Montreal says it will fine church after ‘MAGA superstar’ concert goes ahead without permit
https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/montreal-plans-to-shut-down-maga-superstar-singers-show-over-permits/Open linkView original on lemmy.ca472
Comments84https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/montreal-plans-to-shut-down-maga-superstar-singers-show-over-permits/Open linkView original on lemmy.ca
This douche just tried to play a public park in PEI and some local goofballs decided to have a counter protest in the form of a vuvuzela party. Same time. Same day. Same place.
After that the city decided it might be best to pull the permit. He ended up playing in a backwoods church to a handful of regular church members.
Then he tried to play in Moncton and the city pulled their permit. The only other place he could play on such short notice was a church in the woods 2 hours away. I think 20 people showed up.
His entire tour is a hilarious failure.
He did the same in Halifax, tried to play, permit got pulled, performed at a crappy church instead
In Jesus' name
What kind of lousy church puts on a “MAGA” concert???
A racist one.
I’m guessing you’ve never visited The South.
I expect better from Canada. Especially Montreal.
The only good things about Montreal are the architecture and strippers.
The biking network and bike share.
The early child care system.
The metro lines.
The mountain.
The numerous walkable neighbourhoods.
And that it's further up the St Lawrence, so if we see the beginning of a flood, we can just tell Legault to park his fat ass by the river bank in Levis and let nature sort it out.
I like how you mentioned good urbanism three times, LOL. It's crazy how so few people seem to get it.
But the strippers are just the cat’s ass.
The bee's knees, as it were.
Racial tolerance and diversity
Anti-religious-oppression mindset
Being trusted to be an adult and have a covered beer in the park
Incredible restaurant and club scene
The Montreal Jazz Festival
Highly social anti-corporate ethos in the public mindset
Clownboy above has probably never left his dirt road town. Anybody that's been to Montreal for 5 minutes knows its a world-class city.
It’s funny that you’re calling me clown boy when Cirque du Soleil was founded in Montreal and without the federal government I don’t think Quebec would have a paved road.
Poutine
The kind that prey on peoples gullibility for profit.
So... churches.
Yeah, but only 100% of the time
Was just about to say, the dude in the picture looks like literally every single douchy christian rock singer ever.
Literally this. Outfit, pose, everything.
There's also an extremely high chance he has lyrics that are similar.
Remove all church's tax free status - that grift will probably never die but it's time to stop letting them avoid taxes at least.
I wouldn't go that far.
But audit them.and make sure they're actually doing tax-exempt stuff, and be ruthless about removing the tax-exempt status of churches that violate the law.
If they want to do charitable work, they can register as a regular charity and follow the same rules as everyone.
Outside of that, churches are just a regular business.
You do realize that they're registered 401(c)(3) non-profit organizations, just like other charities, right?
You can't just say "I'm a church" and not pay taxes. You have to go through the exact same registration as any other non-profit. Otherwise, everybody would found a church as a personal tax haven.
Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption disagrees.
I'd rather that money go into secular organizations.
The US just voted down a bill that would require religious institutions to report child rape that they are currently not required to report.
So yes
Sure and I'm glad that those organizations have worked well for you, but I've also seen these type of charities abuse the fact that they're the only help in town and use it as an excuse to proselytize to people.
And they're not the only charities in towns. A lot of the time there are other organizations that are secular that they also help. I prefer these because to me there is less of a chance of abuse
As far as church is being tax-exempt, I don't want to get into it, but it's extraordinarily abused. All you need to do is look at Scientology and Mormonism. On top of that, the Catholic Church also gets a huge amount of money from parishioners, and not all of it flows back into the community.
If they operate cleanly as a 501 3c non-profit, then I think that's fine.
Firstly, the world needs to go to rehab for the opium of the masses.
Secondly, this is a story from a Canadian source about a Canadian city, so we would be likely talking about the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, unless of course it was incorporated under the equivalent Quebec Act.
The church likely is in complete compliance with the act, it's very easy to be.
The Faith-based defence clauses in s.224(2), s.251(3), and 253(2) of the act are a problem, and should be removed though.
Yeah, the religious defenses are specifically what I'm talking about. There should be no reason for any sort of religious defense at all in these type of charities. If they're going to operate, they need to operate under a secular framework.
I don't care if they do it in the name of their god or for whatever reason they're doing it, but it needs to be done in full compliance with secular raas with no religious exemptions.
