World Nutter News

The Christian Film & Television Commission, an nutter group in Hollywood, is petitioning the MPAA to change the rating of the 'ultra-violent' new western from Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained , from R to NC-17. [Note that in UK terms R is a 17A and NC-17 is in fact an 18 rating].

Founder and spokesman Dr. Ted Baehr spouted:

This movie ends with two of the most violent scenes we've ever seen in more than 27 years of reviewing movies. As countless research studies and recent events in Connecticut have shown, some young boys and men like to imitate the violence they see in movies, TV, and video games.

The group claims that the movie shows blood erupting like lava from bodies when people are shot. Also in the movie, a slave is eaten by dogs and a man hanging upside down is threatened with castration.

The group has started a petition calling for the NC-17 rating.

Public relations experts who have experience working with the gun industry expressed horror at the National Rifle Association's response to the Newtown shootings.

The group's executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, struck a ranting tone, blaming the video game industry and media for exposing youth to a culture of violence, and calling for armed police or security guards in schools: The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, LaPierre claimed.

He spoke of video games and movies:

There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people, through vicious, violent video games with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat , and Splatterhouse .

Then there's the blood-soaked slasher films like American Psycho and Natural Born Killers that are aired like propaganda loops on Splatterdays and every day, and a thousand music videos that portray life as a joke and murder as a way of life. And then they have the nerve to call it entertainment.

But is that what it really is? Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?

In a race to the bottom, media conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing an ever-more-toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty into our homes every minute of every day of every month of every year.

Public relations professionals reached by The Huffington Post said the timing of his message, which broke a week of silence in the wake of the tragic murder of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, could be an irredeemable mistake for the group.

An Egyptian court has sentenced TV preacher Abdullah Badr to one year in prison and set the bail at 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($3240) for defaming prominent Egyptian actress Elham Shaheen, Egyptian's daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

Badr, a preacher at Egypt's Al-Azhar Mosque, accused Shaheen of committing indecent acts in her movies and wearing seductive clothes that incite immorality. He criticized the actress during his TV show on the Egyptian El-Hafez channel, saying that Elham Shaheen is cursed and she will never enter heaven .

In response, Shaheen filed a lawsuit against Badr and the channel's head Atef Abdel Rashed, accusing them of incitement, spreading chaos, disturbing public security and committing blasphemy.

In recent months, several public figures have filed lawsuits against religious preachers accusing them of defamation.

Update: Appeal turned down

17th February 2013. See  article from  english.ahram.org.eg

the administrative court rejects an appeal on Saturday by Sheikh Abdullah Badr and Atef Abdel-Rashid, the owner Al-Hafez religious channel, against a ruling on 12 January that barred Badr's programme Fi Al-Mizan for 30 days.

US nutters of the Parents TV Council (PTC) waxed lyrical about The Walking Dead series shown on AMC cable network:

This program contains violent content which may be too intense for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised. announced the warning before The Walking Dead

Should a program which is so filled with violence, bloodshed, and gore that it requires a disclaimer be considered appropriate for 14 year olds?

Cable network AMC thinks so.

Yet another zombie apocalypse story -- well, the word inspired isn't exactly appropriate, but modeled after -- movies like Night of the Living Dead , the program features a tiny group of human survivors trying to survive in a world filled with animated, flesh-eating cadavers. While the critical establishment lauds the show's intense character interaction and emotional drama, one suspects that far more of its popularity originates with the program's horrifically gory and realistic violence.

To be stopped, the zombies must suffer trauma to their brain -- thus giving the program an excuse for graphic scene after graphic scene of people being decapitated, impaled, and otherwise smashed in the head with axes, makeshift swords, arrows, tire irons, baseball bats, and whatever other implements come to hand. Naturally, each such incident must be shown in extreme (and explicit) close-up, with blood spraying, bone and brain matter splattering, and the attackers being covered in gore.

