Star Wars fans attend first ever Sunday cinema screening on Isle of Lewis despite church protests
Down with this sort of space thing
On Sunday, Star Wars fans on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides witnessed the full firepower of completely operational protestors. Well, two of them.
Free Church minister Rev James MacIver and one of his followers turned up to the Isle’s An Lanntair arts centre to object to the screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi on a Sunday. The pair stood outside the cinema with “remember the Sabbath to keep it holy” placards, telling the 183 cinemagoers they found their lack of Christian faith disturbing.
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Although the screening at Lewis’s only cinema had sold out, Rev MacIver described the incident as a “serious breach of God's law”. Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: "The Sabbath is to be kept holy – people are forgetting about higher things and going against 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.”
He added: “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."
The swimming pool, sports centre and golf club on the island remain shut on Sundays and at one point even local park swings were locked down at dusk on Saturdays.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in cinemas now
Authors
Thomas is Digital editor at BBC Science Focus. Writing about everything from cosmology to anthropology, he specialises in the latest psychology, health and neuroscience discoveries. Thomas has a Masters degree (distinction) in Magazine Journalism from the University of Sheffield and has written for Men’s Health, Vice and Radio Times. He has been shortlisted as the New Digital Talent of the Year at the national magazine Professional Publishers Association (PPA) awards. Also working in academia, Thomas has lectured on the topic of journalism to undergraduate and postgraduate students at The University of Sheffield.