Edit:
When Marx was talking about the opium of the masses, he didn't mean it as a drug that we are addicted to, he meant it as a salve for humanity, so we can get through the absolute worst things. I don't have a problem with people being religious as long as they use a material reasoning for their decisions, they cannot justify any decisions solely based off metaphysical religion.
You need to do waaay more reading on morality because it is so clear you are just shooting off the top of your cuff using common Christian apologist arguments against atheism that are super easily debunked.
Atheism isn't a belief in anything, it is a lack of belief in gods, specifically. A lack of belief is not the same thing as a belief.
"Morality", as you define it here, is always based on opinion, even in religious texts, that's why we have to interpret religious texts in order to figure out what is and isn't moral. You know, or when a priest says they're gonna go into deep prayer to figure something out, that is interpretation.
As well as, you will find atheists that believe in objective morality, the belief that we all are born with a certain set of morals, along with atheists that believe in moral relativity, which claims that morality is an evolutionary trait designed to enhance cooperation and survival. Personally, I think we do have a very, very, very small set of base morals, such as killing is wrong without a real, and then most of our morality is based on the specifics of each situation.
I don't think, like a good number of atheists, that religion is the bane of all evil, but I do think that religion is a tool that is utilized and abused by many who seek power and that our governments do nothing to curb that abuse of power. See televangelists, see Scientology, see the Mormon Church, see Jehovah's Witness, see gay conversion therapy camps. These are all modern problems caused by the way in which we allow modern religion institutions to exempt itself from the laws of the governing state.
I'm not saying that religious institutions don't bring some good into their community, but I am saying that major religious institutions overall seem to be a net harm to humanity than they are a net benefit. As far as Catholicism comes to mind, there's quite a few people that have quite a lot to say about how the priest treated them when they were minors that the church covered up and continues to cover up. In my opinion, you can't have an organization go legitimate while it's trying to cover up child abuse such as this.
I also completely disagree with the proselytizing, and think that it's not necessary there are plenty of homeless people that are homeless due to religious trauma and don't need to be re-victimized every time they try to go eat because the place they want to go to insists on proselytizing every time they're in there. I also may just have a personal bias against being proselytized too.
Look, I'm not saying it's all bad, I'm just saying that there is propensity for religious institutions to abuse their power, which is true of any large corporation that gets big enough, but religious institutions are made particularly heinous by the religious exemptions they get to utilize, which secular organizations don't have.
I'm sure it's just because the community you're in is really small, and in America, or Canada at least, people are not exactly friendly to the muslim community. I do hope that things are going well for you in that regard and that you are finding peace and safety.
Have them apply for tax exemption as non-profit charities then. If what you say is true then they should have no trouble qualifying.
Evangelical Christians are so fucking entitled. All the while, pretending to be oppressed.
it's like an abusive relationship, but at larger scale.
You know what's really sad? I'm an agnostic/atheist and I like the idea of evangelical. It literally translates to spread the good word. Problem is every evangelical person I've ever met is the opposite of a good person.
Fucking stupid take.
Oh we got an edgy atheist here! Tell us all how much smarter you are! Make us all bow to your smartyness!
Nah I'm good. Hope you have an alright day though.
Back at you.
Do what they would want done to that drag concert. Rush in and arrest them in the middle of the concert. After all I'm pretty sure its do unto other as they would do unto you.
We're right and everyone else is wrong and therefore no laws apply to us.
We hate the people Jesus told us to hate, even though he preached love and acceptance.
Excuse me, sir. Could you please stfu and go away? This isn't Rome in the second century. You aren't persecuted. This is Rome in the fourth and fifth centuries. You are the persecutors.
But Gawd tole me tah be a bigot!
Sorry. God doesn't talk to you. You're just a narcissistic asshole.
Well, that was a deep rabbit hole. Started reading his Wikipedia page, this is basically the Taliban of Christianity.
Not the Taliban of Christianity. This is Fundementalist Christian Nationalism.
Try not to dilute it by equating it to something far away posing no immediate danger. They are a real and present threat to democracies everywhere.
If it were up to me, I'd demolish that church.
A fine is only a price to get away with doing it, close it down.
Guessing the fine wasn't enough to stop the terrorist message from getting out. Cost of doing business I guess.
Nice
You know the cult is dangerously close to completely replacing Christianity when they try to usurp Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Well, pretty much knew it was coming. The city will DEFINITELY lose this case...
