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Advance warning of nutter outrage over a planned film by Paul Verhoeven
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| 27th June 2012
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| From entertainmentwise.com
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Christians have reacted with 'fury' to the news that Dutch director Paul Veerhoeven is planning to make a film which depicts Jesus as the product of rape by a Roman soldier rather than a child of immaculate conception via God. Paul Verhoeven
has written a book, Jesus of Nazereth, that features his controversial take on the nativity and now plans are afoot to film the story. According to RadarOnline, Dan Gainor, of the Culture and Media Institute whined:
Hollywood isn't anti-Christian, we are constantly told, yet the evidence keeps piling up that it is precisely that way. This isn't accidental. Christians and Christian faith have been under decades of attack by
hedonist Hollywood that is desperate to rationalize a culture of immorality. In The Daily Mail, a representative for Verhoeven said it was too early for moral outrage as no script had been written, stating:
There is as yet no script on the subject, and until there is, there's nothing to discuss.
For some the whole concept may be a step too far, with many religious figures only too happy to step up to the call
and criticise flippancy about their religious beliefs. Others will argue that the Christians angered by the film need not go and see it, and that any protests could actually backfire as they generate free publicity for Verhoeven.
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Advance warning of an Iranian video game actioning the fatwa against Salman Rushdie
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| 27th June 2012
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| See article from
guardian.co.uk
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The Stressful Life of Salman Rushdie and Implementation of his Verdict is the title of the game being developed by the Islamic Association of Students, a government-sponsored organisation which announced this week it had completed initial
phases of production. News of the computer game came as Tehran played host to the country's second International Computer Games Expo. Press TV, Iran's English language propaganda channel said (maybe alluding to the Salman Rushdie fatwa game):
The organisers considered the event as an opportunity to introduce Iranian culture, value and Islamic identity to international computer games designers and producers.
Three years ago, the student
association and Iran's national foundation of computer games asked students across the country to submit scripts for the game and the top three were handed over to video developers. But development of the game made slow progress. Little has been
revealed about the game but its title suggests players will be asked to implement Khomeini's call for the killing of Rushdie.
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Polish singer loses appeal against blasphemy prosecution
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| 25th June 2012
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| Her smoking herbs concept was undoubtedly wrong. More likely that the Bible was written by cynical people who realised that there was money to be made from the gullible
masses. See article from
secularism.org.uk
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A popular Polish singer known as Doda has lost an appeal over offending the religious feelings of two complainants, who objected to her saying in an interview that the Bible was written by someone who was hammered on wine and who'd been smoking
herbs. She has been ordered to pay a 5000 zloty fine (1170 euro), in keeping with the original verdict. Dorota Rabczewska (Dosa) had been brought to court after complaints were filed by nutters Ryszard Nowak of the Nationwide Defence Committee
Against Sects, and Stanislaw Kogut, a senator for the conservative Law and Justice party. In her original defence, the singer had claimed that she had not intended to offend anyone, and that the cited herbs were certainly therapeutic ones and the alcohol in question
sacramental wine. Rabczewska has not been given leave to appeal to Poland's Supreme Court, but her lawyer is considering an extraordinary appeal to Poland's Ombudsman on Civil Rights. An appeal to European Court of Human Rights could also
be pursued. At present, the Democratic Left Alliance party is working on a draft bill that will cut the maximum penalty for insulting religious feelings from two years imprisonment to six months.
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HBO's comedy about twentysomethings having fun in New York
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| 24th June
2012
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| From mrc.org
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The Media Research Center seems to a political group who point out what they perceive as liberal bias from US TV companies. They write: Liberal Critics Still Consider Girls Irresistible After ten
awkward and unpleasant episodes, the first season of HBO's critically acclaimed show Girls has mercifully come to an end. Each week seemingly tried to up the ante with graphic sex, gutter language and inappropriate innuendo.
There were scenes that were obviously intended to make the viewer as uncomfortable as possible. How else to explain multiple allusions to (and one depiction of) masturbation, and even a golden shower? The season finale was no
exception. There were frank discussions about STD's, abortion references, frequent drug use, and brutish behavior -- basically what audiences have come to expect from premium cable networks. Critics, of course, love it.
... Consistent-enough ratings have warranted a second season order from HBO. While many will be left wondering what the entertainment value of Girls is, numerous left-wing columnists will continue to
praise the show for its brutal honesty and gritty realism.
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11.5 years in jail for threatening the writers of South Park over the Mohammed Teddy Bear episode
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| 23rd June 2012
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| See article from
guardian.co.uk
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A Muslim from New York has been sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison after admitting threatening the writers of South Park over their depiction of the religious character Muhammad. Jesse Curtis Morton alias Younus Abdullah
Muhammed worked on website postings with Zachary Chesser, who was previously sentenced to 25 years in prison. In April 2010 the pair used their website to encourage extremists to attack the writers for an episode that depicted Muhammad in a bear suit.
