Old news: it’s hard to be atheist in Indonesia

Via the Jakarta Globe, January 19, 2012:

An Indonesian civil servant who posted “God does not exist” on his Facebook page has been taken into police custody for his own protection after he was badly beaten.

The man, identified as Alexander, 31, now faces the prospect of losing his job, or even being jailed, if he fails to repent and accept one of six official state religions.

Blasphemy carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

Atheist Ireland felt like taking a stand over this. Their own country passed a blasphemy law in July of 2009. While briefing local politicians about the Indonesia case, they implied that Ireland is partially to blame for it. Two Senators agreed and in February of this year, they asked their government leaders to support Alexander Aan. Said Jillian van Turnhout:

While I fully support the repeal of this law, I do not believe the intention of the blasphemy legislation introduced by Mr. Dermot Ahern in 2009 was to infringe upon the rights to freedom of expression, religion, belief and conscience in Ireland. Nor do I think it is a desirable consequence that our law is being used to support such infringements, including against Christian religions in Islamic countries anywhere else in the world.

The Guardian picked the story up again in May. The article states that the country runs with a state philosophy of pancasila, which requires all citizens to pick one god (or set of gods) and believe in that completely. Aan’s initial refusal to choose to be Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Confucian or Hindi might encourage more people to reject every religion and thus become uncontrollable individualists without ethics or morals, so he has to be beaten by mobs and imprisoned as a warning for everyone.

While his lawyers estimate there may be up to 2,000 atheists in Indonesia, “there’s no real way of knowing”, Fajrin says. The repercussions are too dangerous.

According to Andreas Harsono, a local human rights activist, Aan’s case is just one of a growing number of examples of religious intolerance across Indonesia, ranging from harassment to mob and arson attacks against groups such as the Baha’i, Shia and Ahmadiyah Muslims – sometimes ending in death.

Last year, the local Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace recorded 244 acts of violence against religious minorities – nearly double the 2007 figure.

Official state religions there might be, but some are preferred over others. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has closed 80 Christian churches a year since he took power in 2004. Aan has “converted” to Islam – he’d been going to mosques as a kid with his family even though he didn’t believe – and issued a public apology for his Facebook post, too. Unfortunately, the Islamic Society Forum still calls for the death penalty in this case; too little, too late.

He looks out the window to where a group of inmates are celebrating their Sunday by performing karoake to drum’n'bass in the dusty prison yard, most of them smoking, all of them barefoot. “I only want to see a better world and help create a better world,” he says. “If I cannot … then I would prefer to die.”

While he has Atheist Alliance International and Britain’s Council of ex-Muslims in his corner, it probably won’t affect the predicted grim outcome. His country will make an example out of him, and then atheists the world over will have to double efforts to try to stop this from happening again. But it will probably happen again. None of those guys will wake up the next morning and think they made a mistake. No, they’ll think they did Allah’s will and will pat themselves on the back for it, then go after some other person who dares to think or dress a bit differently.

I feel for him.

I don’t know if I’d want to see Jesus getting touched…

…but it’s good to find out that a short film featuring JC on the cross and St Teresa of Avila giving him a “sexual caress” is no longer banned in Britain. And it only took 20 years. Well done. It was the only film in Britain’s history deemed blasphemous enough by law to warrant the ban but now that blasphemy is no longer a crime (as of 2008), the film has finally gotten a pass.

In a statement today, the board said: “With the abolition of the offence of blasphemy, the board does not consider that the film is in breach of any other UK law that is currently in force.

“Nor does the board regard the film as likely to cause harm to viewers in the terms envisioned by the Video Recordings Act.

But it added: “The board recognises that the content of the film may be deeply offensive to some viewers.

“However, the board’s guidelines reflect the clear view of the public that adults should have the right to choose their own viewing, provided that the material in question is neither illegal nor harmful.

“In the absence of any breach of UK law and the lack of any credible risk of harm, as opposed to mere offensiveness, the board has no sustainable grounds on which to refuse a classification to Visions Of Ecstasy in 2012.”