Now the PTC has embarked on a letter writing campaign:

Last week, the PTC took the entertainment industry and the TV ratings oversight board to task for their laxity! Thousands of PTC members from around the country got no response to the letters they sent the AMC cable network, asking it to reconsider the inaccurate TV-14 rating on The Walking Dead. As a result, PTC President Tim Winter wrote to former Senator Gordon Smith, Chairman of the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board, and urged the organization to address the blatant mis-rating of the AMC program.

Two Muslim organizations and are demanding 782.00 euros in damages from the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo for supposed incitement to racial hatred following the publication in September of cartoons inspired by the Innocence of Muslims film.

A hearing is scheduled for January 29, 2013 before the 17th Chamber of the Paris Criminal Court.

Both associations, the Algerian Democratic Rally for Peace and Progress (RDAP), and the United Arab Organization (OAU) and Saada Zaoui, who is president and general secretary, claimed the Weekly to also be guilty of racial vilification.

No doubt this attack on free speech will end up inciting more actual hatred of islam than the cartoons ever did.

An unholy row has broken out between the Catholic Church and impersonator Mario Rosenstock over an RTE sketch about Olympic champion Katie Taylor that appears to mock Holy Communion.

The Catholic Communications Office (CCO) has formally complained to RTE and demanded an apology over the boxing-themed sketch set in a church, which showed a man spitting into a bucket -- in the manner of a prize fighter -- before receiving Holy Communion. Church spokesman Martin Long wrote in a letter to RTE

Any objective viewer would certainly see the offence caused in ridiculing the reception of Holy Communion, the Eucharist, which is the Body of Christ. To make fun of this sacred act is sacrilege and is offensive to the core belief of every Catholic.

Rosenstock said he was disappointed with the church's reaction. He denied that the parody shown on his Mario Rosenstock Show last Monday night was aimed at the church.

It was clearly based on the phenomenon that is Katie Taylor and how her success has permeated every facet of Irish life.

On a more serious note, it seems to me that there is a bigger game afoot. After the Prime Time Investigates controversy over Fr Reynolds, does the church now believe it can go around and start telling RTE what they can and cannot show?

Further comments on Rosenstock's website noted:

Mario Rosenstock has put himself on a collision course with the Catholic Church by refusing to apologise for a sketch which prompted complaints to RTE. And he predicted the church will be upset further by a skit involving Mother Teresa to be aired tonight.

The clip will recreate the historic interview the venerated nun gave to broadcaster Gay Byrne during the early 1970s, but with the major Catholic icon behaving less than saintly during commercial breaks.

If they thought we went too far with the last sketch, I dread to think what they will make of this, Mr Rosenstock told the Irish Independent in reference to a boxing-themed sketch which aired on last week's show.

Update: Whinges Rejected

6th December 2012.See  article from  independent.ie

TV Broadcaster RTE has rejected a complaint from the Catholic Church over a sketch by comedian Mario Rosenstock, but accepted it might have unintentionally caused offence.

The Catholic Communications Office (CCO) made a formal complaint to RTE over a skit which depicted a man spitting into a bucket before receiving Holy Communion. The CCO claimed it ridiculed:

the reception of Holy Communion, the Eucharist, which is the Body of Christ.

RTE's head of broadcast compliance, Peter Feeney responded in a ltter to the bishops that the station rejects the complaint, stating the target of the sketch was not the church but:

satirised popular enthusiasms, in this case enthusiasm for boxing following Katie Taylor's success in the summer Olympics.

RTE's view is that the complaint is ultimately not valid. Insofar as the item was not directed against the sacramental moment depicted, but against general social behaviour using the Mass as an exaggerated setting, the letter says.

The spokesman added that comedy and satire should by its nature startle and surprise, even at times shock and that RTE had an obligation to maintain and defend creative latitude in this regard. It added that in its view, exclusion of such occasional treatment would be likely to have an unduly restrictive impact on comedy and social satire.