Morton and Chesser posted the writers' addresses and encouraged readers to pay them a visit, according to court documents. In February he pleaded guilty to making threatening communications, using the internet to put others in fear and
using his position as leader of the Revolution Muslim organisation's websites to conspire to commit murder. The US attorney Neil MacBride said: Jesse Morton sought to inspire Muslims to engage in terrorism by
providing doctrinal justification for violence against civilians in the name of Islam. His crimes not only put people's lives forever in danger, but they also chilled free expression out of fear of retaliation by violent terrorists.
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Savage U. Sex education on US MTV
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| 20th June 2012
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| From parentstv.org
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For weeks we've been warning you about the wretched content on MTV's Savage U , a sex advice program featuring columnist Dan Savage which is filmed on college campuses across America. The season concluded last night, but MTV has not yet
announced whether or not it will be returning for a second season. We need to act now to ensure sponsors and potential sponsors know exactly what they are getting when they buy ad time on Savage U. Savage U isn't any ordinary sex and relationship
advice program... This isn't like Dr. Ruth, or even MTV's previous effort at a sex advice show, Loveline. Typically programs of this sort feature a medical doctor, psychologist, or at the very least someone with a professional background that equips them
to give sensible and serious answers to serious questions about the most intimate act two people can engage in. By contrast, Dan Savage's background was writing a satirical advice column for an alternative weekly newspaper which was begun, by his
own admission, with the express purpose of providing mocking advice to heterosexuals. Yet MTV has entrusted a man with no medical or psychological training to educate adolescents about sex. Every episode is deeply imbued with a if it feels good, go
for it hedonism that is personally and socially destructive.
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As recommended by an Alabama pastor and a small town mayor
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| 11th June 2012
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| See article from
thelocal.no
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An Alabama pastor has succeeded in his attempts to block the planned screening of a coming-of-age Norwegian drama film due to what he perceived as its inappropriate content. Methodist pastor John Kearns contacted the Tuscaloosa Arts Council
after seeing an advertisement for the movie Turn Me On, Dammit! , news site AL.com reports. Affronted by the film's apparent focus on the sexual awakening of a 15-year-old girl in a small Norwegian town, he asked organizers not to show a
film he complained was not in step with community standards . In a statement the Arts Council said it had agreed to axe the screening of the film: Due to the misunderstanding surrounding the theme and
content of the film, the Arts Council and Bama Theatre have made the decision to cancel its screening, whether represented by the Council or outside entities. We hope this decision represents the wishes of all our constituents.
In
what she described as a dangerous precedent , outgoing Arts Council board president Rebecca Rothman said Mayor Walt Maddox had personally contacted the council to ask it to rethink its plans to show the film. Rothman told AL.com:
The Arts Council receives city and county funding. We are in the midst of a big fund-raising effort for the new cultural arts center. We were put in a very difficult position. Reacting to the decision not to show
her film, Systad Jacobsen said it was sad that anyone would judge the film without actually having watched it: Had they done so, they would presumably have expressed themselves differently after seeing that it
actually has a Christian conservative message about waiting.
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Ukraine topless feminists visit Hamburg's Reeperbahn
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| 11th June 2012
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| See article from examiner.com
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The nutter women's rights group known for their provocative protests of world affairs, has taken to the streets of Hamburg Sunday continuing their colourful disapproval of the city's sex trade. According to reports, FEMEN arrived in Hamburg's
red-light district known as Reeperbahn armed with painted faces and strap-on sex toys. The group marched their way from Spielbudenplatz to Herbert Street, their bodies painted with Swastikas and Hitler mustaches, gesturing their way down the streets in
similar fashion to Hitler's regime nearly 70 years ago. As the women marched, they were reportedly chanting, Sex slavery is fascism.
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Nutters whinge at the Canadian Grand Prix claiming it to be the Formula One of Sex Exploitation
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| 11th June 2012
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| See article from
hindustantimes.com
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About 200 demonstrators, mainly women's rights nutters marched against Montreal's biggest annual tourist draw, Formula One's Grand Prix. Marchers hit the streets behind a huge banner slamming the prostitution they see as a parallel Formula One
of Sex Exploitation, as their banner read, stopping near several hotels where they claimed prostitution was common. In my opinion, prostitution is still a paid rape, Laurence Fortin, a graduate student and sociology researcher, told
AFP.