Still doesn’t sound like anything I’d watch, but then again, I sat through “Club of the Discarded” recently which features stop motion mannequins having “sex” (among other things) so who really knows for sure…

Philippines’ Jesus penis exhibit closed

Raul Sunico, the Cultural Center of the Philippines chairman, was asked to resign over what’s turned into a giant art debacle over there. It seems like every pro-Christian group is up in arms and demanding that the people responsible be sued or otherwise punished for hurting baby Jesus’ feelings. Manila Representative Amado Bagatsing has been especially vocal about it.

“One of the artists involved in the exhibit is a certain Mideo Cruz, pangalan pa mandin Cruz. It’s a total affront to Christianity and to the Catholics in particular,” said Bagatsing, a devout Catholic.

“These CCP officials should be answerable to the people. That’s not promoting our culture and art. Ang pangit at ang laswa-laswa (it’s ugly and lewd),” he stressed.

Bagatsing said the exhibit had also incurred the ire of the leaders of the Catholic Church, which protested it and described it as “blasphemous.”

Various groups, including Pro-life Philippines, have been mulling filing charges against the artist and the CCP for what they said was a “sacrilegious” exhibit and have demanded to stop the exhibit in 48 hours or face the legal consequences, Bagatsing said.

Then, for whatever reason, he likens this event to the teacher in Sudan a few years ago who let her Muslim students name their class teddy bear Mohammad. The devout Muslim adults who found out about this went berserk, calling for 40 lashes and death because they thought she deliberately insulted their prophet. In the end the teacher was sentenced to 15 days’ imprisonment and deportation.

It was an over-the-top reaction to something completely juvenile, as is the reaction Filipinos are having over this art exhibit. I’m sure that’s not the kind of comparison Batatsing intended to make, though.

President Aquino reprimanded the Cultural Center and demanded a few resignations, too. So did Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada. The University of Sto. Tomas have washed their hands of it, claiming the exhibit never was a project endorsed by them as previously stated. I’ll quote a few things from another Manilla Bulletin article:

“What does it serve a viewers’ mind and soul to see the images of Christianity’s bedrock, Jesus Christ, his mother the Virgin Mary, and of the Cross that symbolizes the supreme sacrifice offered by Christ to redeem mankind, treated so insultingly and with such shocking disrespect by a group of people who believe they have the absolute artistic license to do so?” Estrada stressed in his speech.

Why should art that mocks religious iconography be off limits to artists? There are things to take seriously and there are things to let slide. Human freedoms and rights should be taken seriously. Nobody’s been stepped on here. If they were offended by what they were looking at, they had the choice to not look. Ridiculous art should be something allowed to slide. This did not have to be that big of a deal.

“I ask that, because of the failure of the Board of Directors of the CCP to thoroughly scrutinize artists who want to put up an exhibit with them, they should all resign from their positions starting Wednesday,” Estrada said.

People can decide to be offended by anything, though. How’s CCP supposed to anticipate future reaction and pick displays accordingly? Estrada’s essentially suggesting CCP should never advertise artists on the off chance someone will see something else he doesn’t like and pitch another hissy.

Aquino, who found the art exhibit a violation of other people’s rights, said he was “not after censorship” in arts but emphasized that freedom of expression is not absolute.

“I was in contact with several board members Tuesday and I told them I am Christian and the country is at least 85 percent Christian then there is this depiction of Christ that offends people, that’s wrong,” he said in a press conference during a visit in a Malampaya onshore gas facility here.

That’s a problem. People need to be allowed to challenge the pervading ideas and ideologies of their societies. Buck the status quo. It’s the only way change can happen. Positive change, hopefully. This doesn’t seem very positive for artists there today, and those who hope to be in the future. Admittedly there’s value in self-censorship sometimes, knowing when to shut up, knowing when not to be deliberately inflammatory. But, sometimes people need to throw caution to the wind and dare to express themselves and their criticisms of a social structure. “Sacrilegious” artwork is a popular way to do that. Especially because people always want to shut it down immediately lest other people start thinking the artist’s really onto something.

Next, the article quotes some artists.

Edward Llanes, a graphic artist supervisor and a devout Catholic, dismissed the artwork as “stupid.” “That is stupid because the artist lost respect to the religion and its beliefs. The Philippines consists of mostly Catholics and we deplore phallic symbols in religious images. We must respect the culture of each religion,” he said.