CCO spokesman Martin Long said the church would now consider RTE's reply before deciding if it would take the matter to the Irish TV censors of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Islamic extremists controlling northern Mali have imposed sharia law on unfortunate residents, curtailing their previous lifestyle which celebrated culture and music, and silencing their voices.

The voice of celebrated Malian singer Khaira Arby, known as the Nightingale of the North, has been silenced in her home town of Timbuktu. The Washington Post reported extremists broke into Arby's home and destroyed her instruments

She has not returned to her home in northern Mali's Timbuktu for seven months. Doing so could mean prison time, she says, or having her tongue cut out by the ruling Islamists.

The California man behind the Innocence of Muslims, the movie that wound up violent thugs in the Middle East, was sentenced to death in absentia in an Egyptian court.

Mark Basseley Youssef was among the seven Egyptian Coptic Christians as was Terry Jones, the Florida-based American pastor associated with burning Korans.

The case was seen as largely symbolic because the defendants, most of whom live in the United States, are all outside Egypt and unlikely to ever serve the sentences.

Egypt's official news agency said the court found the defendants guilty of harming national unity, insulting and publicly attacking Islam and spreading false information, charges that carry the death sentence.

The Parents Television Council has released its annual list of the Top Ten Best and Worst Advertisers for the 2011-2012 television season.

Companies were ranked based on the content in the television shows they chose to underwrite with their advertising dollars. Some companies primarily sponsored programs with family-friendly themes while other advertisers appeared on more adventurous shows that included strong language, violence and sexual content.

The Parents TV Council inevitably suggested that their members should patronise companies from the nanny list, but of course the lists are equally useful to those preferring to do the exact opposite.

The most adventurous advertisers were:

1. Yum!
2. Toyota
3. Metro PCS
4. Sprint
5. Red Bull
6. Target
7. McDonald's
8. CKE Restaurant (Carl's Jr., Hardee's)
9. PepsiCo
10. Apple

The most nannying advertisers were:

1. Ford
2. Procter & Gamble (Pampers, Tide, Crest, Downy, Febreze)
3. General Mills (Betty Crocker, Cheerios, Pillsbury, Old El Paso)
4. Nissan
5. Wal-Mart
6. Clorox
7. CVS
8. Brinker International (Chili's, Maggiano's)
9. Wendy's
10. SC Johnson and Coca-Cola (tied)

A production of Corpus Christi in Athens was canceled this month after weeks of almost daily protests outside the theatre by priests and right-wing groups.

Charges of insulting religion and malicious blasphemy have now been filed after Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus lodged a lawsuit against those involved in the play.

Dierctor Laertis Vasiliou and the other defendants could face several months in prison. A trial date has not been set yet.

The charges drew criticism from rights groups and politicians, with the co-ruling Democratic Left party describing the country's blasphemy laws as anachronistic and calling for them to be revised.

Photos of models pictured with Buddha statues published on the Internet by a men's magazine have caused an 'outcry' among Thai Buddhists.

Posted on Maxim magazine's Facebook page, one picture shows a lingerie-clad model posed with her hand on a statue's head and on the statue's arm. Another photo shows the topless model with her hands covering her breasts and wearing only underpants posing among dozens of statues. A third photo shows the model Ashley Michaelsen posing for a Hometown Hotties feature seated among the statues with her legs spread.

In response to complaints, Thai Culture Ministry permanent secretary Apinan Poshyananda said he would contact the National Office of Buddhism (NOB), and, because the photos were published on the Internet, the Information Communication and Technology Ministry. He said he would also contact the Foreign Ministry because the photos were from another country.

The various Thai agencies would then notify the magazine about their objection to the inappropriate use of a religious symbol.

Apinan said there have been many cases of Buddhist symbols being used inappropriately and that the Culture Ministry would produce a handbook in Thai and English on the use of Buddhist symbols for commercial purposes in order to prevent future misuse.

