seemed to get along, and respect while the
others were there.

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[Gary Rice]

Someone call for a banjo here?

Actually, I have no idea what religious traditions, if any, might be celebrated by that coffee provider, but I believe that to be the most religious expression that I've seen in a long time.

Certainly a brave and unselfish act, to be sure.

Conscience is quite a thing, is it not? It compels each of us to action, sometimes in ways that we never thought that we would.

I well understand the "freedom of expression" side of this, as well as the other side. My personal sympathies, quite frankly, lie with people of faith; as they increasingly see their faith traditions being scrutinized or worse, from virtually every side these days.

Still, in a country like ours, that "freedom of expression" business works both ways.

The goal, at least to me, still remains that Biblical dream about the lion making peace with the lamb.

With a simple "virtual communion" of coffee, that appeared to come about as close to happening as I've seen lately.

Back to the banjo... This is a pretty nice place that we live in, is it not?

[Jerry Ritcey]

I get the feeling the "chart" sign person isn't so much offended at "Catholics" being offended (he's their rep?) but really itching to say some offensive things about Blacks, Jews, and Homosexuals.

[Colleen Wing]

I love the irony of the endless pissing and moaning thread about the "ark" being mentioned in a quote on the schools sign and comments about racist section 8 housing post is viewed as outrageous and offensive but a comment about all Catholic priests being pediphile is okey-dokey. A great day for tolerance. Thumbs up.

[Christopher Bindel]

Wow, I have been out of the loop for a couple of days and I am sad I missed this. This would have been an entertaining site. Thanks for the photos and the story. It looks like this was good free advertisement for the Beck and the show!

[Bryan Schwegler]

What great publicity for the Beck. There were even people talking about it at work over on the east side and I've never heard them saying anything about the Beck before. They're even thinking about attending the show.

[J Hrlec]

I love the irony of the endless pissing and moaning thread about the "ark" being mentioned in a quote on the schools sign and comments about racist section 8 housing post is viewed as outrageous and offensive but a comment about all Catholic priests being pediphile is okey-dokey. A great day for tolerance. Thumbs up.

Yes, this ^ /thumbsup

[Jim O'Bryan]

I love the irony of the endless pissing and moaning thread about the "ark" being mentioned in a quote on the schools sign and comments about racist section 8 housing post is viewed as outrageous and offensive but a comment about all Catholic priests being pediphile is okey-dokey. A great day for tolerance. Thumbs up.

Yes, this ^ /thumbsup

Colleen

Would not say it was pissing and moaning, the the real truth of the way and how it got thee has yet to be
put out there, though it appears in a great article in the LHS Times newspaper. And I would agree that it is
foolish to complain about all priests being pedophiles, when it was the administration of the church that was
truly the enemy of followers, children and the word of God. But hose are very legal issues with laws set in stone.

However you comment, about tolerance is spot on. We need more of that, and more critical thinking.

To me, it was a great day for the first amendment. With the exception on one shoving and yelling. All parties
seemed to get along, like the hospitality shown by the Beck and the City, and had fun discussing their
platforms and heir differences. It was a very good day for Lakewood, and great PR for the Beck.

.

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[Mike Zannoni]

I love the irony of the endless pissing and moaning thread about the "ark" being mentioned in a quote on the schools sign and comments about racist section 8 housing post is viewed as outrageous and offensive but a comment about all Catholic priests being pediphile is okey-dokey. A great day for tolerance. Thumbs up.

I agree. You have a point. No has come promptly and bravely to the rescue of all the non-pedophillic priests out there, unfairly lumped in with the pedophillic ones. It seems to be Blacks good, Christianity bad up in here.

What's up with that?

[Jim O'Bryan]

Check out the review, the rap of the protest and a letter from Cindy Einhouse, President and CEO of The Beck
Center in the latest edition of the Lakewood Observer.



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