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Sister Margaret A Farley's Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics
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| 8th June 2012
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| See article from
wptv.com
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After the Vatican's doctrinal book censor condemned an American nun for a book she wrote on human sexuality this week, the book shot up Amazon.com's bestseller list, becoming the #1 best selling religious studies book. Sister Margaret A. Farley's Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics,
was the #16 best-selling book on Amazon overall. Farley's book shot up from number 142,982 on Amazon on the day the Vatican revealed its censure of Sister Margaret A. Farley over her 2006 book, which the church said is out of step with
official church teaching on human sexuality, including masturbation and homosexuality. Masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action, the church said in a statement that went on to characterize homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity.
The censure came soon after the leadership that represents most American nuns concluded a meeting in Washington to devise a response to an April Vatican assessment that accused the nuns of promoting radical feminism. Taken together, the
Vatican critiques signal an attempt to reign in America's nuns, a community that the Holy See believes has drifted away from church teaching.
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| 8th June 2012
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| An Australian advertising worker outlines how the country's advert censor is ineffective in imposing nutter views on society See
article from melindatankardreist.com |
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Collective Shout! get their lingerie in a twist
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| 3rd June 2012
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| See article from
stuff.co.nz See also lflinaustralia.com
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The Australian nutters of Collective Shout! are getting well wound up by Lingerie Football League. This is an outlandish bit of American razzmatazz being brought to Australia. Exhibition matches feature two American teams of female footballers
playing in bras and knickers. Unsurprisingly the extremist feminists of Collective Shout are unimpressed and are trying to get the matches banned from the netball venue that more usually hosts the Queensland Firebirds in Brisbane. All-Star exhibition games between the LFL's Eastern and Western conferences - the second is scheduled for Sydney next Saturday - are virtual dress rehearsals, test events to gauge whether franchises should be set up in Australia's four main cities next year.
That scenario appals Collective Shout representative Melinda Liszewski, who is spearheading the drive to banish the LFL said: We have female athletes and female sporting groups in this country working hard to
promote the equality of women in sport and to see women valued for their athletic ability and their skill -- not how they look or how sexually appealing they are to men. The Lingerie Football League undermines that message by
saying sure we'll let you play football but get your gear off. It sends a really nasty message to girls: if they want to be recognised in their sporting field then they need to be exposing their bodies, posing for Playboy, running
around in their lingerie.
Federal Minister for Sport Kate Lundy was also not among the LFL's reputed 65 million fans worldwide, labelling it a cheap, degrading perv . Lingerie Football isn't
just a distraction; it's an assault on sport. We can do so much better than LFL. And most importantly, our daughters deserve more.
Founder and chairman Mitch Mortaza launched the LFL in 2009. Contracts stipulate players will be fined
$500 if they wear anything under their lingerie; they must also accept accidental nudity was an occupational hazard. Mortaza explained: The athletes do it of their own free will - thousands of them line up in
the States every year, he said. They are all former collegiate athletes, remarkable women that want to be given an opportunity to play a sport and have it receive the recognition of major men's sports.
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28th May | | |
Extremists threaten chaos in Jakarta should Lady Gaga's performance go ahead.
| 10th May 2012. See article from thejakartapost.com See also
Gaga or not, Indonesia still feasts on raunchy from
firstpost.com |
The extremist Islam Defender Font (FPI) says it will take to the streets if US singer Lady Gaga does not cancel her upcoming Jakarta concert on June 3. FPI chairman Habib Rizieq said: FPI is strongly
rejecting Lady Gaga's concert because we know very well how she is during the performing in concerts everywhere.
He promised that he would join FPI members in taking to the streets if the concert went ahead. He said:
If you want chaos in Jakarta, just continue to hold the concert,
Rizieq said that he would directly convey the group's opposition to the President Update: Police Consider
Ban 14th May 2012. From thejakartaglobe.com Lady Gaga's sold-out Jakarta concert is scheduled for June 3, but police have yet to decide whether Indonesia's 40,000 ticket-holders will be able to see Lady Gaga perform. The planned
concert has attracted the ire of extremist Islamists of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), who ludicrously called Lady Gaga to the devil during rallies and warned that her concert will degrade the nation's sense of morality. The Jakarta Police
recommended that the concert be canceled. But, in the end, the decision is not theirs and permits are issued by the National Police who are still undecided whether to allow the perfomance. We ask the National Police to take into consideration
the public's opposition to Lady Gaga's concert, said M. Mahendradatta, board chairman for the Muslim Defenders Team, an organization known for representing hard-line Islamists and alleged terrorists. Mahendradatta claimed that the pop diva promotes
devil worship and that her concert will corrupt the moral sensibilities of young Indonesians. He spewed: Whether you like it or not, Lady Gaga teaches [fans] to worship the devil. That goes against the teachings of any
religion. We don't approve of that.
