I found the film to be very effective and as nasty as I have seen for a mainstream film. The uncut UK version released at the cinema is the US NC-17 version.

Thanks to Dan and an unidentified blogger

Have you read Christopher Tookey's review of Quentin Tarentino's new film Hostel. It's classic Tookey fair, full of moral uproar, and once again his arrogant view that the rest of the cinema going public aren't mature enough to watch such a film. His review has breed more nutter comment as this Daily Mail blogger shows...

Don't even think about seeing it Having read Christopher Tookey's review of the new film Hostel in today's Daily Mail, I heaved a huge sigh of relief knowing I had knocked back an offer to preview this film. I don't think I could have stomached it - and I've seen a lot of films in my time as Entertainment Editor.

The film has been a huge hit in America with the bulk of it packed with abhorrent scenes of torture, mutilation and pornographic violence. Why it is necessary to make, screen and watch such utterly unsuitable, nauseating and depressing rubbish leaves me deeply vexed.

I agree with Chris. It is little wonder we are raising a generation of 'desensitised yobs' when mainstream cinemas are showing this degrading material and passing it off as entertainment.

As Chris pointed out, the film is not even worthy of an 18 certificate, for it is not suitable for an audience over 48, let alone those aged 18.

Mainstream cinemas especially should display some sense of social responsibility by saying 'no' to screening films like Hostel. The results are damaging. My colleague went to the Vue cinema to see a film last week and when the trailer for Hostel was shown, his wife had to look away because the scenes were so brutal and disturbing.

Controversial I know, but I'm a strong believer that films like this strip away the moral fabric of our society. The more these types of violent films are screened, the more film-makers consider the themes they portray as normal and acceptable and lucrative. As does the audience, whom the film-makers capitalise on.

Films like this - and there are many others like it - and the cinemas prepared to screen them are simply encouraging and peddling and delighting in this culture of sleaze and degradation.

There seems to be a new definition of the word 'tolerance' that justifies the killing of one's fellow man because he does not believe in the prescribed brand of unbelievable nonsense.

From the BBC
From The Times

An Afghan man is being tried in a court in Kabul for his conversion from Islam to Christianity.

He could be sentenced to death for the act and his refusal to recant. The trial of Abdul Rahman reflects the struggle between religious hardliners and reformists over what shape Islam will take in Afghanistan.

Rahman is being prosecuted for an attack on Islam, the punishment for which, under the draft constitution established in 2004, is death.

The constitution says Islam is the religion of Afghanistan, yet it also mentions the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 18 specifically forbids this kind of recourse, one human rights expert said in Kabul last night. It really highlights the problem the judiciary faces.

Rahman was arrested last month after his estranged family - with whom he was in dispute over the custody of his two children - denounced him as a convert. Rahman was found to be carrying a Bible and was charged with rejecting Islam.

He acknowledged during his trial that he did convert 16 years ago.

The prosecutor, Abdul Wasi, said he had offered to drop the charges if Rahman would convert back to Islam, but he had refused to do so. Wasi said therefore that Rahman must get the death penalty.

The trial judge has also described Rahman's action as an attack on Islam. The Attorney-General is emphasising he should be hung, Judge Alhaj Ansarullah Mawlawy Zada, who will be trying his case said. In this country we have the perfect constitution, it is Islamic law and it is illegal to be a Christian and it should be punished.

Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrats’ defence spokesman, said: This is a horrifying situation and it makes a mockery of the efforts we are making to bring Afghanistan back into the international community. We have committed many soldiers to the situation in Afghanistan, many of whom will be committed Christians; we have spent huge amounts of money and committed resources and so I think we can take a strong moral position on this and explain to the Afghan authorities that to prosecute or even kill someone for having a different faith is unacceptable.

If the judge imposes the death penalty, Rahman will still have two avenues of appeal under Afghan law — the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court. The death penalty has to be ratified by President Karzai.

From Metro

The United States and three NATO allies with troops in Afghanistan urged the Kabul government to respect the religious freedom of an Afghan convert to Christianity who faces the death penalty there.

The United States, which counts Afghan President Hamid Karzai as a key ally in the region, raised the case with visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, calling on Kabul to uphold Afghan citizens' constitutional right to choose their faith.

We hope that the Afghan constitution is going to be upheld and in our view, if it's upheld, then of course he'll be found to be innocent, said Nicholas Burns, the State Department's third-ranked diplomat.

An Afghan judge said on Sunday a man named Abdur Rahman had been jailed for converting from Islam to Christianity and could face the death penalty if he refused to become a Muslim again. Sharia, or Islamic law, stipulates death for apostasy.

While we understand the complexity of a case like this and we certainly will respect the sovereignty of the Afghan authorities and the Afghan system, from an American point of view, people should be free to choose their own religion, Burns told reporters, flanked by Abdullah.

Abdullah said his government had "nothing to do" with the judicial case, but added: I hope that through our constitutional process, there will be a satisfactory result.

Italy called in the Afghan ambassador in Rome, two Berlin cabinet ministers spoke out and Germany's top Catholic cardinal demanded his freedom. Canada said it was concerned and urged the Afghan government to meet its human rights obligations.

The protests present a dilemma for Karzai, who needs foreign troops to defend against al Qaeda and Taliban remnants. Some 23,000 U.S. troops are in the country. Germany has 2,700 soldiers in Afghanistan, Canada has 2,300 and Italy has 1,775.

Abdullah said the Afghan embassy in Washington had received "hundreds of messages" from Americans about the case: I know that it is a very sensitive issue and we know the concerns of the American people

Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga wrote to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, now campaigning for reelection, and urged him to withdraw Italian troops from Afghanistan unless he wins assurances from Kabul over Rahman's safety: It is not acceptable that our soldiers should put themselves at risk or even sacrifice their lives for a fundamentalist, illiberal regime.

German Development Minister Heide Wieczorek-Zeul said she would appeal to Karzai directly: We will do everything possible to save the life of Abdul Rahman, she told the daily Bild, which said Rahman had converted to Christianity while living in Germany for nine years.

Germany's top Catholic prelate, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, described the case against Rahman as "an alarming signal": German bishops will try to ensure Christians in Islamic countries enjoy the same rights as Muslims have in our country.
 

