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| - Cyprus on Wednesday stood by its controversial Eurovision Song Contest entry after the Orthodox church urged the government to intervene and pull the tune, claiming it advocates "devil worship". The song "El Diablo" (Spanish for the devil), performed by Greek singer Elena Tsagrinou, has faced criticism since its release last week. The Holy Synod, the Cyprus Orthodox Church's highest decision-making body, said the song "essentially praises the fatalistic submission of humans to the devil's authority". The government said it would uphold artistic freedom. "We respect the views of the Holy Synod or those who disagree with the title of the song that will represent Cyprus in this year's Eurovision contest," said Viktoras Papadopoulos, head of the president's press office. "At the same time, however, the government fully respects creative intellectual and artistic freedom that cannot be misinterpreted or limited because of a song's title, and unnecessary dimensions should not be attributed to it," he added. On Tuesday, the church urged state broadcaster CyBC -- tasked with choosing Cyprus' Eurovision entry -- to replace the song with one that "expresses our history, culture, traditions". The synod said it acted after receiving "thousands of complaints" from offended churchgoers. "The lyrics are provocative and unacceptable, representing a terrible subculture entirely at odds with our people's values and goes against their Greek and Orthodox traditions," it said. The CyBC song entry had left the country open to "global ridicule" by "presenting a proclamation that we surrender ourselves to the devil and in this way we promote his worship". The song -- which includes the lyrics "I gave my heart to El Diablo... because he tells me I'm his angel" -- caused a stir when it was released last week. The secondary school teachers of religious instruction issued a statement urging CyBC to ditch the entry. A man was charged with making threats and causing a disturbance after entering CyBC's building last week to protest what he condemned as a "blasphemous" song that insulted Christianity. Conservative Christians have taken to social media to call for a demonstration outside CyBC's Nicosia premises on Saturday. An online petition has been organised to demand the song's withdrawal. CyBC has defended the decision to select the song, saying there was no intention to insult religious sentiments. Its chairman Andreas Frangos said the song, which describes an abusive relationship between two lovers, was inspired by the "eternal struggle of good versus evil". Cyprus is usually an also-ran at Eurovision, which is set to be held this year in the Netherlands in May. The Mediterranean island's best finish was in 2018 when it came second with Eleni Foureira's "Fuego". cc/dv
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