No, if the art is “stupid” it’s because it was badly done, not because it mocked a religion. Jesus did have a penis if he was a man (although probably not on his face. Surely Luke would have mentioned it..). Plus, every photo of a church could be considered a religious image if you want to go that far and nearly every church I’ve seen has an enormous erection. You should see what’s getting built for Saskatoon’s new cathedral. Kinky, the way it curves and all…

He, however, admitted that as an artist, each artwork is the artist’s freedom of expression. “If you have an artwork and it is for your own keeping, it’s okay because it’s your freedom of expression but if you put it on exhibit for the public to see, then it’s not right,” he said.

Again, you never know what people are going to find offensive. Maybe someone’s totally put off by chickens. Nobody in the whole of the Philippines had better paint a picture of one and hang it up where people can see. Good grief, think of the riots.

Another artist, Bonn Erasmo who belongs to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, also raised a question. “Bakit niya ginagawa yan?” He said that though they do not believe in icons and images, he disagreed with the artwork. “People now have become more liberated and express themselves freely, but expressing oneself should not be offensive to others,” he said.

He stressed the importance of respect for one’s religion. “Even if you don’t have the same belief as others, you must respect their beliefs. Hindi tama na gawan mo ng kabastusan ung religion ng iba. Hindi ito makatao,” he said.

People need respect. Religions need to be open to being challenged. Beliefs that have little to do with reality need to be challenged. If neither can stand up to the challenges then they weren’t that strong to begin with. And the only way to be sure you’ll offend no one is to never say or do anything — and even that might be construed as offensive in some situations. It’s no-win.

Other artists take Cruz’ side, admitting he did have the right to express himself, but call on him to at least take responsibility for the flak his work has caused. I don’t think this is anything he should apologize for, but I wonder if he anticipated this level of disgust when he applied for a place to display it. How does he feel about all this bad press? For all we know he’s getting more commissions for art installations now than he ever would have had he played nice.

Art display in Philippines angers Catholics

I can see why:

An art exhibit featuring a Jesus Christ poster with a wooden penis glued to His face has sparked protests in the mainly Catholic Philippines.

Bishops and lay groups have demanded the state-run Cultural Center of the Philippines close the exhibit on grounds it is blasphemous, immoral, illegal and offends the country’s Catholic majority.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said on its website that Christian lay groups were also preparing a lawsuit.

The artist is Mideo Cruz, an alumni from a church-run university there, and the display is part of a project meant to “challenge people’s perceptions of figures they idolize.”

I could see that being the objective if the art in question was a naked, anatomically correct Jesus; people seem to forget that if he ever was a man, then he had to have man parts. But a penis on a face?

It also includes a cross made of discarded wood with a woodcarving of a penis attached, and an icon of Jesus that has a red clown nose and Mickey Mouse ears.

Cultural Center of the Philippines chairwoman Emily Abrera defended the work on Wednesday, saying it was part of the artist’s duty to challenge prevailing beliefs.

What beliefs could these possibly challenge? Is the art meant to highlight a false belief that Jesus didn’t have a sense of humour? That he really may have had a proclivity toward novelty noses that never made it through the final edit of the New Testament? It doesn’t sound like it’s a very well thought out art project and it certainly doesn’t sound like it’s having the effect the artist was aiming for — unless the true intent was to rile up 85% of the country and get a news story out of it. That’s the estimated number of Catholics in the country as reported in the article.

Quoting Abrera:

“We see nothing wrong with it. It is part of our culture to question, to seek answers, to look behind the surface and try to dig out what our real values are,” she said on ABS-CBN television.

What kind of dialogue will an art display like this create? What kind of Q & A? I guess I can think of a way this might work to change perceptions, if people really are willing to go through that.

Once people start to think they’re offended by something, they tend to not listen to reason anymore. They’re too tied up in their own emotional reactions so they need to be aware of that and take a step back. They need to stop and ask themselves why it bothers them to see Jesus with a wooden woody or a funny nose. Then they need to figure out how to respond with something other than the automatic “Because it’s blasphemy!” freak-out. That’s not a logical answer nor a good argument starter for why their stance against that art should have merit.