From the New York Times

So  called preachers used Friday prayers to call for the execution of an Afghan Muslim who converted to Christianity, despite growing protests in the West. The conversion of the man, Abdul Rahman, 15 years ago was brought to the attention of the authorities as part of a child custody dispute.

The Bush administration and European governments have strongly protested the case as a violation of religious freedom. But Rahman has drawn a strong reaction in Afghanistan, too, and for many hardline clerics, there is no greater offense than apostasy.

One speaker, Maulavi Habibullah, told more than a thousand clerics and young people gathered in Kabul: Afghanistan does not have any obligation under international laws. The prophet says, when somebody changes religion, he must be killed.

Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, told reporters on Friday that she had been assured by President Hamid Karzai in a telephone call that Rahman would not be executed, The Associated Press reported.

A senior government official said Rahman would be released from jail soon, Agence France-Presse reported. The agency did not identify the official, who added that there would be a top-level meeting on the case on Saturday.

From The Telegraph

The ultra-Conservative supreme court of Afghanistan is threatening to resist President Hamid Karzai's attempts to spare a man who faces execution for converting to Christianity. In a move that could scupper Karzai's efforts to resolve the crisis, the judge handling the case said he would brook neither presidential interference nor objections from Kabul's Western backers.

We [the judiciary] have nothing to do with diplomatic issues, Judge Ansarullah Mawlawizada told the Sunday Telegraph. We will do our job independently.

The judge's comments came after Karzai's officials hinted that Abdul Rahman, could be freed within the next two days in an effort to end the international outcry over his prosecution. Karzai has assured world leaders, who have telephoned to protest at the possible death penalty, that Rahman will be spared.

Rahman was prosecuted under anti-apostasy edicts enshrined in Afghanistan's sharia law, which makes it a crime punishable by death for any Muslim to renounce their faith. Despite the risk, however, up to 10,000 Afghans have secretly converted to Christianity in recent years, disillusioned with what they see as Islam's overzealous involvement in politics.

The case has highlighted tensions between the West's vision of Afghanistan as a liberal democracy and the orthodoxy of the country's powerful Islamic judiciary, whose outlook is shared by much of the population. Yesterday, Downing Street became caught up in the row, after criticism that no senior minister had joined the international condemnation of the case.

President George W Bush, said he was "deeply troubled" by it; the Australian prime minister, John Howard, said it as "appalling" and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, spoke to Karzai personally.

In Britain it was left to a junior Foreign Office minister, Kim Howells, to echo President Bush's words. Critics contrast Straw's silence on the issue with his speedy condemnation of the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, and accuse him of double standards.

Rahman is being held in a Kabul prison after a court appearance last week. The Afghan authorities say they suspect he is mentally ill, and so may be unfit to stand trial - which would allow the supreme court to dismiss the case without loss of face.

But in Kabul's mosques last week, talk about the Rahman case was uncompromising. Rejecting Islam is insulting God, said Mullah Abdul Raoulf at the large Herati mosque. Cut off his head!

From The Scotsman

An Afghan court yesterday dismissed the case against a man who faced the death penalty after converting from Islam to Christianity - because of a lack of evidence. A court official said Abdur Rahman would be released soon, but he added that the case had been returned to the prosecutors for more investigation.

The court dismissed today the case against Abdur Rahman for a lack of information and a lot of legal gaps in the case, the official said. The decision about his release will be taken possibly tomorrow. They don't have to keep him in jail while the attorney general is looking into the case.

Abdul Wakil Omeri, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, confirmed that the case had been dismissed because of problems with the prosecutors' evidence.

A Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity that questions were now being raised as to whether Rahman would stay in Afghanistan or would go into exile in a foreign country.

Rahman faced execution by hanging if he had been found guilty of apostasy under Islam's Sharia law. His trial had been due to start in a few days.

In an interview conducted via a human rights worker who visited Rahman in jail, before news of his release, he said he was prepared for death. I don't want to die. But if God decides, I am ready to confront my choices, all the way, he said.

He added that he did not want to leave Afghanistan, a possible option if he is allowed to go free: If I flee that would mean my country hasn't changed. It would mean that they have won, our enemies. Without human rights, without respect for all religions, the Taleban have won.

From SacBee

The Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity will be freed from prison and has asked for asylum in another country, U.S. and U.N. officials said Monday.

Hundreds of Muslims marched against a court's decision Sunday to dismiss the case against Abdul Rahman after heavy international pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to drop the trial. Several Muslim clerics have threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if he is freed, saying he is clearly guilty of apostasy and deserves to die.

A senior Afghan official closely involved with the case said that Rahman would be freed shortly, but the details of how it would be done were still being hammered out. Meanwhile he is still in his cell at Kabul's notorious high-security Policharki prison late Monday.

U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards made clear that Rahman was planning to leave the country once he is free: Mr.Rahman has asked for asylum outside Afghanistan. We expect this will be provided by one of the countries interested in a peaceful solution to this case.

Asked whether the U.S. government was doing anything or has made any offers to secure Rahman's safety after he is released, McCormack said where he goes after he is freed is going to be up to Mr. Rahman.

He urged Afghans not to resort to violence even if they are unhappy with the resolution of the case.

While officials said the case against Rahman was dropped, prosecutors also said earlier Monday they were still examining whether he was mentally fit to stand trial. Deputy Attorney General Mohammed Eshak Aloko told The Associated Press that he may be sent overseas for psychological treatment if a medical examination that started Monday concludes that he is insane.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told a news conference in Kabul that he was optimistic the issue would soon be resolved.

Earlier Monday, hundreds of clerics and students chanting "Death to Christians!" and "Death to Bush!'" marched through the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to protest the court's decision to toss out the case. Abdul Rahman must be killed. Islam demands it, said senior Cleric Faiez Mohammed, from the nearby northern city of Kunduz. The Christian foreigners occupying Afghanistan are attacking our religion. He warned of possible riots if Rahman is released.

No doubt the immigration authorities will be getting worried. Surely any Muslim in a country with extreme punishment for apostasy can now claim asylum in the West just by publicly announcing that they no longer believe in Islam.

Based on an article from The Independent

Italy is considering granting asylum to Abdul Rahman, the Afghan man who was released from jail yesterday in Kabul, where he had faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity.

He was staying in a safe house last night after prosecutors dropped the case against him under intense international pressure. But Rahman will have to flee the country for his own safety, after several leading Muslim clerics called on Afghans to tolerantly kill him.

