Although the cathedral took to social media to rave about the "fantastic atmosphere", the event received a rather mixed reception.

Accompanied by the demonstration of the Christian believers who gathered in front of the building, ignoring their written protest, thousands of people held a so-called silent disco with the approval of Archbishop Justin Welby in the famous Canterbury Cathedral in Kent on Thursday and Friday: while bathed in colorful lights, holding glow sticks and wearing headphones, which blew the music of the 90s directly into their ears, hundreds of people danced in the cathedral , Christian protesters demanded the stopping of the disco in front of the seat of the Anglican bishop until late into the night, CNN reported.

Canterbury Cathedral was built around 597 and is a World Heritage Site.

But the beautiful church interior Thursday night looked more like a '90s nightclub than a dignified place of worship, Breitbart reports.

Canterbury Cathedral is one of England's oldest and most famous Christian centers and the seat of the Anglican Bishopric of Canterbury. As we know from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the cathedral has been an important place of pilgrimage since its construction.

Bishop St. Thomas Becket (the patron saint of politicians), Archbishop of Canterbury II. King Henry's mercenaries.

The essence of a silent disco is that the music is not played through speakers, but through headphones - so your event can have up to two DJs playing different types of music at the same time. This does not make the event quiet: the participants naturally shout, scream, and make noise.

A spokesperson for the cathedral told CNN that the response has been "overwhelmingly positive," adding that 3,000 tickets for the events sold out within hours. As reported by the American news television, the guests danced to the music of the Spice Girls, Vengaboys and Eminem.

By Friday afternoon, 1,700 people had already signed the petition in which the faithful protested against the event, calling on Archbishop Justin Welby to "not desecrate this holy place" with the disco.

Cajetan Skowronski, who organized the petition, underlined in his message to the archbishop: "This will not bring young people closer to Christ! Rather, it sends the message that Christ and his church and all the truth, beauty, and goodness it offers are insignificant. That entertainment deserves our attention more than God. That Christians do not take their faith and holy places seriously," highlighted The Guardian.

Although Skowronski called: "Let's make the cathedral a house of prayer again!", his words fell on deaf ears for the time being.

Skowronski told local newspaper Kent Online: "While the dean (Canterbury Dean David Monteith - ed.) respected our right to protest, he was dismissive of our petition, saying we were an extreme minority."

It is forbidden in front of the cathedral. The protestors stood in front of the building and sang church songs during the disco event, Kent Online reported. The participants of the demonstration told the local newspaper: they do not want "an alcoholic rampage to the music of Eminem in the house of God".

" Saint Augustine (Saint Augustine of Canterbury, "the apostle of the English", who landed in Kent with his companions in AD 597 - ed.) landed here nearly 1,500 years ago, and tonight there will be a rave there"! - shouted one of the demonstrators, Tom Alberto.

Híradó.hu

Cover image: Canterbury Cathedral
Source: Rafa Esteve/ Commons.wikimedia.org