NEWS RELEASE Montreal church fined for worship service; TDF takes on legal defence
The Democracy Fund defends Ministerios Restauración after police interruption and protesters attempt to shut down Christian service attended by U.S. artist Sean Feucht.
Montreal — The Democracy Fund has stepped in to represent Ministerios Restauración/Église MR - the Montreal church at which US-based artist Sean Feucht worshipped on July 25, 2025.
Ministerios Restauracion Church was issued a ticket with a fine in the amount of $2,500 for engaging in Christian worship at a Friday service. Video shows police entering the Church before or during the worship service. Later, protesters attempted to forcefully shut it down.
Feucht, a Christian musician and activist known for leading large outdoor worship events across the U.S., was in Montreal as part of a Canadian visit. His presence drew criticism from local activist groups. Officials accused the Church of violating municipal bylaws related to event permits or zoning. However, no such regulations prohibit regular worship gatherings.
TDF litigation director, Mark Joseph, said: "Freedom of religion is a fundamental freedom under s.2(a) of the Charter: you do not need permission or a permit from the government to worship at a church in Canada. It is absurd to suggest otherwise, and it risks setting a dangerous precedent that will extend to all religions. TDF and its lawyers intend to fight this matter and are eager to respond to this obvious Charter infringement in court."
This is not true at all.
This was not a regular Friday service. This was a special music concert. In Montreal, per the bylaws "Events with 50 to 3,000 people in attendance require prior authorization." They also recommend submitting the application 90 days in advance.
They wanted to have a show, only planned a few days in advance, they didn't have permits, the city said no and if they continue they would get fined. They continued, they got fined.
I don't see what the problem is here.
This has nothing to do with religion. The same thing would have happened if fucking U2 wanted to play a coffee shop with 60 seat capacity with a day or two notice. The entire point of getting authorization with 90 days notice is so you don't have pop-up concerts happening around the city at venues that aren't adequate and might cause things like traffic and parking problems.
Having said that, this is perfect for Christians and this MAGA cuntface. They love playing the role of someone being terribly persecuted. They don't follow the rules then cry giant baby Jesus tears when presented with consequences.
The MAGA dude sees this whole thing as a win because he gets free press, gets to hop on his huge travelling cross and sob to his cult, and you know for a FACT he isn't the one stuck with the fine. The church is.
Its going to come down to whether this was a special 'concert' organized by Mr Feucht or whether the congregation, hearing that Mr Feucht was denied the chance to play at this previously planned venue, then invited to join them for their worship service as a guest musician.
It appears to be the latter as the press release is worded "protesters attempt to shut down Christian service attended by U.S. artist Sean Feucht" All it would take is for someone in the church leadership to testify, 'Yes we invited him to come play at our service' and its not a concert, he's a guest musician at a worship service and you dont need a permit for that.
Either way the city is going to lose because they shut him down on a pretense but the real motivation was action by local activist groups, and that won't fly in court as a legal reason to silence him. This is still Canada, we dont shut people down because some people dont like their message. We dont even shut down a public protests where the leader uses a bullhorn to scream "Death to Canada!" so Im pretty sure Mr Feucht's worship songs to what sounds like a very small group of people, will pass the legal test.
You can answer your own question by looking on the church website and see if they do a regular Friday service.
From what I can tell, they don't and didn't have any scheduled. It is not a regular event.
Gaslight much? Reality's tough, I know, but give it a try once in a while.
Thats a press release from the legal department of The Democracy Fund. What part is gaslighting?
"But he was just worshipping!" He wanted to put on a show, they said he needed a permit, he didn't get one, he put on the show illegally, he got fined, end of story.
While it wouldn't be as notable if it was an LGBTQ thing it'd be just as stupid. Do you know why permits are often required for concerts nowadays? The reason is rather simple, indoor concert venues kept burning to the fucking ground and people kept dying. Usually the way it went is that a building rated for like 200 people would go over capacity to 300 or 400 then the fire started no one could get out and then folks died because building ratings often times reflect physical limitations in certain things like how fast a certain number of people can get out of the building.
Outdoor venues have permit requirements because of dehydration and literal shit shows as latrine ditches overflowed. Outdoor venues tend to be less deadly more raw sewage.