Pornchai Pinyapong, president of the World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth, said he had seen the magazine photos and thought they were an insult to Buddhists. He planned to bring the issue to the Parliament's Committee on Religions, Arts and Culture, as well as talk to the Culture Ministry and NOB. The government should push forward the draft legislation on protecting Buddhism so there would be punishments for those who mistreated religious symbols, Pornchai added.

Karlie Kloss walked the runway in a Native American headdress and a Pocahontas-like bikini during the annual Victoria's Secret fashion show. The outfit was designed to represent Thanksgiving.

Native Appropriations, a Native American blog, suggested instead that the outfit represented sexual aggression:

Besides the daily harm of these ongoing microaggressions for Native folks, the sexualization of Native women continues to be an ignored and continuing epidemic...So Victoria's Secret, now is the time to apologize. It's not too late to cut Karlie's headdressed outfit out and leave it on the editing room floor. This isn't fun, this isn't a fantasy character. This is about our cultures, our bodies, and our lives. Native people demand and deserve far more respect than this.

Victoria's Secret has already promised to cut the clip from its December 4 show. And they apologized:

We are sorry that the Native American headdress replica used in our recent fashion show has upset individuals. We sincerely apologize as we absolutely had no intention to offend anyone. Out of respect, we will not be including the outfit in any broadcast, marketing materials nor in any other way.

The South African Council of Churches wants to ban Lady Gaga from performing in South Africa.

The church group claims to be concerned about the supposedly  destructive impact Lady Gaga could have on South Africa's youth when she performs here later this year.

According to Channel24, Reverend Mxolisi Sonti said they are afraid that Gaga's visit could lead to an exponential growth of Satanism in South Africa.

According to Channel24, the group are planning a march to the department of Arts and Culture in Pretoria, where they will be handing over a written request to stop Gaga's visit to the country.

Lady Gaga kicks off her shows in South Africa with a performance at the FNB Stadium, Johannesburg on 30 November, before she moves to the Cape Town Stadium on 3 December.

Poland's Supreme Court has ruled against against a legal argument used in the defence of  a rock musician who tore up a Bible on stage.

Adam Darski, front man with a heavy metal group named Behemoth , ripped up a copy of the Bible during a concert in 2007, called it deceitful and described the Roman Catholic church as a criminal sect .

The Supreme Court was asked to rule on legal arguments thrown up by the musician's trial in a lower court on charges of offending religious feelings. It said a crime was committed even if the accused, who uses the stage name Nergal, did not act with the direct intention of offending those feelings, a court spokeswoman said. Lawyers for Darski, argued that he had not committed a crime because he did not intend to offend anyone.

The lower court will now decide if he is guilty. The maximum sentence is two years in jail, under Poland's criminal code. However, it is extremely rare for anyone convicted of this kind of crime in Poland to serve prison time.

When it comes to bishops' opinions on controversial social issues, I listen to them, but I

In one indication of the changes in society, the blasphemy trial does not appear to have harmed Darski's show business standing. He is one of four judges on The Voice of Poland , a talent show broadcast on national public television.

Update: EU speaks out against blasphemy prosecution

6th November 2012.  See  article from  euobserver.com

The European Commission has said that Poland's prosecution of a rock group for blasphemy is against European values.

It said in a written statement for EUobserver that national blasphemy laws are a matter for the domestic legal order of the member states. But it added that EU countries must respect international pacts. It cited the European Convention of Human Rights, a Poland-signatory treaty attached to the Strasbourg-based rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, on freedom of expression:

This right protects not only information or ideas that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also those that offend, shock or disturb.

Student of the YearKaran Johar's latest film, Student Of The Year , has hit rough weather. Radha, the song from the movie has caught the ire of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), a right wing organisation.