Rahman appealed for help to leave Afghanistan, and he is thought most likely to go to Italy, where the Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini is to ask the cabinet today to grant him asylum.

Fini was one of the first foreign politicians to take up the case of Rahman, and Pope Benedict XVI has appealed for his release. Italy has close ties to Afghanistan, having provided a home for the former king Mohammed Zahir Shah during his 30 years in exile. There is a possibility that Rahman will go to Germany, where he has lived before, and the United Nations says it is trying to help find a country to take him.

From CTV.ca

Afghanistan isn't the only government where Muslim converts to Christianity are threatened with execution.

Saudi Arabia neither permits conversion from Islam nor allows other religions in the kingdom. There are no churches and missionaries are barred. Regular criticism in U.S. State Department reports on religious freedom have had no effect on Saudi policy.

While Islam accepts Christianity as a fellow monotheistic religion, Islamic Shariah law considers conversion to any religion apostasy and most Muslim scholars agree the punishment is death. Saudi Arabia considers Shariah the law of the land, though there have been no reported cases of executions of converts from Islam in recent memory.

The only other country in the region which carries the death penalty for apostasy is Sudan. Though no executions have been reported recently, a Sudanese man who allegedly converted was arrested in 2004 and reportedly tortured in custody, according to the State Department.

In Kuwait, a court convicted a Shiite man who publicly proclaimed his conversion to Christianity, but didn't sentence him since the criminal code did not set a punishment.

Other countries in the region, such as Egypt, do not have laws criminalizing apostasy, but those who do convert can still face prosecution.

In May, an Egyptian man who converted to Christianity was arrested on suspicion of "contempt for religion,'' a charge that entails a prison sentence of up to five years, said Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. The man, who has not been identified, remains in custody without charge, Bahgat said.

Authorities in Egypt and most other Arab countries will not recognize a conversion from Islam in official documents, such as identity papers, which usually state a person's faith.

Even if a convert is not prosecuted, the issue is the pressure they are going to face from their families, the religious establishment, their friends and associates, said Fadi al-Qadi, a Middle East spokesman for York-based Human Rights Watch. It would be overwhelming. They would be really isolated.

Turkey is a democratic country and, according to law, you can choose whatever you want, said Soner Tufan, himself a convert from Islam, who runs a Christian radio station, Radio Shema, in the capital, Ankara. But, he said, if someone converts, they can suffer some problems from their friends, relatives and neighbours _ or face difficulties getting a job in the civil service.

Most often, the issue of conversion reaches the courts in the context of marriage. While Islam accepts a Muslim man marrying a Christian woman _ one of the Prophet Muhammad's wives was Christian _ it does not tolerate a Muslim woman marrying a Christian man.

The November 2004 case of a Jordanian man convicted of apostasy came after his wife _ who remained Muslim _ and her family reported he had converted. The man, whom the court records did not identify, appealed his conviction to a higher court but lost.

From the BBC

The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, has called for the creation of a world body with representatives from the major religious groups.

Rabbi Metzger was addressing the International Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace in Seville, Spain. He called for the formation of a "United Nations of religious groups" which could "bring a bridge between religions to help the bridge of the diplomatic way".

That plan has broad support from key participants like Frederico Major, the co-president of the Alliance for Civilisations, the lobby group for international conflict resolution, supported by the United Nations and initiated by Spain's Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The speeches at this conference rather than using polite, diplomatic language have at times been brutally direct. When the Rabbi Metzger harangued mainstream Muslims for not standing up to Osama bin Laden, Islamic leaders nodded in agreement.

The religious leaders have three days to come up with a manifesto that aims to convert their words into actions.

From The Guardian

An independent theatre festival in Toledo lost its government subsidies this week for refusing to cancel a show that satirises the Pope and advocates atheism.

It is the latest front in a battle that has raged since February around comedian Leo Bassi's act, Revelation, which has angered the Catholic church in Spain, sparked violent protests by the extreme right in Madrid and fuelled a nationwide debate on artistic freedom.

Bassi's show, which also pokes fun at Christian evangelists in America and the Old Testament, will be performed today at a makeshift venue. Donations will help compensate for the €7,000 (£4,857) in lost subsidies.

But the curtain will rise amid controversy. Last Sunday the archbishop of Toledo, Antonio Cañizares, said the show was "blasphemous", "anti-Christian" and an "insult to the church". Days later, the local and regional governments of Toledo threatened to withdraw festival subsidies if the show was not cancelled. It could offend Catholic sensibilities, a spokesman said.

At the end of the show the New York born comedian directs the audience to his website, where there is a form on which they can renounce their faith. He considers the work "reverse evangelism".

In February about 200 members of the extreme right asked the Socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, to "apologise" for "the offence to Catholic principles". In March police defused a bomb near Bassi's dressing room at the Alfil Theatre in Madrid.

In June Bassi takes his show to a venue near the Vatican in Rome.

John Beyer is continuing to advocate prison sentences for those privately viewing vanilla hardcore. I don't know what nutter belief inspires him to wish prison on his fellow man for private, harmless sexual entertainment, but in my own personal morality system, Beyer is amongst the dregs.

Anyway see www.mediawatchuk.org/publications/The%20Flag.htm for his interview with The Flag, where he trots out his usual brand of nastiness.

Let it be known that the Melon Farmers support equality of ridicule for all nutters. Prejudice against one particular religion will simply not be tolerated.

From The Telegraph

Shameful Isaac Hayes, the deep-voiced soul singer, has quit his role as Chef in South Park, saying that the satirical cartoon television show has overstepped the mark with its ridiculing of religion. There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," said Hayes, an outspoken Scientologist who has voiced the character of the school cook in the series since 1997. Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honoured. As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices.

Last autumn, South Park targeted the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including the actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, in a top-rated episode called Trapped in the Closet.

Matt Stone, co-creator of South Park, said: This is 100 per cent having to do with his faith of Scientology. He has no problem - and he's cashed plenty of cheques - with our show making fun of Christians. We never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own and, to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin.

From Hollywood Interrupted

Sources from inside Paramount and South Park Studios report that parent company Viacom pulled last night's scheduled repeat of the high-rated Trapped in the Closet episode after the humorless Scientologist movie star Tom Cruise threatened to cancel all publicity for Mission Impossible:3 if Comedy Central aired the episode that satirizes Scientology and mocks his sexuality again.