FPI's leader Rizieq Syihab furthered the devil worshiping claims, adding that the singer was planning to build Lucifer's kingdom in Indonesia. Update: Threats pay off
16th May 2012. See article from bbc.co.uk
Indonesian police have banned a concert by US pop star Lady Gaga in the capital next month. This follows follows the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) threats to intercept Lady Gaga at the airport and stop her getting off the plane. Saut Nasution, a
spokesman for the Indonesian police, told the BBC's Indonesian service: It is better that we don't give permission rather than that [the concert] ends up being stopped by the people. We have already received a letter
requesting us to consider the people's plea [for cancellation]. And the Jakarta Police also refused to recommend a permit for the concert because we don't want people to clash [on the matter].
Habib Salim Alatas, the Jakarta
head of the FPI said: She's a vulgar singer who wears only panties and a bra when she sings. He also described her as dangerous for Indonesia's younger generation, and claimed that Lady Gaga had referred to herself as the devil's messenger.
Update: Police Back Off from Ban 22nd May 2012. From thejakartaglobe.com The National Police has revised its stance on the Lady Gaga concert, saying it might issue the permit the show needs to go on.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said that if the promoter could get recommendations from the concert venue and the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, as well as prove it was a legal entity, the National Police would issue
the permit. As long as it meets those three requirements, [the concert] will be staged, Saud said. The Jakarta Police said that while it still wasn't giving its recommendation, if the National Police decided the issue the permit, it
would comply with that decision and secure the concert. Update: Police say OK as long as religious extremists agree 23rd May 2012. See
article from asiaone.com The National
Police now says it will issue a concert permit for American pop diva Lady Gaga - but only if the promoters achieve the monumental task of getting recommendations from the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI). Both
organizations have shown strong opposition to the singer's concert in Indonesia. Police also demanded that concert promoter Big Daddy Entertainment have recommendations from the Tourism Ministry, the Home Affairs Ministry, the Director General of
Immigration over Lady Gaga's visa and the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry. A permit from the management of Bung Karno Stadium, where the planned June 3 concert will be held, is also required. Update: Indonesia
concert called off 28th May 2012. From bangkokpost.com Lady Gaga has cancelled her Indonesian concert, with promoters saying the security threat was too serious
after Islamic extremists promised chaos. The promoters had indicated that a deal was being hammered out to tone down the June 3 concert in Jakarta, but the US star's management had stood firm, vowing there would be no compromise to appease
religious nutters. Minola Sebayang, lawyer for promoters Big Daddy, told reporters: Lady Gaga's management has considered the situation minute to minute, and with threats if the concert goes ahead, Lady Gaga's
side is calling off the concert. This is not only about Lady Gaga's security, but extends to those who will be watching her.
Lady gaga tweeted before the announcement was made: There is nothing Holy about
hatred. FPI Jakarta chairman Habib Salim Alatas said the cancellation was good news for Muslims in Indonesia.
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21st May | | |
Nutters in the Philippines gush with praise for Lady Gaga in concert
| 19th May 2012. See article
from entertainment.inquirer.net |
Religious groups have urged that the Manila concert of American pop singer Lady Gaga be banned to prevent her from supposedly influencing young Filipinos. Catholic leaders called on followers of the Church to boycott Lady Gaga's concert,
which, they claim, would promote godlessness. Her attitude seems to promote godlessness, offensive to any religion, Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes, a member of the Permanent Council of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines,
told reporters. Bastes claimed some of Lady Gaga's songs were blasphemous: People have the duty to discern the quality of entertainment. Christians must exercise self-censorship to avoid shows that are harmful to their
faith.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo called on the government to follow the leads of South Korea and Indonesia and ban Lady Gaga's concert. (Even if South Korea didn't ban her concert) Henrietta de Villa, chair of
Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) spouted: We are a Catholic country but look at the way she insults our faith and the way she tramples on our Lord. We should stand up [for our faith]. We should
not allow her to have a concert here.
Nutter leaders cited Lady Gaga's songs Born This Way , which they said encouraged homosexuality, and Judas , which they claimed to be making a mockery of their
religious beliefs and moral fiber. The Christian groups also criticized Lady Gaga's skimpy outfits and outrageous costumes. Other groups opposing Lady Gaga's concerts were The Intercessors for the Philippines, the Philippines for Jesus
Movement, the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, Bible Mode Baptist Group, NFS Ministry, Metro Manila for Jesus Movement and Tribes and Nations Outreach. Antonino Calixto, mayor of Manila's Pasay district said inspectors will be on hand
at the venue to ensure she does not overstep the mark. He said: We reminded the producers of Lady Gaga's concert that the show and the event as a whole shall not exhibit any nudity or lewd conduct which may be
offensive to morals and good customs. Although we respect artistic and musical expressions, I won't allow anyone or any group to provide acts which may be questionable in (any) way.