I can't remember the terms exactly in relation to a population for events but a lot of it comes down to what I'll call steady flow population IE those who go for weakly service or whatever vs flux population that being those who go for events or whatever. Just using a portion of my previous example if a building is rated for say 200 people and 300 people show up it's a shit show waiting to happen, that's not getting into the possibility of road blockage and outflow issues that could persist for an extended period of time and interfere with things like ambulances.
Also pretty sure there are effectively standing permits that can be obtained for concerts and shit. Frankly speaking this type of shit varries city by city county by county, so some places will have far more stringent laws and bylaws for such things while others won't give an iota of a fuck so long as they call ahead of time so a cop can be present in case of a shit show.
Though I will state that I am thoughly biased against using churches in particular for such events because a lot of them are built in just the dumbest way possible. I got a good sample size when I was a kid in boy scouts where I got lost in the backrooms of a church on several occasions looking for the restroom. Also a lot of them are just in really weird areas with a questionable amount of parking I remember there was one where we were doing a charity dinner and the sheriff showed up because there were too many people and they were blocking the road.
Yeah the Catholics seem to have their shit together enough that they can generally pull off events and whatnot without too many issues. But a lot of churches especially older ones that predate things like standardized building codes probably need to be kept on a short leash on how many people are present in them, and assuming the building shown in the article is the church in question. Yeah I can see why the city may be iffy on having too many people at it, combine that with protesters outside and the general mess that comes with concerts I can see why they would deny a permit.
Some permits carry insurance. You need one to have a yard sale in my town, but if someone gets injured on your lawn, it covers you.
There's no way that will withstand the court case thats coming. It was a worship service. They were singing songs, not talking about US political viewpoints. The press is making a mountain out of a molehill for the clicks but there's no way anyone needs a permit to sing songs in a church. Just yellow journalism.
To quote someone else on this: "He is not forcing the stop to alternate relationships, he is not forcing the take over of Canada. He is expressing his beliefs like the LGBT community express their beliefs during Pride Parades." Or Black Lives Matter believing stopping traffic and forcing stores to close will support their cause. Hell, we didnt even stop the pro Palestian protester who was screaming "Death to Canada!" We don't stop those people, so why should anyone think we should stop this guy?
Just because somebody says something I find disagreeable is not a justification for silencing that person. I can argue with them, I could ignore them, I can encourage people to have nothing to do with them, but I don't have a right to silence them. This is Canada, we still support free speech. Unless of course you belong to a certain minority group that would rather throw smoke bombs in churches in an act of hatred while hypocritically proclaiming that they are protesting hatred. Pretty pathetic.
Hopefully we see more of that, bigotry and retrograde-minded religious doctrines that diminishes the rights of others because of their gender or sexual orientation are not welcome in Canada. And free speech is not without limits.
So you approve of violence against people you disagree with philosophically? Alrighty then. Thats a good way to start a civil war but that's not how Canadians solve differences.
The tolerance of intolerance has really worked out for Western society.
Dude never said anything about violence, but you're putting words into his mouth. Christianity is a very hateful and close-minded religion, especially the Maga sect of it. I feel sadness for those stuck in that cult following, and defending it online, like yourself.
Conservatism and bad faith arguments go hand in hand.
Christianity thinks slavery, rape and stoning, is allowed through the word of god. It's a horrible religion and their god is a special kind of monster.
Ruining the day of bigots is absolutely fine with me.
Sorry. In this case you're wrong.
This wasn't a regular service, with the regular church patrons, and the regular hymn book. This was a special musical concert, from a guy on a musical tour of Canada.
At this point the church is no longer a church but a rented hall for the purpose of holding a musical concert.
In Montreal, you need a permit for that AND the city recommends you submit your application 90 days in advance of the concert date - which they did not do.
You’re probably a bot based on account age, username, and post history, but if you do “LoveCanada” perhaps you should love your fellow humans instead of supporting hate speech. Also please familiarize yourself with Canadian law regarding speech and protected groups. This is not the US.
Im not a bot and Im from western Canada, Im quite familiar with "hate" speech laws. Please show me what he said at that church that was "hate" speech?
Alberta?
Alberta? Bot? Sometimes lines just get blurred.
Somewhere between Vancouver and Winnipeg lol
So Alberta; but you're to chickenshit to say.
I don't want some hateful wolf in sheep's clothing to perform here but dammit, what you say is true.
Yeah that is some mumbo jumbo.