Editors of a magazine accused of being pro-Satanic have defended their publication amid claims it should not been funded by ratepayers.
When it emerged last week that The Vacuum, which has recently published an editions entitled 'God' and 'Satan', including an interview with an exorcist headlined 'Encounters with the Devil', had received £5,000 of Arts Committee funding, some Belfast councillors reacted angrily.
Eric Smyth (DUP) said ratepayers would be shocked to learn that public cash had been used to produce the "devil worshipping" publication.
He called on the council to re-examine its arts funding policy.
But Vacuum co-editors Richard West and Stephen Hackett denied that their magazine promoted devil worshipping and said they were "mystified" as to why discussion of exorcism and the description of 'devil proverbs' was wrong.
They said: "The Vacuum contains informed debate by well qualified academics and journalists.
"The current issues are a serious discussion of the idea of God and Satan in our culture and includes essays on church architecture by a retired professor from the Art College and a humorous piece by the respected novelist John Morrow."
They said the debate raised more serious questions about councillors seeking to stifle cultural debate by withdrawing funding from activities they did not personally like.
"Do we really want our cultural life to be dictated by the divisive political whims of the day or would we like our representatives to take a longer view of the importance of artistic expression and free speech?" they asked.
At the request of councillors, a special report on the issue is to be presented the council's Arts Committee in August.
Its chairman, Sinn Fein's Eoin O'Broin, said he felt that the publication was not blasphemous.
"Most art is in some way controversial," he added.