This kind of behaviour is just as ridiculous as strict Muslims wanting to ban all images of Mohammad. There’s no good reason; there’s just religious reason: an aim by those in power to insist on and enforce bizarre restrictions as a way to control the populous. And, for whatever reason (risk of death?) the believers will abide and many will even be glad to do it. I’d liken it to gilded cages but I don’t think these cages are built to be beautiful.

The only complaint I’d make about the art would be this: it doesn’t sound like talent is on display. An artist should want to be more than provocative. An artist should want to be admired for his or her skill, especially when the work is meant to be provocative. If they want it to be worth talking about, then it needs to be worth looking at, no matter how gruesome or painful the audience reaction might be. I don’t know if this stuff qualifies. This sounds more like a display put out by a shit-disturber rather than someone with a serious “We need to re-think religion” message. The article only features one image of the art, though, so I could be wrong about that.

Thoughts?

Meanwhile, Hell’s advertising campaign…

got a pass from New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Hell Pizza made headlines around Easter with their unique hot pentagram buns and according to this article, it wasn’t the first time their style of advertising raised a ruckus, apparently. Other ads they ran satirized local news reports and (as far as complainers were concerned) worse.

In 2009 a billboard carried the catch phrase “at least our brownie won’t eat your pet dog” — a reference to Tongan Paea Taufa being found roasting a pitbull terrier-cross in an umu at his Mangere home.

The advertisement was the most complained about ad for that year, with the ASA upholding 62 complaints about it.

The “brownie” ad did not meet a due sense of social responsibility, was distasteful and reasonably likely to cause serious or widespread offence, the ASA said.

In late 2008, Hell began a “$25 Hot as Hell” direct mail ad, which promised a Thai massage with one of its pizzas, if the offer was redeemed in Thailand on the day of purchase.

The ad showed a photo of a young Thai woman in high heels and a bikini, which 16 complainants said invoked prostitution and was a racial slur to Thais.

Their sense of humour appeals to me (who’d actually fly to Thailand on account of that ad?) but I can see why they’re seen to cross lines. Crossing lines on a bun to mock an Easter tradition, though? That’s what generated the most complaints to date: 179. Fortunately the ASA saw it their way and let the billboards stand.

The ASA noted positive views expressed by the public including St Matthews In The City.

“…we can only conclude that the campaign was in fact within ASA guidelines as to acceptable humour and satire allowable within a tolerant and open society such as New Zealand.”

Too bad the complainers weren’t also tolerant and open to joking around. Judge not lest ye be judged and all that. If their beliefs can’t stand up to a little mockery, perhaps their beliefs aren’t very solid in the first place?

Blasphemy should be the least of their worries

The National Police Commissioner for South Africa recently compared his force to Jesus and his disciples, and not in a good way. This has sparked a blasphemy concern for the Christian Democratic Party and its leader Theunis Botha. They’re the opposition for the African National Congress party and Jacob Zuma who won the election in 2009. Botha got interviewed for this piece.

He said it was clear that President Jacob Zuma and his cronies were not getting the message that Christians took offence to comments using the Christian faith in statements about the ANC and other government institutions.

“The latest remarks from General Bheki Cele comparing the [SA Police Service] with Jesus and His disciples sends out the message of someone who is set on offending Christians,” he said.

Cele was quoted in Beeld saying: “Jesus Christ had an organisation of 12 people… among those 12 there was a criminal who sat with Jesus every day.”

He was speaking at a ceremony for the handing over of police cars in Pretoria on Friday.

“Even when Jesus berated him [Judas], he denied that it was him who was a criminal.

“In the Garden of Eden, there were two people. God himself did an inspection every morning. One day, He could not find them. They were hiding, because they had committed a crime,” he said.

“If you will find criminals amongst two people, then you will find criminals in an organisation with 193,000 members,” Cele said.

I don’t think comparing himself to God is the real problem here.