Not only is this the first time that the South Park creators have been officially censored in their ten hit seasons with Comedy Central, Viacom officials also reportedly ordered Matt Stone and Trey Parker not to discuss the reason why their episode was cancelled.

The South Park boys are said to be angry, but will probably get revenge with the manner in which they deal with Scientologist Isaac Hayes' departure from the show.

From the BBC

Sources South Park has exacted revenge on its former star Isaac Hayes by turning his character Chef into a paedophile and seemingly killing him off.

The opening episode of the 10th series, screened in the US on Wednesday, appeared to be a satire on Scientology. Hayes, a Scientologist, quit the animated comedy after a different episode ridiculed the religion.

In the new show, Chef is brainwashed by the "Super Adventure Club" - thought to be a veiled reference to Scientology. The other characters are angry at "that fruity little club for scrambling his brains".

He eventually meets his comeuppance after falling off a bridge and being burned, stabbed and mauled by a lion and a grizzly bear.

At his funeral, one of the children says: A lot of us don't agree with the choices the Chef has made in the last few days. Some of us feel hurt and confused that he seemed to turn his back on us. But we can't let the events of the past few weeks take away the memories of how Chef made us smile...We shouldn’t be mad at Chef for leaving us. We should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains

Hayes did not participate in the episode but his lines were apparently patched together from previous recordings.

ie wars, bombs, persecution, intolerance and intimidation...

From Christian Today

The deputy leader of the Scottish Tories has called on his party to embrace ideals founded on the “Judeo-Christian tradition”.

Murdo Fraser, the Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife said he could not support proposals for same-sex adoption currently being pushed by the Scottish Executive.

Aware that liberal colleagues may feel alienated by his attack on the Scottish Executive proposals to legalise adoption by same-sex couples, Fraser affirmed that the Tories should not “impose” a religious agenda.

Speaking to the Scottish Sunday Herald about the Blue Book, a series of essays he had published recently on the future of conservatism, Fraser expressed the belief, however, that his party should base its philosophy on the “Judeo-Christian tradition”.

Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, urged Fraser to pause before using the “Judeo-Christian” reference again. It would be good if public figures like Murdo Fraser extended the hand of friendship to Islam.

Meanwhile a senior cathedral cleric has suggested that unless Christians begin to take their faith seriously, Britain could soon become a Muslim nation.

Canon Alan Nugent, the Subdean of Lincoln Cathedral last week distributed a Chapter Letter to members of the congregation in which he commented on the demonstrations by Muslims following the cartoon caricatures of their Prophet Muhammad published in some European newspapers.

Nugent pointed out the extreme “brutal and violent” posters carried by a number of the protestors in London protests, but also highlighted that many other posters were not commented on by the media, and that they were “significant”.

He revealed that the banners showed Islam’s goal in the UK: They warned that Britain would before long become Islamic. There is no doubt that Islam is a missionary faith and the conversion of unbelievers is a major factor in its spread. It is not surprising that many Muslims may well harbour the hope that this country could be converted to the faith of the Prophet — especially when so often they encounter a Christian faith which could well be characterised as uncertain and in decline.

He added, What is needed for Britain to remain a Christian nation is for Christian people to take their faith seriously and never assume that a Christian Britain is a given which will never change.”

...and it pandemic in the US

Based on an article from WKYT

A proposal banning full nudity and seminude lap dancing at strip clubs is headed for the Kentucky State Senate.

The measure, which would make nudity and seminude lap dancing in an adult establishment as sexual misconduct, a Class A misdemeanor, cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee Friday by a 9-1 vote.

The proposal, Senate Bill 250, would allow employees of adult businesses to be "seminude" if they remain 6 feet away from patrons and stay on a stage at least 18 inches above the ground.

This is designed to protect women, claimed the bill's sponsor, Senator Julie Denton, Republican

Louisville, Lexington and other cities already have ordinances imposing similar restrictions on adult businesses. The state law would prohibit cities from enacting weaker ordinances.

This is, if you will, a bare minimum, said Kent Ostrander, executive-director of the nutter Family Foundation of Kentucky.

The proposal defines seminude as the showing of the female breast below a horizontal line across the top of the areola and extending across the width of the breast at that point, or the showing of the male or female buttocks.

State Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, Democrat, said a statewide law may not be necessary. Scorsone, the lone legislator to vote against the bill in committee, also took issue with Ostrander's contention that patrons are catching sexually transmitted diseases by placing a tip in the waistband of a stripper's attire.

State Sen. Perry Clark, Democrat, said adult businesses wouldn't thrive if so many people didn't patronize them. I was told recently by the minister of a large church that if his members would stop going to these places, we wouldn't have to deal with this issue.

Such a shame, there would have been many opportunities for satire. How about a Mohammed figure wearing a "Buy Danish" t-shirt?

From The Telegraph

An annual festival of satire in Valencia has fallen foul of censorship after more than four centuries following the furore over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

In the Fallas festival, giant sculptures of the high and mighty are placed in the streets for the public to mock before being destroyed in an orgy of gunpowder and flames. It has survived attacks by the Roman Catholic church, various puritanical rulers and the Franco dictatorship.

This year's figures will include President George W Bush, several of the Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and the Prince of Wales dancing, in Highland dress, with the Duchess of Cornwall. But self-censorship has seen Muslim and Arab figures modified to avoid offence.

The Fallas season is now underway until March 19 but as it approached, Valencians watched global protests against newspaper cartoons of Mohammed with growing alarm. Last month, the mayor, Rita Barberá, urged artists to "temper freedom with a sense of responsibility" when referring to religious subjects.

At least one well known local Fallas artist admitted to removing elements from his display of comic sculptures. He had sculpted three life-size figures of illegal Arab immigrants storming the Spanish border, in a reference to last year's crisis in Ceuta and Melilla, Spain's enclaves in North Africa, involving thousands of migrants. The artist has now removed details that identified them as Arabs.

The artist asked not to be named, partly for fear of reprisals, partly because he did not feel proud of such "self-censorship". But this year was "different", he said. Radical Muslim leaders appeared to be looking for excuses to cause trouble.

Félix Crespo, the senior official in charge of the Central Fallas Council that runs the festival, urged the neighbourhood committees that raise funds to build the sculptures to avoid mixing humour with religion, "because that can be misunderstood". Everyone assumed these warnings referred to Islam because sculptures of Roman Catholic priests, nuns, even of God, are a central part of the Fallas.