Members of HJS demonstrated in Goa's capital Panaji, demanding that the Censor Board ban the movie for derogatory references to Radha, the mythological character, who was Lord Krishna's lover and childhood friend. The organisation claimed that calling Radha sexy as the song's lyrics do, is an insult to the sentiments of Hindus.

Recently, a voluntary organisation in Indore too had moved a petition before a local court seeking action against Johar and singer Shreya Ghoshal, among others, for using objectionable words against Hindu deities in a song. Names of Radha and Krishna are being misused to promote the song, Shri Vision Social Empowerment and Welfare Association secretary Manish Vishnoi had said in a statement.

Egypt's culture ministry censored a song in a popular new film, Abdu Mouta, which hit the box office last week, after Islamist groups filed lawsuits against its producer, claiming the song insulted Islam.

A belly dancer starring in the film had stirred a wave of anger among Shiites in Egypt as she dances to a song mentioning the religious character Fatima, daughter of Mohammed and his grandsons, Hassan and Hussein. All three figures are revered in the Sufi and Shia sects of Islam.

Egypt Independent reported that Censorship Director Abdel Sattar Fathy will watch the film to make sure the offending part of the song is cut out artistically, and write a report of it, said the ministry. The reported also noted that it was film producer Ahmed al-Sobky who had requested the censorship.

Bahaa Anwar Mohamed, a leader in the Ghad al-Thawra Party and a prominent Shiite, said he would file a lawsuit calling for banning the movie to screen in theaters.

A poster featuring a cartoon scene of a woman who appears to have been raped has been plastered across Las Vegas to promote an upcoming Guns N' Roses gig.

Activists and local public officials are 'outraged' by the illustration, which appeared on advertisements for the group's upcoming four-week run at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino from October 31 through November 21.

Las Vegas Commissioner Mary Beth Scow told the Las Vegas Sun:

It's clearly inappropriate. Maybe it's the risk of doing business with a rock band, but I guess we'll have some remorse over this decision. It's a lesson learned.

The graphic used for the ads was actually a toned down version of the cover for their Appetite for Destruction album, which showed an unconscious woman with an exposed breast and her underwear pulled down. A menacing robot stands over her appearing to be ready to attack. The original CD cover was criticized and eventually was replaced.

The ads that appear on buses and taxi cabs in Las Vegas do not show the woman's exposed breast or her underwear, but the explicit graphic is included in the poster that appears on the band's website.

Lisa Lynn Chapman, a spokeswoman for Safe Nest women's shelter, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

It functions as a mechanism to normalize violence against women, and that's not OK. When we start looking at pictures objectifying women, we say, 'OK, this is Vegas'. This is beyond the pale, even for Vegas.

A play dramatizing the story of Christ and the Apostles has been closed down following protests from the far right Golden Dawn party and religious groups that it was blasphemous, theater officials said.

Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi , directed by Albania-born Laertis Vasiliou, had been staged at the Hytirio theater in the central Athens Gazi district for the past three weeks.

Organizers said in a statement: Performances of Corpus Christi at Hytirio theater will stop. It was not our intention to provoke ‘religious sentiment’ or to create tensions. They said they were sorry that people ended up being beaten and abused because of the play. They said they respected the Greek Orthodox Church, which had objected to the play’s showing.

The Athens premiere of the play on Oct. 11 after opponents led by Golden Dawn staged a protest in which a journalist who was using his mobile phone to video it was beaten.

The National Geographic Channel's Washington, DC headquarters has increased security after being inundated with terror threats over the upcoming release of the film Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden , according to a source.

The full-length feature film is the first dramatization of the U.S. special forces operation that killed the mastermind of the September 11 attacks in Pakistan last May.

According to a New York Post source, the channel has been bombarded with phone calls and blogs posts from Muslim extremist groups warning that anyone airing a film like this is asking for trouble.

A spokesperson for National Geographic told the Post that the channel will air the film no matter what, adding, we are big believers in the First Amendment.