Update: 200 Protestors
21st May 2012. See article from
entertainment.inquirer.net Some 200 Christian youths marched in Manila Saturday morning for the second straight day, chanting Stop the Lady Gaga concerts. They
held placards urging the pop diva to respect our faith, stop the blasphemy and Stop Lady Gaga, the mother monster. Another placard praised: Lady GaGa, the icon of perverted values. The Biblemode Youth Philippines members also
plan to hold a vigil starting Sunday near the seaside concert venue. They say they are offended by Lady Gaga's music, particularly her song Judas, which they say mocks the religious character, Jesus Christ.
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16th May | | |
Website offers a reward for the murder of an Iranian rapper based in Germany
| See article from
guardian.co.uk Hear Nagi on
youtube.com
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IAn Iranian rapper has become the Salman Rushdie of music after clerics in the Islamic republic issued fatwas calling him an apostate, which is considered punishable by death under the country's sharia law. Shahin Najafi, a
Germany-based Iranian singer, recently released a song with references to Ali al-Hadi al-Naqi, the tenth of the 12 Shia Muslim Imams, a senior religious character. The clip posted on Youtube, watched by hundreds of thousands online, has divided
opinions in the country with many finding it 'offensive' and 'insulting' to their beliefs and others defending the song, saying it broke taboos especially in regards to expressing views about religious characters. When asked for a religious ruling
on the fate of Najafi and his blasphemous music , clerics unanimously declared that such a person must be considered an apostate. Ayatollah Naser Makareme Shirazi said: Any outrage against the infallible
imams ... and obvious insult against them would make a Muslim an apostate.
Najafi has denied claims that his song Naqi is meant to insult people's religious beliefs, though the song criticises Iranian society. He told Deutsche
Welle: I thought there would be some ramifications. But I didn't think I would upset the regime that much. Now they are taking advantage of the situation and making it look like I was trying to criticise religion and
put down believers.
An Iranian religion website, Shia-Online.ir, has offered a $100,000 reward for anyone who kills Najafi.
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15th May | |
| GCB cancelled on US TV
| See article
from tulsaworld.com
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GCB has been canceled by ABC. That's the word from entertainment website deadline.com. The wickedly funny comedy series, which focused on a group of church women/Dallas socialites, has garnered its share of controversy since its first
debuted March 4 to modest ratings. Based on the novel Good Christian Bitches, the series' original title was changed to Good Christian Belles and later to just GCB . Although viewership did increase, the series never
caught on with enough viewers.
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11th May | | | HM tanned model causes inevitable 'outrage'
| See
article from
nydailynews.com
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Swedish fashion store H&M has apologised over a swimwear campaign featuring a deeply tanned model that sparked 'outrage' among cancer groups. The company said in an email sent to AFP: We are sorry if we have
upset anyone with our latest swimwear campaign. It was not our intention to show off a specific ideal or to encourage dangerous behaviour, but was instead to show off our latest summer collection.
H&M's apology came after the
Swedish Cancer Society and others criticised advertisements featuring Brazilian model Isabeli Fontana wearing brightly-coloured swimwear accentuated by a dark-brown tan. The campaigners said: The clothing giant is
creating, not least among young people, a beauty ideal that is deadly. Every year, more people die in Sweden of (skin cancer) than in traffic accidents, and the main cause is too much sunning. Regardless of
how the H&M model got her tan, through sunning or a computer programme, the effect is the same: H&M tells us we should be very tan on the beach. It is sad to write this, but H&M will through its latest advertising
campaign not only sell more bathing suits but also contribute to more people dying from skin cancer.
Update: Brown with Envy 22nd September 2012. See
article from thelocal.se The Swedish Advertising Ombudsman (Reklamombudsmannen RO) received
seven complaints against the campaign, saying that it was sexist and discriminatory, that the model was too thin and that she was sporting an unhealthy tan. The advert censor ultimately ruled that the campaign was neither sexist nor did it promote
an unhealthy and skinny ideal body image. However, the body did rap H&M for using a model that was too tanned. It is widely known that an exaggerated exposure of the skin to radiation to the sun is bad and can lead to skin cancer.
The advertisement shows an ideal through the model's extremely tanned skin, which would be harmful to try to achieve, the censor wrote in a statement.
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9th May | | |
Protestors in Germany angered by far right political cartoons of religious characters allowed outside mosques
| See
article from scotsman.com
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A German far-right political party was allowed to display anti-Muslim cartoons near mosques as part of an electioneering campaign. Inevitably violence has followed including a major riot on Saturday that left two police officers seriously injured
with stab wounds. Courts in Germany took the view that cartoon images of the religious characters, Mohammed and Allah, were acceptable in a country where freedom of expression is enshrined in the constitution. But with resistance growing to the
tactics of the radical Pro NRW party, Germany is looking to defuse tensions. More than 100 people were arrested at the protest in Bonn on Saturday where the police officers were stabbed in the legs; a further 27 officers were injured. One man has
been charged with trying to incite the deaths of three policemen among the crowd of 600 Salafist Muslim demonstrators outside the King Fahd Academy in Bonn. Also last week, 81 people were arrested in Solingen after violence broke out during a
protest of Salafist Muslims against Pro NRW. The group had set up a stand showing cartoons of Mohammed outside a mosque. German interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich of the Christian Socialist Union (CSU), said he had been in touch with state
officials in the past week, hoping to find a way to defuse the situation. He put the blame for the violence firmly on the shoulders of the Muslims.