There have been subtle changes this year, which no locals would discuss, the Spanish newspaper ABC recently reported. In Bocairent, villagers refrained from burning life-size mannequins of the "Mahoma", a traditional figure presumed to be based on Mohammed.

Based on an article from New Ind Press

The next time you cosy up to your partner at a public place in Thane, India, ensure you stay ‘within limits’. Or you might just end up paying Rs 1,200 to the newly-formed Eagle Squad, a five-nutter Thane police team swooping down on “people acting against social norms”.

The brainchild of nutter Madhukar Pandey, the squad comprises two male and two female constables and is headed by Inspector Mamta D’Souza. It was formed on March 1 after the Thane police received frequent complaints about commercial sex workers soliciting customers at the railway station and near Talaopali Lake.

The basic idea behind this social policing is to check quasi-sexuality in public places and hidden prostitution, explains Pandey. It’s not merely about couples cosying up, it’s when there is demonstration of overt sexual behavior that we come in.

The squad has already begun its crackdown. It’s just four days since the squad has come into place, and we have caught at least three-four sex workers every day, says D’Souza, whose squad scouts the city in civvies.

D’Souza is quick to clarify that couples holding hands or holding each other — “or at times even kissing” — are not caught. Neither are married couples and those who can prove they are engaged — we call their houses and check.

But college students “having fun” will not be spared. “At Upvan Lake after 7 pm,” she explains, there are no lights and couples are found in compromising positions. This is not acceptable. D’Souza says they have already started getting responses from citizens.

This is just the beginning, says Pandey. Once public involvement increases, we will be able to help more people and try our best to make Thane a socially healthy society.

... I will defend the right to put you to death for saying it.

Based on an article from Daily India

Muslims in France apparently weren't ready to defend the right for Voltaire's play on religious intolerance to be staged.

At a time when many Muslims are irate over the cartoon depictions of the Prophet Mohammed they deemed offensive, some in France sought to stop the staged reading in December of Voltaire's Fanaticism or Mahomet the Prophet. The play uses Mohammed to satirize religious intolerance.

Voltaire, an 18th-century philosopher, famously said, I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. But, in a letter to the mayor of Saint-Genis-Pouilly, four Islamic activists demanded the play not be read, saying it was an "insult to the entire Muslim community."

The reading went on, and a "small riot" ensued.

Voltaire was always able to touch a nerve. When the play was first staged in 1741, Roman Catholic clergy forced it to be closed after three Paris performances because they deemed it anti-Christian.

Based on an article from AVN

Divine Productions, a US web-based adult production company, has recently been winding up nutters by offering sex toys modeled after religious icons. The toys include a "baby Jesus butt plug," a "jackhammer Jesus," and a "diving nun."

In a recent conservative report, Gene McConnell, director of Authentic Relationships International, an organization that fights against what it calls “addictions to pornography,” said: it is clear that [porn] providers like this have to expose their customers to more destructive ideas to get their customers to come back for more. McConnell believes Divine Productions is using sex to communicate hate to the religious community.

James L. Lambert’s story in Agape Press, a Christian news media source, went on to explain that the distributor sells its products by using religious imagery and terminology to make fun of biblical characters, among them Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Judas, and Moses. Company advertising employs slogans such as: Let Judas make a martyr out of you; or find out what it means to be truly touched by God.

Ultra conservative Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of Liberty University and senior pastor of a Baptist Church says ridicule of the Church is something that has happened since the time of Christ.

I can't think of anything more anti-social than John 'Concentration Camp' Beyer's wish to imprison all those possessing R18 rated hardcore.

From Mediawatch-UK

The spring newsbrief has been published on the Mediawatch-UK website. John Beyer's idea of an 'ASBO for TV' to expunge anything considered anti social is nothing short of embarrassing. The responses from various regulators are a massive put down to his puerile ideas and he seems too thick skinned to realise that he is being politely patronised.

Still he did extract an interesting reply from David Cameron, the new leader of the opposition who said Exploitative pornography is clearly distasteful.  I believe, however, that adults must be allowed to make decisions for themselves.  Our attention should be focused on ensuring that effective action is taken to prevent child pornography and to reduce the chance of pornography falling into the hands of children.

Beyer must be will disappointed that even the Conservatives don't support concentration camps for R18 porn viewers.

Another item from Mediawatch-UK. Beyer must again be well disappointed by the general lack of shock horror tabloid interest for old hat blame opportunities. He should keep up with the Jones', video horrors are passé and he should now be looking to blame computer games instead.

A schizophrenic who murdered four people to fulfil his ambition of becoming a serial killer was said to be obsessed with horror films and wanted to be Freddy Krueger, a jury was told yesterday. Daniel Gonzalez, 25, told police that he wanted to spend a day in the life of the violent stare of Nightmare on Elm Street films. In the movies the character wears a glove fitted with knives and terrorises people in their dreams. When the unemployed loner’s home in Woking, Surrey, was searched a magazine called Freddy Krueger’s Nightmares was found. Gonzalez late told police that voices were telling him to be the horror movie character. The prosecution said that Gonzalez, who stabbed three pensioners and a pub landlord to death and seriously wounded two other strangers, had written a rambling note to himself after beginning his three day killing spree in September 2004.

A new town in Florida is being planned by Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan. His intention is that it should be governed by strict Catholic principles, particularly when it comes to sex.

The town will encircle a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, standing nearly 65 feet tall.

I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines, Monaghan said in a recent Newsweek interview.

Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and promise lawsuits. However, Simon points to a 1946 Supreme Court opinion that "ownership does not always mean absolute dominion."

Based on an article from the Sydney Morning Herald

Rocking in a pink swing fashioned from the cab of a pedal-driven rickshaw, Agus Suwage felt at peace. He had just installed his Pinkswing Park exhibit at Jakarta's international biennale and was surrounded by massive panels with multiple pictures of a near-naked man and woman frolicking in a utopian park - a world away from thoughts of religious furore, public condemnation and possible imprisonment.

Within days of November's exhibition launch, Islamic fundamentalists had shoved Suwage to the forefront of their struggle to redefine Indonesia by descending on the biennale, forcing its closure and demanding prosecutions. At first police claimed his work blasphemed the story of Adam and Eve, then last week they told Suwage he faced five years in jail for producing pornography.