Remember when the Pope forgave the Beatles for comparing themselves to Jesus? Wasn’t that a nice distraction after all those accusations of pedophilia that the Holy See has hidden under the rugs? Have they shaken the rugs out yet and cleaned house? I see today that the Vatican is claiming celibacy is not the problem, homosexual priests are. Let’s take that as a “No” then, shall we?

Cele isn’t apologizing for the fact that police are committing crime, nor is he promising to make changes.

Beeld reported that in the past seven months, 254 police in Gauteng have been arrested for alleged involvement in robberies and corruption.

Crime Intelligence boss Richard Mdluli and some of his colleagues were arrested last week for their alleged involvement in a murder committed in the late 1990s.

He’s aware of a problem in his country’s police force but what will he do about it? Is there anything he can do about it? These Jesus lovers need to care less about feeling insulted over His ability to pick friends and care more about the corruption levels. That really is more important.

A clever method to bash the bible

Lock them up so people can’t read them. Niko Theris did that, and more, to honour International Blasphemy Rights Day in his town.

One had nails hammered into it in the shape of a cross; another was secured with a nut and bolt; another had a chain link with a padlock on it.

Police officers photographed the Bibles and investigated the Blasphemy Day link, but did not connect them to Theris.

When the Coastline Pilot contacted Theris, who is active in an atheist group, he readily admitted that he was responsible for them.

“The Constitution gives me the right to express myself,” Theris said. “I wanted to make the point that it should be OK to ridicule religion.”

Theris said he was trying to create “safe scriptures” by making it impossible to open some of the Bibles. Others had holes drilled into them to indicate that, “You can see through them,” Theris said. He said atheist friends had collected the Bibles, mostly from hotel rooms.

“It was a lot of work, but it was fun,” he said.

The Bibles were placed on public benches and street corners, but not on church grounds, Theris said.

“I tried to stay away from private property,” he said.

Interesting that police got involved, eh? Who got their panties in a bunch enough to call cops about it? That’s proof there is a problem with religion as an institution. It could have been treated like a gag but instead the law had to get involved in case it was a “hate crime” or something, I suppose. Pathetic.

Why blasphemy is important

This is International Blasphemy Rights Day:

International Blasphemy Rights Day takes place every September 30th, to commemorate the publishing of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons. The purpose of this event is to set a particular day as a day to support free speech, support the right to criticize and satirize religion, and to oppose any resolutions or laws, binding or otherwise, that discourage or inhibit free speech of any kind. The focus on ‘blasphemy’ is simply because it is such a salient issue, and one for which a lot of consciousness-raising is necessary.

To sum up, it’s a day set aside to remind everyone that ideas can and should be criticized and religious ideas should never exempt from scrutiny.

I learned of something tragic and ridiculous this morning regarding India and a long running feud between the Hindu population and the Muslims. The dispute is over a chunk of land each faith claims is theirs by holy right. Muslims had a mosque on it that Hindu extremists destroyed a decade ago. The Hindus, who once had a temple on that site, claim the land is the holy birthplace Lord Rama, a divine figure from their religion, and therefore the land should be theirs. CBC Radio 1 reported that the official verdict ultimately came down in favour of the Hindus.

The Telegraph has a brief article explaining how and why this all came about, and why this whole business has resulted in the deaths of thousands and thousands of people over the past 157 years. Yes, you read that right. This whole stupidity started in 1853.

The ruling its [sic] politically explosive. If it finds in favour of Hindus who want to rebuild a Ram Temple on the site, it will alienate India’s 140 million muslims, many of whom already feel marginalised in Indian society.

It will also cause anxiety over their property rights – most plots and mosque sites in India were once owned by Hindus.

More than the ruling itself, public reaction to it will be another test of how far India has travelled from its dark, communal recent history. The government is hoping those on either side of the divide now care more about their rising wealth and their stake in India’s growth than settling ancient religious scores.

If you can’t appeal to sense, appeal to greed, apparently. Well, why not, I guess. Even if they can’t get along with each other, both groups should be caring about the state of their country.

What makes this even more troublesome is the timing. The Commonwealth Games are set to start soon and thousands of athletes are in the country to compete. Another Telegraph article reports that bulk text messages have been banned. They’re hoping to make it harder to feed misinformation to the population and thus avoid riots over the news. Good luck with that. Is it likely to be that easily avoided, given their history?