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9th May | | |
Protestors in Iraq call for the execution of magazine editor over a piece depicting a conversation with God
| See article from
uk.news.yahoo.com
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Thousands took to the streets of the Iraqi Kurdish capital Arbil to demand swift punishment for a magazine editor who ran a story decried as against Islam . The article relays a conversation between the author of the piece and his god, and
was deemed offensive to Islam by regional religious leaders. The editor, Hayman Ari, has been arrested. Demonstrators gathered in front of the Kurdish parliament building in Arbil to protest the article published in the latest issue of Al-Hamsa
(The Whisper) , a monthly magazine published in Kurdish and Arabic in the regional capital. Protestors began throwing rocks and water bottles at security forces and clashing with riot police, an AFP journalist at the scene reported. Groups of
demonstrators attempted to scale the concrete walls surrounding the compound, while others attacked nearby stores selling alcohol and other buildings. Protestor Ahmed Ali said: We are Muslims, we do not accept such humiliations published by
magazines and newspapers. We do not accept any sentence against him (Ari) -- he must be handed over to us so we can execute him ourselves. Update: More 23rd May 2012. See
article from en.rsf.org Goran Halmat's article, entitled
Me and God , was reprinted in the Chirpa issue that was published on 3 May. The article, which imagines a conversation with God and which was originally posted on Facebook in 2010, is deemed by Islamists to be offensive to Islam.
Representatives of the Kurdistan parliament's rights commission and religious affairs commission met on 6 May with the Union of Ulemas, the Union of Journalists and the magazine's representatives to discuss the article's publication. Although
Chirpa presented an apology, it was decided that the magazine would be suspended indefinitely. Hundreds of people gathered outside the Sawaf Mosque in central Erbil that evening. The Union of Ulemas and Islamist parties, including Jama'a Islamiya,
called for a major demonstration on 8 May to protest against the article. The next day, 7 May, Ary was arrested and Prime Minister Barzani condemned the article as an attack on Islam and criticized the lack of restrictions on media freedom in
Kurdistan. In response, Jama'a Islamiya said it trusted the prime minister to punish those responsible and called off the next day's protest. Around 2,000 people nonetheless marched through the streets of Erbil calling for Halmat's death
and an attempt was made to set fire to Zagros TV, which is owned by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of the region's two main ruling parties. Police intervened to disperse the protesters. Reporters Without Borders regrets that the
criminal code has again been applied to a media offence in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region instead of the region's Law 35, governing media offences, which makes no provision for the detention of journalists in connection with their work.
The media freedom organization also condemns comments by the region's prime minister, Nechirvan Barzani, implicitly calling for the restriction of media freedom. His comments, designed to flatter and calm the Islamists, are very disturbing,
especially coming from a senior politician. Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the intolerance and undemocratic methods of Kurdistan's Islamists, who use street demonstrations to achieve their goals instead of legal methods of protests.
They could have brought a lawsuit against Chirpa and allowed the courts to decide
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8th May | | |
Parents TV Council whinge about Judge Howard Stern on America's Got Talent
| See article [pdf] from
parentstv.org
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The following is an excerpt from letters sent by Parents Television Council President Tim Winter to 91 corporations that have sponsored prior episodes of America's Got Talent on NBC: As a former sponsor of NBC's America's
Got Talent, the Parents Television Council urgently brings to your attention the return of this program, but with the addition of shock-jock Howard Stern as a judge. The season premiere is scheduled to air on Monday, May 14th.