The same groups staging violent demonstrations against the West over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad are targeting pornography in their battle to transform Indonesia into a strict Islamic nation. And they are winning: parliament is set to introduce a sweeping anti-pornography law. Expected to be passed by June, the law imposes a rigid social template; couples who kiss in public will face up to five years' jail, as would anyone flaunting a "sensual body part" - including their navel - and tight clothing will be outlawed.

Most women's groups are horrified, entertainment industries believe it could destroy them and Bali's embattled tourism authorities are alarmed at the prospect of sunbathing tourists being arrested.

Plans to introduce Playboy's soft porn to the Indonesian market next month have become another focus of rowdy demonstrations, with protesters portraying the magazine as a symbol of the decadent West's attack on Islam. Playboy's publishers are proposing a bizarre compromise, no naked women will be featured - Indonesians, at least, will be able to say they only buy it for the articles.

In Jakarta, police have seized hundreds of thousands of "erotic" magazines - including FHM and Rolling Stone - and DVDs, after an edict from police chief Sutanto to "eradicate pornography".

The Islamic Defenders Front spearheads the anti-porn protests. Its leader, is Habib Riziek. Porn, including artworks such as Suwage's, contributes to moral delinquency, Riziek claims. We don't care about the technicality of the picture. What we care is that the picture is publicly exhibited and it is pornography and it would damage morals. Riziek remains emphatic the bill is essential to "guard the nation's morality" against pornography, which extends past explicit photographs to "anything that could arouse sexual desire".

Suwage is increasingly bitter about the gallery's curator, Supangkat's, reaction to the protest. After hundreds of demonstrators arrived at the exhibition, a panicked Supangkat ordered the offending panels to be covered with white cloth. Other artists draped their own works in solidarity and Supangkat closed the biennale, permanently. Suwage believes his prosecution is linked to pressure to pass the anti-porn law and the desire of fundamentalists to impose Islamic rule on Indonesia. Suwage, who is afraid of prison, says he is determined to fight.

In Bali, the head of the government's tourism authority, Gede Nurjaya is concerned prohibitions against kissing and revealing bodies could be imposed against foreigners, destroying Bali's faltering tourism industry.

Arriva says most women's groups oppose the bill. Most of it restricts women, what they wear, how they act. It even creates a board that would go around monitoring women's behaviour. She sees the anti-porn movement as part of an agenda to reshape Indonesia, with pornography a symbol of Western culture to the many Muslims who believe globalisation aims to destroy their culture.

Adrian Vickers, Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Wollongong, agrees the debate is part of whipping up a moral panic about Western decadence eroding Indonesian culture and morality, with the potential to push Indonesia towards an Islamic state.

The world's religions are doing a fine job in demonstrating their intolerance and their affinity for intimidation. It seems also that the threats of violence will surely lead to some restrictions on criticism via humour or insult.

Maybe the next time your mum/dad/friend trundles off to church, rather than saying: that's nice, why not try instead: it's nice that you are doing your bit to further the causes of intolerance and intimidation. And by the way, what is the probability that your belief is the correct one?

Based on articles from South Manchester Reporter & India West

One of Manchester's Hindu leaders has slammed an advertisement depicting Goddess Durga clasping eight bottles of Southern Comfort.

The image, used in adverts in bars throughout Europe, has predictably outraged both moderate and strict Hindus. They have accused the licensing trade of ridiculing one of their most revered gods and of hijacking their religion to boost profits.

Ashit Sinha, a community worker and former journalist, says the advert should be banned. And he is calling on the media to institute an international regulatory body that would stop newspapers, magazines and advertisers lampooning religions and gods.

Sinha  continued: This is not just a Muslim problem. I don't know whether it's a lack of awareness and knowledge or complete lack of morality in the whole community. I think there needs to be an international regulatory body to monitor and where necessary, censor, the publication of religious images to stop this kind of thing happening.

Brown-Forman is the company which owns Southern Comfort. Phil Lynch, vice president of corporate communications, said We made a terrible mistake. We didn't realize it was the image of a Hindu goddess. Lynch asserted it was only a day earlier that his company found out about the anger the display had triggered in Hindu communities in Europe and India.

According to Bimal Krishna das, general secretary of the National Council of Hindu Temples (United Kingdom), which had been in the forefront of the protests said that while the beverage makers were to be lauded for removing the offending display after being pressurized by the Greek government, it was unfortunate that they did not listen to the requests made earlier by Hindus and Sikhs.

Krishna das noted that he was disappointed that the Indian Embassy in Athens had ignored his organization's requests over the last three months to take steps to have the window display removed. We request the Indian embassies to be much more forthcoming in providing assistance to the Indian communities settled outside India. We also request the world-wide Hindu community to formulate a concerted strategy to make sure that no further abuse of Hinduism takes place anywhere in the world.

Based on an article from The Independent

A Muslim pop singer has been forced to hire bodyguards to protect her during a visit to Britain next month after she received a string of death threats from religious extremists.

US-based Deeyah is due in London next month to promote a new single and video, released tomorrow. But the track "What Will It Be?" has already outraged hardline Islamists here as it promotes women's
rights.

Her performances with a clutch of male dancers and revealing outfits have also deeply offended many Muslims. In one scene in her latest video, the singer drops a burqa covering her body to reveal a bikini.

That has attracted vitriol from some quarters. The singer claims that in the past she has been spat upon in the street and told that her family would be in danger if she did not tone down her work. The situation is now so bad that Deeyah feels she cannot visit Britain without protection. I can no longer walk around without specially assigned bodyguards. I would be lying if I said abuse from religious fanatics didn't upset or scare me.

Deeyah was originally a singer of classical Indian music and lived in the UK until just over a year ago. But she claims to have been shocked by the reaction to her shift to pop music accompanied by raunchy videos: I had no plan to court controversy or anger people in my community. I wanted to make people think and confront my own fears as a Muslim woman, Soon, though, she was dubbed "the Muslim Madonna". And then came hate mail and abuse from extremists. I have  had people phone me and tell me they were going to cut me up into pieces. I became this figure of hate simply because of what I do and wear.

Based on an article from Stuff

The  controversial Bloody Mary episode of South Park that shows a statue of the Virgin Mary menstruating blood has kicked up a fuss in New Zealand.

