| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Budikka666" |
| Date: |
29 Mar 2005 01:05:53 AM |
| Object: |
Russians Fined in Blasphemy Case! |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4387833.stm
reprots that "A Moscow court has found the organisers of an art
exhibition guilty of inciting religious hatred and fined them 100,000
roubles (=A32,000; $3,600) each."
Is it time to say, "Now I've seen everything!"?
How bizarre that blasphemy is the only victimless crime, yet these guys
are found guilty of it and fined!
The position ought to be that unless some god complains, you're free to
blaspheme all you want.
Budikka
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Russians Fined in Blasphemy Case! |
29 Mar 2005 05:49:33 AM |
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Budikka666 wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4387833.stm
reprots that "A Moscow court has found the organisers of an art
exhibition guilty of inciting religious hatred and fined them 100,000
roubles (=A32,000; $3,600) each."
Is it time to say, "Now I've seen everything!"?
How bizarre that blasphemy is the only victimless crime, yet these
guys
are found guilty of it and fined!
The position ought to be that unless some god complains, you're free
to
blaspheme all you want.
Budikka
If someone urinated in a church, they'd be up in arms. If someone
painted a swastika on a synagogue or gravestone, the whole
of society would be rightly offended.
But free speech and free thought? Who needs that?
Bob Dog
-----
Divine retribution is an idol threat.
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| User: "Cary Kittrell" |
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| Title: Re: Russians Fined in Blasphemy Case! |
29 Mar 2005 01:28:45 AM |
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In article <1112058353.339129.320130@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com> "Budikka666" <budikka1@netscape.net> writes:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4387833.stm
reprots that "A Moscow court has found the organisers of an art
exhibition guilty of inciting religious hatred and fined them 100,000
roubles (=A32,000; $3,600) each."
Is it time to say, "Now I've seen everything!"?
How bizarre that blasphemy is the only victimless crime, yet these guys
are found guilty of it and fined!
The position ought to be that unless some god complains, you're free to
blaspheme all you want.
Was it actually "blasphemy" that was the crime, though, or was
it "inciting religious hatred"?
Other societies have more stringent hate-crime laws than we currently
deem constitutional here in the U.S. I've just become aware
lately of how Canada, to pick one example, differs from
us in this regard.
Me, I'm of a mixed mind with regard to this. On the one hand
I'm steeped in the traditional ACLU First Amendment viewpoint,
but on reflecting that there are some sensible limitations --
libel, slander, intimidation, causing physical danger --
I sometimes wonder if blatant and provocative hate speech
aimed at specific groups deserves such protection. I suppose
in the end I would favor our present interpretations
but still, I could live in a country where your right to
say "liberals are a bunch of mindless weenies" would be
protected, but Fred Phelps rights to be intentionally
shout hate speech at gay funerals would be restricted.
-- cary
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| User: "Budikka666" |
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| Title: Re: Russians Fined in Blasphemy Case! |
29 Mar 2005 10:55:20 AM |
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Cary Kittrell wrote:
Was it actually "blasphemy" that was the crime, though, or was
it "inciting religious hatred"?
Well I guess it depends on how you view the court ruling. According to
the article, you're right - they were fined for religious hatred, but
"The court ruling said the show was "openly insulting and
blasphemous"".
Insulting to whom?!!! I think before the court is allowed to rule like
that it ought to be forced to rule on the issue of whether there's a
god! LoL!
Me, I'm of a mixed mind with regard to this. On the one hand
I'm steeped in the traditional ACLU First Amendment viewpoint,
but on reflecting that there are some sensible limitations --
libel, slander, intimidation, causing physical danger --
I sometimes wonder if blatant and provocative hate speech
aimed at specific groups deserves such protection.
I don't think it does, but once you get on that path, it's rather a
slippery slope, isn't it? It's not an easy thing to legally determine
where freedom of speech ends and freedom of hatred begins. I think
that's why the US has been a bit timid in going there.
On the other hand, since when has the US truly championed free speech?
Intimidation is the rule of law, especially when it comes to talking
about religion. That recent incident with 12 southern IMAX theaters
(including some in science museums) fearing to show a feature on
volcanoes because it mentioned evolution is a case in point.
[Rest snipped for brevity]
Budikka
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| User: "thomas p" |
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| Title: Re: Russians Fined in Blasphemy Case! |
29 Mar 2005 06:37:21 PM |
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On 28 Mar 2005 17:05:53 -0800, "Budikka666" <budikka1@netscape.net>
wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4387833.stm
reprots that "A Moscow court has found the organisers of an art
exhibition guilty of inciting religious hatred and fined them 100,000
roubles (£2,000; $3,600) each."
Is it time to say, "Now I've seen everything!"?
How bizarre that blasphemy is the only victimless crime, yet these guys
are found guilty of it and fined!
The position ought to be that unless some god complains, you're free to
blaspheme all you want.
Budikka
A member of parliament is quoted as saying:
"They should understand that their rights end where the other person's begin."
The actual logic of the decision empowers religious people to decide
whether an artist's work can be exhibited or not, but the same artist
is not allowed to criticize religion or, indeed, to exhibit any work
that might be offensive to any religious person. The m.p.'s
distortion of the issue is remarkably similar to what one would expect
from someone like Pat Robertson. Fundies are always trying to
associate all atheists with the Soviet Union, when its oppressive
behavior and that of its replacement under the present leadership
along with its hypocritical rationalisations cannot be distinguished
from that of fundies. Apparently they all went to the same school.
Thomas P.
"Life must be lived forwards but understood backwards"
(Kierkegaard)
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| User: "Smith W" |
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| Title: Re: Russians Fined in Blasphemy Case! |
29 Mar 2005 02:33:16 AM |
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On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 17:05:53 -0800, Budikka666 wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4387833.stm
reprots that "A Moscow court has found the organisers of an art
exhibition guilty of inciting religious hatred and fined them 100,000
roubles (£2,000; $3,600) each."
Is it time to say, "Now I've seen everything!"?
How bizarre that blasphemy is the only victimless crime, yet these guys
are found guilty of it and fined!
The position ought to be that unless some god complains, you're free to
blaspheme all you want.
Budikka
It is worse... A quote from the article:
Vandals defaced the exhibits just days after they went
on display, but charges against them were later dropped.
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