Programs like AGT have offered millions of American families a brief respite from the otherwise-ubiquitous stream of violent, profane and sexually-explicit content on primetime broadcast television. Talent/performance competitions
like American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, The Voice and AGT are among the highest-rated programs on the air. A key reason is that these programs have been relatively safe for family viewing. NBC's decision to add Mr. Stern to AGT will likely result in
a sharp increase in explicit content, and we urge you to be mindful when considering a media buy. Stern's reputation for sleaze and misogyny is well known; and to our knowledge his only previous judging experience consisted of
looking at insecure, naked young women and telling them whether or not they were hot enough to pose for Playboy. He once told a female guest, I would like to kiss you and chop off your feet…I wanna bite off your fingers…I wanna have sex
with you and throw you in a ditch…[and] chop your head off. Does such commentary accurately reflect your corporate values? ... There can be, and there must be, a presumption that Mr. Stern will
only continue to conduct himself in precisely the same manner as he has done for decades. Unless and until his conduct consistently reflects and respects the time, place and manner of an 8:00 p.m. broadcast television program, we would urge you and your
advertising agency to consider alternate network television programming for your media dollars. The risk of associating your hard-earned corporate brand image with such shock is not worth the cost involved – a cost
not just in terms of wasted media dollars, but also in terms of countless millions of dollars in customer goodwill. I assure you that every advertiser on America's Got Talent will be held publicly accountable for underwriting any of the inevitably vile
antics of Howard Stern
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30th April | | |
Recommended by the Australian Christian Lobby
| See
article from heraldsun.com.au
Sniper Elite V2 is available at UK Amazon for release on 4th May
|
A new video game that lets players assassinate Adolf Hitler and shows graphic, X-ray footage of bullets tearing through people will be in the hands of Australian kids by Friday. Just days before Sniper Elite V2 is released to the
public it has been branded as sick by the Australian Christian Lobby. Jim Wallace, of the Australian Christian Lobby, said the context of the violence was rubbish and the game should have been refused classification. The
Classification Board found the World War II setting of the title and its focus on stealth techniques in the context of an historical war setting meant the game could be rated MA15+ The UK games censors at BBFC have also rated the film
as 15 uncut for strong bloody violence |
29th April | | |
Christians have a whinge about Lady GaGa's upcoming concert
| 23rd April 2012. From news.pinkpaper.com |
A group of Christian nutters from South Korea are planning to hold a prayer meeting in protest of Lady Gaga's show in Seoul on 27th April. AFP reports that 300 members of Alliance for Sound Culture In Sexuality are planning to attend the
meeting. Kang Ju-Hyun, a prayer organiser, told AFP: We will pray to God that the concert will not be realised so that homosexuality and pornography will not spread around the country. The group have accused Lady Gaga of spreading
unhealthy sexual culture through lewd lyrics and performances . Under 18s have been banned from the concert, after the Korea Media Rating Board deemed the show unsuitable for young audiences. Update: A
small group of Christians 29th April 2012. See article from bbc.co.uk , Thanks
to Nick A small group of Christians staged a rally outside Seoul's Olympic Stadium, where around 45,000 fans saw the singer perform hits like Poker Face and Judas . The poster for Lady Gaga's Seoul concert said it had adult
certification Activists in Seoul have been protesting over the concert for weeks, claiming the singer was obscene and could taint young people. A group calling itself the Civilians Network against the Lady Gaga Concert said her
performance was too homosexual and pornographic .
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20th April | | |
Whinge at clothing catalogue image of models kissing
| From nydailynews.com
|
Nutters are up in arms over a recent Urban Outfitters catalog that features a shot of two ladies locking lips. Christian group One Million Moms posted a call for action against the clothing company on its website, calling the photo offensive and inappropriate for a teen:
WARNING! The April 2012 catalog from Urban Outfitters has begun arriving in home mailboxes the last couple of days. On page 2 of this catalog there is a picture of two women kissing in a face holding embrace!
The group urges parents to trash their kids' catalogs and is pushing for Urban Outfitters to retract the ad and release a statement of apology.
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19th April | | |
Museum poster censored in Utrecht
| From rnw.nl
|
Dutch sexy posters have been covered up and a message stuck across them. In Kanaleneiland, a predominantly Muslim area of Utrecht, a poster advertising the open museum weekend has been covered by a black bag. The poster shows a woman in a short
pink strapless dress. The message plastered across the bag reads: Laa ilahe il Allah [There is no god but Allah] No Sexually Tinted Advertising In Our Suburbs. Stand Up And Fight Against This
Case To Protect Our Children!
Another poster showing a woman in a bikini in the distance walking on a beach has also been covered up. The next day the cover had been taken off, but angry reactions had already started appearing on the
internet. Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders even asked questions in parliament about this Islamic censorship .
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15th April | | |
Call for a US Congressional hearing to explore the supposed harms of pornography
| Via
article from business.avn.com
|
Morality in Media (MiM) president Patrick Trueman had delivered 5,000 or so letters to Congress calling for a Congressional hearing in either or both the Committee on the Judiciary and Committee on Energy and Commerce to explore the true harms
of pornography by bringing together leading medical professionals and researchers on the subject, a hearing that Trueman described as now vitally necessary. Trueman managed to get 127 like-minded national and well-known
leaders to sign the letter with him, including Alliance Defense Fund president Alan Sears, conservative Princeton University Prof. Robert George, Citizens for Community Values president Phil Burress, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins,
anti-women's rights activist Phyllis Schlafly, anti-Kinsey crusader Judith Reisman, Shelley Lubben and five of her acolytes and a couple of dozen other lesser-known movement conservatives, plus 43 more pages of names of religio-conservative
citizens.