C4 owner Canwest said the transmission is being brought forward as a matter of "democratic choice" to better inform the debate. The episode was originally scheduled for a screening in May, but will now be shown on 22 February.

The episode depicts a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus, bleeding, with Pope Benedict XVI putting it down to menstruation, rather than a miracle. The Pope's face and other church leaders are also sprayed with blood and a priest uses the blood to draw a cross on a woman's head.

The country's prime minister, Helen Clark, said she had not seen the show but that it sounded "revolting".  She added the company was free to screen the programme, but should weigh that freedom against a potential backlash of viewers.

Palmerston North Catholic Bishop Peter Cullinane said Catholics can choose to take a stand against what he calls crass insults by boycotting advertisers linked with the cartoon. He said many are bored with using official complaint channels that go nowhere. Boycotting advertisers is something different that others will notice: I don't think Catholics have any problems about laughing at themselves. Some people have said Catholics should grin and bear it. Ninety-nine percent of the time we actually do.

But he said ridiculing the people and things held dear by Christians is the same as ridiculing the prophet Muhammad. Media are selective about who they offend, he said: They wouldn't do it for Maori, for example - it would be out of bounds.

Bishop Cullinane said there are minor differences between the Muhammad and Mary controversies: With the prophet Muhammad the media could claim they were merely reporting, (but South Park) is not reporting anything. They're just using that kind of lewdness for entertainment.

Catholic Church in New Zealand spokeswoman Lindsay Freer calls the Canwest move an arrogant, cynical and unethical effort to capitalise on the debate and boost ratings: I can't use the words I'd like to use as they would be unprintable. I think there will be many people in New Zealand who will be deeply offended by using toilet, menstrual humour involving Mary to illustrate a plot.

CanWest TVWorks chief operating officer Rick Friesen said once viewers see the scenes in the context of the entire episode, he believes many New Zealanders will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Broadcasting Standards Authority chief executive Jane Wrightson said any attempt to stop the cartoon being aired is state censorship. No action can be taken until a complaint is made, and that can't happen until after it screens, she said: We have no power to operate before the event. That would be censorship by a state organisation and that's not what we do.

From CBC

An appeal from the Catholic Church for New Zealanders to boycott an episode of South Park has resulted in a record audience there for the controversial cartoon.

The Bloody Mary episode of South Park drew more than six times the normal audience, New Zealand broadcaster TV Works announced.

The episode was seen by 210,000 viewers, according to Rick Friesen, the broadcaster's chief operating officer. In the past month, he said, an average South Park episode typically draws about 32,500 viewers to the network's C4 youth channel.

During the broadcast, however, more than 350 people protested outside the TV Works headquarters in Auckland.

The protest centred on a statue of the Virgin Mary, with participants — clutching Bibles and religious icons — singing hymns, reciting the rosary and offering other prayers. A Catholic priest who led the protesters in prayer asked God to enlighten those responsible for the cartoon and strengthen them to see how much harm they can do.

Last weekend, New Zealand's Roman Catholic bishops issued a letter urging parishioners to boycott the channel and its sponsors. The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand also protested the episode and said it was deeply offensive.

Probably didn't espouse the required morality of intolerance and violent intimidation.

From The Telegraph

Algeria has banned as "immoral" a reality television show that has become so popular in the Arab world that restaurants in the region are empty during its broadcasts.

Star Academy, a version of Fame Academy, is keeping the Middle East on the edge of its seat with the rare sight of male and female contestants competing for the prize of money, fame and a record deal.

The show has weathered protests that it is "un-Islamic" and a toxic import from the West but this week Algerian national television stopped showing the programme after protests by the main Islamist party.

Aboudjerra Soltani, the leader of the Movement for a Society of Peace, said the show was a provocation against society and attacked its moral values. It can still be watched on satellite television.

Launched by the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation and filmed in Lebanon, Star Academy starts with the pan-Arab recruitment of thousands of hopefuls, who audition to become one of the 16 finalists. The finalists live and train together in Adma, Lebanon, taking lessons in music, dancing, singing, fashion, hair-styling and make-up.

Star Academy is one of the few places in the Arab world where personal advancement depends on talent rather than connections, where men and women can mix freely, and where expressing individualism is something to be celebrated. Such values have made the show both controversial and hugely popular.

Star Academy has also attracted more than its share of militant Islamic critics, who maintain that the show transgresses the most basic Islamic principles, either because men and women live together in an "un-Islamic" way, or because they see reality television as an alien concept imposed by the West.

The Dean of the School of Islamic Law and Shari'a at Kuwait University passed a fatwa condemning the show; the Kuwaiti parliament has discussed legislation to "protect public morality" from Star Academy, and articles in the Saudi press have called the building where the contestants live "a whorehouse".

It is not clear to me why earlier puberty should be considered an occurrence to worry about anyway.

Thanks to Dan: Mediawatch UK picked up on this. Presumably to back their agenda for wishing to deny adults the freedom to watch sexual material.

From Mediawatch-UK originally from the Daily Mail

Part of the reason for our mounting epidemic of obesity is the all-pervasive influence of television on the lives of children. In modern Britain, the TV is far more that just a piece of furniture or a piece of entertainment. It is a huge force in almost every family, dominating the domestic environment, acting as an electronic babysitter and shaping behaviour. More than half of three-year-olds have TV sets in their bedrooms, while by the age of six the average child will have spent a full year of 24-hour days in front of the screen.

Apart from giving rise to obesity, this helps to promote early puberty in other ways. One is through the relentless exposure to sexual imagery. Scientific research has shown that when adults watch sexual material on the screen, hormones are released into the body. There is no reason to believe the same is not true of children and that these hormones help hasten the onset of adolescence …

In other words, TV is not just a medium for negative images; it can also have direct biological consequences. Along with pop videos and magazines, television is also part of an arsenal of media influences that have encouraged a loss of innocence in children. Publications aimed at preteen girls now talk openly about sexual positions and oral sex, while the pop scene is filled with gyrating exhibitionist stars and explicit lyrics.

From GayNZ.com

A fringe Christian nutter group’s vendetta against New Zealand’s gay chief censor and his deputy has been renewed this week, with pressure being put on the government to replace them both.