Satanists to exorcise God

I love the idea of this. Too bad Satan and God are human constructs, but whatever. Whatever generates some attention to the need to be rid of gods, I’m game. Sadly, they’re doing this in Oklahoma City.

According to James Hale, the church’s Lord High Master, The Church of the IV Majesties is inviting the public, and its members to witness the ritual, in hopes of easing the fears surrounding Satanism.

“We don’t kill animals, we don’t kill children,” the Lord High Master said. “We just decided that being right here in the middle of the Bible Belt, it wasn’t a good idea to keep the secrecy you see in the traditional Satanist churches,” he said. “Because secrecy breeds fear. And we’re not looking to scare anyone.”

The church is listed as a tax exempt religious organization, a designation they were awarded this spring.

Seven members will perform the ritual on Oct. 21, which Hale described as an exorcism to extract the gods of what he called the “right handed path” or traditional religions, such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Awesome.

In essence it is the opposite of a Christian exorcism. “It’s a parody of the Catholic rite of exorcism. It’s just a blasphemy ritual,” Hale said.

They’re late on the ball here – International Blasphemy Rights Day is September 30th, but I guess any day is a good day for some blasphemy.

Smokin’ Drinkin’ Jesus picture causes arson and street violence

As of yesterday, authorities were trying to track down the owner of Skyline Publishing to formally charge him for “offending religious sentiment.” The Roman Catholics have banned all of Skyline’s books and won’t use any of them in their schools now, no matter how good and useful the others might have been.

Turns out the funny picture found in a spelling book published by that company had not-so-funny consequences for the people of India. Riots broke out in the streets over that screw-up. Businesses were vandalized and churches were burned. Christians saw it as a deliberate attack on their faith and reacted predictably.

The Franciscan friar, who is also chairman of the All Pastors Association of Batala, explained cause at the roots of the clashes between Christian and Hindu fundamentalists. “On February 20, all Christian denominations – he highlights – had organized a protest march in response to the degrading image of Jesus. The demonstration degenerated when a group of young Christians called for the closure of shops in the area. They also burnt a motorbike to vent their frustration”.

In response, the Hindu fundamentalist groups including the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Hindū ParisadRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mobilized their leaders, inciting the crowd and prompting them to retaliate. They burned the Church of the Epiphany, a former Anglican church, and now belonging to the churches of North India (CNI). The fundamentalists set fire to furniture, furnishings and burnt the outer walls. After destroying the building, they shot the Rev. Maurice, 48 years and 15 year old son Dennis, who lived in the presbytery. Both are in hospital for medical treatment.

All over a publishing error in a book that has been been pulled from circulation. The publishing house already apologized for it. So why protest? Why riot?

It’s far too easy to offend strong believers.

In the aftermath of the attacks, Mgr. Anil Coutté Bishop of Jalandhar condemned the violence committed by young Christians, stressing, however, that he understands their state of mind, wounded by the outrageous image of Christ. “Too often – says the prelate – Christians have been portrayed in movies as dissolute people and, despite everything, they stayed calm. However, when some people with a clear political aim target something so precious, that involves deep our faith, the young people will respond”. He finally adds that he is “concerned” about the depiction of Christ, but has renewed “the call for peace and forgiveness.”

I’d like to see what other words were in the book to be learned and spelled. I think the claim that people with “clear political aim” were behind it seems too paranoid and off the wall. Where is his proof of that?

According to Reuters, India is now considering a blasphemy law that could target publishers. There’s nothing on the books there now that allows them to punish publication companies for what they print. Publishers can print whatever they want.

I would like to see that continue, myself, but Christians there want the government to pass a law

to monitor all school books for offensive content before they are circulated.

“The publication of the picture has deeply hurt our religious sentiments, and (the) publisher has violated the provisions of Constitution of India,” said a statement by the Indian Catholic Youth Movement in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya.

I don’t think state law needs making. I think the publishers need to hire better proofreaders and editors. Allowing a law to be made to monitor book content could allow for anything under the sun to be deemed “offensive” and the result could get even more ridiculous than it is now.