Pussy Riot nomination for free speech prize divides Reformation town

The town where the Protestant Reformation was launched 500 years ago has come under sharp criticism from churchgoers over its nomination of the Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot for a freedom of speech prize.

The town council of Lutherstadt Wittenberg recommended Pussy Riot for the national prize named in honour of Martin Luther, who nailed his 95 theses to a church door in 1517 and was excommunicated by the Catholic church when he refused to retract them.

Town authorities said the moral courage shown by Pussy Riot was similar to that demonstrated by Luther. But the decision has angered many Germans of various religious convictions who argue that they cannot support the decision to fete a band who protested in an Orthodox church.

Three members of Pussy Riot were convicted this summer of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after staging a “punk prayer” in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour church, where they urged the Virgin Mary to banish Vladimir Putin from Russia. One of the three was freed on appeal on Wednesday; the two others are serving two-year prison sentences.

The theologian Friedrich Schorlemmer accused the band of blasphemy and said giving the band the prize would be an insult to Christians. “It would send a horrendous signal if Pussy Riot won this prize,” he said. “Yes, support these young women, but not for the rubbish they were singing in a church. If that kind of performance had taken place in the cathedrals of Magdeburg or Cologne, imagine what the response would have been.”

Heiner Friedrich List, one of the Wittenberg town council members who opposed the nomination, said he would now fight for it to be quashed. He described the band members as “chaotic shrews” who after breaking into the church wearing masks “made bigoted and insulting statements”.

However, Volkmar Joestel, a local historian who has written several books on Luther, said the band’s stand against the overly powerful Russian state was very much in the spirit of Luther. “Just that alone deserves every honour,” he said.

A final decision will be taken in November by delegates from 16 towns with links to Luther. Previous Luther prize winners have included journalists from the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, a Muslim woman attacked for not wearing a headscarf, and a policewoman who fought rightwing extremism.

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