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10th April | |
| Dance Again by Jennifer Lopez
| See article from
huffingtonpost.com See video from
youtube.com
|
US nutters from the Culture and Media institute are whingeing at Jennifer Lopez's new video for Dance Again. In a recent interview with Radar, Dan Gainor for the institute spouted: Jennifer Lopez's
skanky new video shows how desperate she is to retain her fame despite her fading relevance.
Gainor said the big issue with the video is the fact that it premiered during a show watched by children:
Even the supposedly family-friendly TV shows like American Idol are never safe in the hands of Hollywood. Such sexualized videos aren't appropriate for any children to watch, including Lopez's own twins.
The video, which debuted on
American Idol last week has racked up nearly 10 million views on YouTube. It has Lopez dancing around and running her hands over herself and other dancers. Lopez's choreographer and boyfriend Casper Smart figures prominently in the video. Pitbull is
also featured on Dance Again. It's Lopez's second recent collaboration with the Cuban rapper.
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9th April | |
| GCB
| See article from
parentstv.org The uncut region 1 DVD is available at
US Amazon released on 12th June 2012
|
ABC's new Sunday night program GCB (original title: Good Christian Bitches ) imitates the Desperate Housewives formula: take a number of shallow, materialistic, sex-obsessed women; give them some pretext, no matter how flimsy,
for acting catty and sniping at one another; and add a few bumbling, clueless, token husbands. Result: a new nighttime soap. Unfortunately, the Disney-owned network has also found it necessary to inject an insultingly caricatured and totally one-sided
image of religion into the picture. All of the villainous, vengeance-crazed women are devout Christians. The program's protagonist, non-believer Amanda -- supposedly the queen bitch in high school -- possesses the virtues
of a saint. Meanwhile, the show's churchgoing good Christian women -- particularly their chief, Carlene Cockburn -- are presented as petty, two-faced, back-stabbing, liquor-swilling, sexually aggressive hypocrites. This
one-sided portrayal of Christians as uniformly wicked, and the show's sleazy mixture of sex and religious sentiment, reveal the attitudes of GCB's makers. The ONLY time Scripture is quoted on the program is when Carlene uses it as a hypocritical excuse
to perform some blatantly un-Christian action. The ONLY thing viewers see occurring during the church service is Carlene offering a back-stabbing, slanderous prayer to attack other people. And the ONLY decent, likeable character on the program
is also the only one who professes no religion. On GCB, Christianity is ALWAYS a farce, and ALL Christians are hypocrites, who ONLY use their religion to attack others and justify their own sinful actions. GCB is merely the
latest and most extreme example of the entertainment industry's uniquely unfair treatment of Christians and their religion. When does scripted prime-time television ever show Christianity as a positive influence, either in private life or in society as a
whole?
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8th April | | |
Violent mobs censor school play in Bangladesh
| See
article from
gulf-times.com
|
Police in Bangladesh have said they had arrested two school teachers on suspicion of staging a drama containing blasphemous remarks about Muhammad. The school's Muslim headmaster and a female Hindu teacher were detained as a mob protested the play
following weekly prayers at Kaliganj. The protesters alleged that the play, entitled Huzur Qibla , which was staged by pupils contained derogatory remarks about Muhammed. The local police official told AFP said the teachers had
been accused of hurting religious sentiment for helping organise the drama at their school. At least 3,000 demonstrators barricaded a key road and held noisy protests in front of the school and in other towns in the district. Violence
erupted as up to 7,000 Muslims shouted slogans and set ablaze the house of the drama's director, who has fled the area.
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6th April | | |
Nutters have initiated a letter writing campaign against gay elements in the game Mass Effect 3
| See article
from gamesindustry.biz
|
Florida nutters have been writing masses of letters protesting at LGBT elements in the video games Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic. It is suspected that the Florida Family Association is directing the campaign aimed
at Entertainment Arts (EA) because of the same-sex relationship content. The Family Research Council, led by Tony Perkins, is also involved. In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists! said
Perkins. EA is standing up for same sex relationships in games despite the nutter 'outrage'. Every one of EA's games includes ESRB content descriptors so it's hard to believe anyone is surprised by the content. This isn't about
protecting children, it's about political harassment, Jeff Brown, VP of corporate communications told gamesindustry.biz . The letters have been directed to EA's top
brass. Many of them threaten to boycott EA's titles if the publisher refuses to remove same-sex relationship content. The letters also infer that the LGBT content is somehow forced upon children, exposing them to LGBT themes. However the M (17)
rated games are not for children, nor do they force LGBT content on a player - it's merely an option for gamers who wish to replicate their real-life sexual orientation.
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