Behemoth Frontman Comes Under Fire for Bible Destruction
You'd think there was a statute of limitations on Bible defilement, but in Poland, perhaps not. You see, it's been more than two years since Behemoth frontman Adam 'Nergal' Darski destroyed a Bible on stage during a concert in the band's native Poland, stirring considerable controversy there. Yet, now, all of a sudden, the nation's conservative political party, Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc, is calling for Nergal's arrest and prosecution.
The group claims Nergal offended people's religious beliefs, which of course is prosecutable under Polish law. The incident went down back in September 2007, when Nergal was said to have called the Catholic Church "the most murderous cult on the planet" during a Behemoth gig in Gdynia. He then tore up a copy of the Bible on stage. The band's bassist, Tomasz 'Orion' Wróblewski, said it's something the band had been doing for two years running.
"We'd been doing that for two years on tour before it happened in Poland," he told Decibel last year. "So, we had discussed it many times before. A Behemoth show is a Behemoth show, and Behemoth fans are coming to a Behemoth show. Behemoth fans know what Behemoth is about, know what the lyrics are about, and know at least a little of the philosophy behind the band. So it's kind of surprising that there are people coming to the shows and feeling offended with what we do on stage. If such a person comes to a show, he comes with the purpose of being offended, I guess, and it shouldn't be like that. We're not offending any particular person. We're just offending the religion that we've been raised in."
But Ryszard Nowak, the head of the All-Polish Committee for Defense Against Sects, has registered an official complaint with authorities in Poland regarding the concert, which prompted a criminal investigation back in February 2008 that was nixed three months later.
"He attempted to bring me to court twice, but a council before the court -- I'm not sure of the name -- [dismissed] the case," Darski told Decibel. "Then the guy kept on calling me a criminal in public, so what I did was I went to the court and told them I felt offended by what he did because I'm not a criminal. I'm actually as far from being a criminal as I can be. I actually consider myself a pretty important part of society. I pay big taxes, and for many people around the world, they know about Poland because of Behemoth."
But the case was apparently reopened Jan. 13, with Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc claiming Nergal's actions amount to nothing less than a "massive attack on Catholics" and the group is asking prosecutors to look into whether Nergal committed a crime by destroying the Bible.