Update: Political Religious Censorship and Propaganda

29th October 2012. See article from redalertpolitics.com

A documentary on the Navy Seal raid on Osama Bin Laden is going through extensive editing, and some critics claim that the edits, which now feature more of President Obama, are purely to bolster the Obama campaign before the general election on November 6th.

The documentary, entitled SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden is set to air on November 4th, just two days before the general election. The film rights are owned by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, an avid Obama supporter.

The edits to the film were made to strengthen the image of the role of Obama in the raid that ultimately led to the death of Osama bin Laden, according to a New York Times report. Filmmaker John Stockwell defended the edits, saying that Weinstein wanted revisions that gave the movie context and helped root it in reality.

National Geographic had already removed a scene from the film that implied that Mitt Romney opposed any attempt to capture or kill bin Laden.

A Debate over artistic freedom of expression in Egypt has involved Egyptian movie star Elhaam Shaheen.

Known to take on roles that push cultural taboos, Shaheen fears that she and other artists are in for worsening trouble from the country's new Islamic government. She said in a recent interview:

I feel this is a big war between all the artists and writers and Islamists. This is not just against women, it is against all artists.

Last month, conservative Salafi TV personality Sheikh Abdullah Badr, who has blasted actors before over what he describes as blasphemous behavior, called the actress's film performances as on-air adultery and recommended the arts be subjected to religious censorship. Badr ludicrously claimed that Shaheen's type of acting was sinful and would bar her entry to heaven in the afterlife.

Muslim preachers have also been excoriating the pop love songs of legendary Egyptian musicians Om Kalthoum and Abdel Halim Imam. Islamist lawyers with ties to political parties also charged comedian Adel Iman and several other filmmakers and screenwriters with blasphemy against Islam earlier this year for roles in films that are at least 10 years old. Comedian Iman was eventually handed down a sentence of three months of jail time plus a fine before his appeal was granted in September. Similar court cases were thrown out by judges in April.

Shaheen is now fighting back against religious oppression. As an open critic of the Muslim Brotherhood, Shaheen says she is being subjected to politicized attacks. She plans to take Badr and conservative television station El-Hafez to court over the derogatory comments against Egypt's entertainment sector.

During the Sept. 17-22 Luxor Egyptian and European Film Festival she led an impassioned panel of her peers on censorship and freedom of expression. Shaheen was joined by famous Egyptian writer Baha Taher, as well as director and screenwriter Daoud Abdel Sayed and actors Amr Waked, Khaled Abounaga and Laila Elwi.

Shaheen described attacks on Egyptian artists including herself as barbaric and a signal that Egypt is moving backward culturally. She said she was glad she could push back with the support of the Egyptian film community and fans from around the Arab region.

Hany Fawzy, the well-known screenwriter, has also attracted religious censure over his script for Baheb Es-Sinema (I Love the Movies) about a Coptic Christian family. Fawzy added that he has about five scripts ready for production, but he hasn't been able to find producers willing to take a chance. There is a risk. We are fearful about the future, the rules and the Islamic direction [the country is taking]. But we have to continue. It's our career and our work, he said.

President Mohammed Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate who took office in June, has sought to allay fears. In September, he met with a group of film industry members at the Presidential Palace to show his concern for protecting the arts. He has also condemned Badr's verbal attacks on Shaheen.

T he Parents Television Council has issued an alert to their members asking them to file a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the use of a graphic verbal and visual reference to oral sex and ejaculation that occurred on a recent episode of Seth MacFarlane's American Dad . The program aired at 9:30 p.m. Eastern/Pacific Times and at 8:30 Central/Mountain Times.

The episode included a reference to a vehicle that runs on carbon, oxygen, and potassium, dubbed the Hummie C.O.K. Guzzler. One character says ...wouldn't it run cleaner if they added another carbon molecule before the potassium? Then it would guzzle C.O.C.K.

