Religions > Atheism > From the Keep your Jesus off my penis and your bible off my ball file.
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"George W. Hayduke" |
| Date: |
20 Aug 2004 06:03:41 PM |
| Object: |
From the Keep your Jesus off my penis and your bible off my ball file. |
From the Keep your Jesus off my penis and your bible off my ball file.
Russian artists face trial for exhibit deemed offensive to religion
at 14:22 on August 19, 2004, EST.
FRED WEIR
MOSCOW (CP) - On orders from parliament, prosecutors are preparing to
bring a group of artists to trial for allegedly "inciting religious
strife" by lampooning the Russian Orthodox Church.
The defendants, who face up to five years in prison if convicted, say
the criminal investigation against them heralds the return of
Soviet-style thought control. In place of the former Communist party,
they say, the Russian Orthodox Church is becoming the Kremlin's
guardian of ideological purity.
The church, backed by conservative politicians, insists the case is
about protecting the sensibilities of religious believers from
deliberate, public mockery.
"Any provocation that insults the feelings of the faithful and stirs
up religious discord must be classified as a crime," Metropolitan
Kirill, chair of the church's department of external relations, said
in an official statement.
Yury Samodurov is the chief defendant and director of the Andrei
Sakharov museum, which staged the "Caution: Religion" exhibit last
year.
"I had no idea what I was starting when I authorized that exhibition,"
Samodurov says.
"But I'm grateful, in a way because it's made me aware of what's
really developing in this society ... And it is scaring me."
The trial of Samodurov and two artists, Lyudmila Vasilovskaya and Anna
Mikhalchuk, opened in mid-June with the official charge sheet
declaring the defendants had entered "into a conspiracy with the
intent to inflict humiliation and offence upon the Christian faith as
a whole and the Russian Orthodox Church in particular."
The trial was postponed until September to give prosecutors a chance
to complete their investigation.
The display, held in February 2003, featured works by 42 artists on
the theme of religion and church institutions.
Controversial exhibits included an oversized icon with a vacant space
where the viewer could insert his or her own face in place of the
usual holy figure. A sculpture of an Orthodox church made entirely of
vodka bottles may have been a dig at the church's profitable tax-free
alcohol trade in the 1990s. A photo triptych depicted three men being
crucified -on a cross, a red star and a swastika. And a stylized Coca
Cola ad had Christ's face superimposed and the words: "This is my
blood."
The show lasted just four days and was seen by only a few dozen people
before being shut down after a group of slogan-shouting vandals
defaced several of the works. They were followers of a local Orthodox
priest, Alexander Shargunov, who hailed them as "heroes" and
"righteous Orthodox citizens of Russia."
"Everywhere in the world there are people who will react violently
against controversial art," Samodurov says. "We were dismayed by the
attack, but not discouraged."
After being brought to trial, the six alleged art-desecrators who were
apprehended by police at the scene were acquitted by a Moscow court.
Then Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament, passed a
resolution directing prosecutors to open a criminal investigation of
the Sakharov Museum.
"We thought the organizers of that exhibit were inciting religious
hatred, which is a crime," says Alexander Chuyev, a nationalist Duma
deputy who helped author the resolution. "Freedom of artistic
expression ends where freedom of other people begins."
Chuyev says the Duma pressured the Moscow court to acquit the alleged
vandals. "It wasn't easy to get those people freed, but we managed
it," he says.
Prosecutors say they were spurred on by thousands of letters from
people all over the country demanding the artists be punished.
This exhibit "really insulted the religious sensitivities of the
people," says Nadezhda Bekenyova, head of the department of ancient
Russian art at the Tretyakov Art Museum and a key witness for the
prosecution in the Sakharov trial.
She says she doesn't approve of vandalism, but: the artists "assaulted
the feelings of believers, so it is no surprise that, in a backlash,
their works were attacked."
Critics of the Sakharov trial suspect the hand of the Orthodox Church
was at work.
"Though our constitution stipulates Russia is a secular state, the
church's influence over our federal authorities is growing every
year," says Lyudmilla Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group,
Russia's oldest human rights organization.
"If Samodurov and the others are convicted, it means we have returned
to the middle ages."