The episode also included a depiction of ejaculation, with a character noting that he splooged on the wall. All of this material aired on the very same day that Seth MacFarlane was announced to be the host of next year's Academy Awards.

PTC president Tim Winter spouted:

This past summer the United States Supreme Court unanimously upheld the congressionally mandated authority of the Federal Communications Commission to enforce the broadcast decency law, which prohibits the airing of indecent material on the publicly-owned airwaves during times when children are likely to be in the audience. We believe this broadcast has broken the law, and we are calling on the FCC to hold Fox and its affiliates accountable.

This kind of content is nothing new from Fox or Seth MacFarlane. In the past, 'American Dad' and MacFarlane's other programs have included scenes mocking people with Down syndrome, implying father-daughter incest, a man masturbating a horse, a baby eating horse sperm, and a character eating vomit and excrement out of a baby's diaper. Some of those broadcasts are under review at the FCC for violating the broadcast decency law.

This is the man that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has selected to host next year's Oscars telecast, following in the footsteps of such Hollywood legends as Bob Hope and Johnny Carson?

The movie Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal has ruffled nutter feathers before its release.

Christians complained of supposedly objectionable scenes:

• a priest dancing in a party with a person lying in a coffin with the crucifix beside him
• the portrayal of a Catholic priest dancing with a lottery garland around his neck, with the church in the background.

However the scenes supposedly objectionable to the sentiments of Catholics have now been deleted from the film following the information & broadcasting ministry's intervention, a rights group said.

Accordingly, Catholic groups in Maharashta have withdrawn their protest and boycott of the movie. Judith Monteiro, secretary of the Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC), said that representatives of various front-ranking groups watched the movie on opening day:

This is a victory of sorts for maintaining sensitivity while dealing with religion in the film industry. We have always been taken for granted just because we do no resort to violence. Hopefully, this will serve as a deterrent for future movie-makers.

Bishop Agnelo Gracias of the Archdoicese of Mumbai said:

I'm happy that the objectionable scenes have been deleted. Every religion should be treated with the respect it deserves. I hope the Censor Board will maintain caution in future while granting certification to movies.

However, Catholic groups are still firm on their other two demands: removal of Censor Board chief executive officer Prajakta Thakur; and nomination of a permanent Christian representative for film certification.

 William Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, held a news conference outside an art gallery in Midtown Manhattan to denounce one of the works of art on display there: a 1987 photograph of a crucifix immersed in a jar of urine.

But, when Mr. Donohue tried to enter the exhibition, the gallery would not allow him in, he said in a blog post. No one else was barred from entering the gallery, he whinged: Just me.

The amber-hued photograph, Immersion (Piss Christ) , has inflamed passions since the New York artist Andres Serrano first displayed it in 1989.

All of which is ironic, Serrano said in an interview. For him, he said, the work is about his personal love of Jesus, and Jesus' bodily torment on the cross, during which, Serrano believes, not only blood, but all Jesus bodily fluids, including urine, spilled out.

The Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery is displaying 25 of Serrano's works in a retrospective. The controversial piece is being displayed behind bulletproof glass.

Donohue said he decided to protest it now to point out that while the White House condemned the anti-Muslim film Innocence of Muslims, which recently led to global protests, it had not condemned Serrano's work as offensive to Catholics.

Donohue also recorded a video in which he held up a clear jar containing a bobblehead doll of President Obama and a brown substance that Donohue said represented feces. The point, he said, is that the cultural and political elite are basically secularist; they don't believe in God. This is their god, he said, pointing at the jar.

The following petition was doing the rounds via the nutters of Collective Shout! It has 347 signatures so far.

Stop Violence Against Women!! Shut down the itsguycode.com website!!

It encourages men to commit acts of violence against women, and even provides instruction on how to do so. Extremely hateful, degrading and demeaning. Describes women in numerous negative ways, and refers to them as property. It is harmful to women and the movement to end violence against women.