+--+
|George W. Bush is a deserter: http://www.glcq.com/bush_at_arpc1.htm
|Fascist War Criminal to stand trial: http://www.PeopleJudgeBush.org
+--+
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| User: "Clayton The Kaafir Ilzaad With A Lizard Gizard" |
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| Title: Re: From the Keep your Jesus off my penis and your bible off my ball file. |
20 Aug 2004 07:43:44 PM |
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"George W. Hayduke" <george@hayduke.org> wrote in message
news:10id0vlht108b1b@corp.supernews.com...
From the Keep your Jesus off my penis and your bible off my ball file.
Russian artists face trial for exhibit deemed offensive to religion
at 14:22 on August 19, 2004, EST.
FRED WEIR
MOSCOW (CP) - On orders from parliament, prosecutors are preparing to
bring a group of artists to trial for allegedly "inciting religious
strife" by lampooning the Russian Orthodox Church.
The defendants, who face up to five years in prison if convicted, say
the criminal investigation against them heralds the return of
Soviet-style thought control. In place of the former Communist party,
they say, the Russian Orthodox Church is becoming the Kremlin's
guardian of ideological purity.
Once again Christianity proving that fascism is at it's centre!
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| User: "Olrik" |
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| Title: Re: From the Keep your Jesus off my penis and your bible off my ballfile. |
20 Aug 2004 11:13:19 PM |
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George W. Hayduke wrote:
From the Keep your Jesus off my penis and your bible off my ball file.
Russian artists face trial for exhibit deemed offensive to religion
[snipage]
With very few exceptions, christian churches always side with power, be
it monarchy, fascism, or right-wing leaning capitalism. The churches are
less powerful in left leaning democracies.
That makes the churches, ironically, against the teachings of "Jesus".
"The meek shall inherit the earth [but only after the kings and
dictators and their minions stole everything of value]..."
--
Olrik
aa #1981
Qualified SMASH member
EAC Chief Food Inspector, Bacon Division
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| User: "Rev. Desertphile" |
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| Title: Re: From the Keep your Jesus off my penis and your bible off my ball file. |
18 Sep 2004 12:30:14 PM |
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On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 23:03:41 GMT, (George W.
Hayduke) wrote:
(Trimmed)
The church, backed by conservative politicians, insists the case is
about protecting the sensibilities of religious believers from
deliberate, public mockery.
"Any provocation that insults the feelings of the faithful and stirs
up religious discord must be classified as a crime," Metropolitan
Kirill, chair of the church's department of external relations, said
in an official statement.
What a fucking Nazi-like thing to say! I'm astonished that a Russian
would say such a thing.
--
"Terrorism" isn't the enemy: George W Bush is!
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| User: "Lord Calvert" |
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| Title: Re: From the Keep your Jesus off my penis and your bible off my ball file. |
18 Sep 2004 08:29:28 PM |
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"Any provocation that insults the feelings of the faithful and stirs
up religious discord must be classified as a crime," Metropolitan
Kirill, chair of the church's department of external relations, said
in an official statement.
What a fucking Nazi-like thing to say! I'm astonished that a Russian
would say such a thing.
I'm not. Communist totalitarianism and religious totalitarianism have much more
in common with each other than they do with the principles of freedom and
liberty. Both require the absolute, unquestioned supremacy of the State and the
ruthless suppression of all dissenters.
Communism and Christianity go together exceptionally well.
Rich Goranson, Amherst, NY, USA (aa#MCMXCIX, a-vet#1)
EAC Department of Applied Rattan Use
"Without faith we might relapse into scientific or rational thinking, which
leads by a slippery slope toward constitutional democracy." - Robert Anton
Wilson
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| User: "W=Waffler" |
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| Title: Re: From the Keep your Jesus off my penis and your bible off my ballfile. |
18 Sep 2004 12:11:15 PM |
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Rev. Desertphile wrote:
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 23:03:41 GMT, (George W.
Hayduke) wrote:
(Trimmed)
The church, backed by conservative politicians, insists the case is
about protecting the sensibilities of religious believers from
deliberate, public mockery.
"Any provocation that insults the feelings of the faithful and stirs
up religious discord must be classified as a crime," Metropolitan
Kirill, chair of the church's department of external relations, said
in an official statement.
What a fucking Nazi-like thing to say! I'm astonished that a Russian
would say such a thing.
I work for a contractor at a Jewish center and I saw an article in one
of their publications that said the Argentinian Catholic church has made
an agreement with the Jewish community there that anti-Zionism is the
same as anti-Semitism.
James
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