The Society for the Promotion of Community Standards says Deputy Chief Censor Nicola McCully’s term expired in September and no moves have been made to replace her. It wants her out, along with Chief Censor Bill Hastings, whose term expires later this year.

However, a spokesman for Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker says this situation is not unusual as last year was an election year, and a “period of restraint” is placed on ministers, preventing them from significant appointments during that time. When this happens, the incumbent continues in their job. With the formation of a new government coming almost right on top of Christmas, the delay in reviewing McCully’s position has been compounded.

The SPCS says the Office of Film and Literature Classification under Hastings and McCully has failed to protect the public from the pandemic of obscene and sexually degrading publications that are being regularly cleared by the Office for adult 'entertainment’.

The two examples they cite are the art-house films Baise-Moi and Irreversible, both festival films which received nationwide cinema releases and exposure to a wide audience only after the publicity generated by the SPCS attempts to ban them both.

The largely ineffective lobby group has nevertheless become notorious enough to warrant its own entry on web-based encyclopedia Wikipedia. Described as a “Christian fundamentalist anti-gay group”, the entry says the SPCS appears largely concerned with criticising the decisions of the Office of Film and Literature Classification (New Zealand) and the current Chief Censor, Bill Hastings, seemingly on the basis that he is gay.

Based on an article from The Telegraph

A museum of erotic art due to open this week yards from St Mark's Basilica in Venice has predictably provoked outrage from the Catholic Church and local officials.

The display of paintings, photographs and sculpture, which opens to the public on Friday at the start of the annual Venice Carnival, has been accused by critics of being no more than a "sex shop" and "a shameful embarrassment" to the city, which welcomes millions of tourists every year.

The exhibition is housed over four floors in the 250-year-old Palazzo Rota, overlooking the lagoon and less than a minute's walk from the recently-restored basilica.

Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Catholic patriarch of Venice, has condemned it:The location of this museum is scandalous but, more importantly, why does Venice have a need for a museum of erotica? It is just a commercial venture. I'm not shocked by Lucien Freud's paintings, but I really don't see the logic in having these sort of exhibits on public display.

Maurizio Costa, the museum's artistic director, said Venice was synonymous with erotica, having been the birthplace of Giacomo Casanova, the world's most famous seducer: I can't see what all this fuss is about. They should take a look at the history of Venice. The city has a history of eroticism. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Venice was known as the bordello of Europe.

From Religioscope

An Indonesian obscenity and blasphemy case has been registered against six people for putting up a pictorial exhibition on Adam and Eve in which the actors in the photograph were in a state of nudity. Police named three artists, a photographer, a prominent art curator and a sixth person as suspects in the case, local news reports said Friday.

The exhibit at the Bank Indonesia Museum in Central Jakarta raised a furore with Islamic hardliners who said the photograph depiction of Adam and Eve, who were played by an actor and actress with fig leaves covering their private parts, was an insult to Islam.

Authorities refused to release the names of the six suspects, but lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, who will defend three of them, named the five suspects as model-actor Anjasmara, model Isabel Yahya, artist Agus Suwage, photographer Davy Linggar and art critic Jim Supangkat.

The hardline Indonesian Islamic group Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) was at the forefront of the criticism of the CP Biennale 2005 Urban/Culture exhibit held last October.

Leaders claimed the artwork violated criminal laws against insulting a religion in Indonesia and publicly displaying pornography, crimes punishable by up to five years and 18 months in prison respectively.

Anjasmara defended himself by saying that he was not completely nude during the photo shoot of Adam, who is considered a prophet by Muslims, but was wearing underwear. He also apologised to anyone whom the photograph offended, and explained that he was only trying to create art.

FPI, which is known for its violent attacks against nightclubs and other establishments seen as "un-Islamic", has stepped up legal attacks on perceived cultural offences to Islam.

Updated 28th January

From The Sun

A violent new British movie about “happy slapping” was facing calls to be banned last night. Nutters fear Kidulthood which features two scenes where yobs film attacks glamorises teenage violence. The movie came under fire days after a teenager was jailed for filming pals kicking a man to death. Lucy Cope, who founded Mothers Against Guns after her son was shot dead in 2002, last night led calls for the film to be banned. The movie set in west London has been compared by some critics to youth classics like Trainspotting and Quadrophenia.

A teenager said to be obsessed with a killer video game was yesterday found guilty of murdering his sister by torching his home in a twisted bid to slaughter his entire family.  The 16-year-old – who modelled himself on a half-human/half-demon PlayStation 2 character – also hit his brother with an axe leaving him brain damaged.  The lad always wore black Goth clothes and called himself Dante after the killer character in the 15-rated game Devil May Cry, the Old Bailey heard. 

Last night the pressure group mediawatch-uk accused the games industry of “living in denial” of the consequences of their products.

Based on an article from Christian Today

This week the nutter bait stage show, Jerry Springer – The Opera, begins with theatres across the country now bracing themselves for protests during the nationwide tour.

Local organisation Action Group has already planned a protest outside the Plymouth Theatre Royal and up to 50 nutters are expected to turn out to voice their concerns.

The 20-city, five-month tour will begin in Plymouth, Devon on Friday after a turbulent period where it was questionable whether the tour would go ahead.

A spokesperson for the Plymouth theatre said there is planned to be extra security on the opening night of the tour. The BBC reported her as saying, We are aware that there are people out there who aren't particularly happy with the fact that we have Jerry Springer. We have got more people who will be present front-of-house to ensure that there are no problems with people who want to come in and see the production and make sure they can gain access.

Previously, one third of the venues had backed down on plans to show the musical after receiving threats of protests by religious pressure group Christian Voice, according to Manchester Online.

The Independent newspaper reported that Stephen Green, the national director of Christian Voice, has announced the organisation's intention to prosecute any venue that shows the Jerry Springer show.

But theatres have joined forces and a deal was agreed upon with the producers, Avalon despite threats of protests. The Independent newspaper has reported that Stuart Griffiths, the chief executive of the Birmingham Hippodrome, said that the tour venues were "absolutely keen" it should go ahead.

But the Bishop of Manchester, the Right Rev Nigel McCulloch, who described the TV broadcast of the musical as “gratuitously offensive” said he has no problem with the show coming to the city.

He said there was a “big difference” of issues because people could choose whether to buy a ticket, according to Manchester Online. "This production has been on stage before and there is a big difference between something on the television and the stage.

Bishop McCulloch said people had a right to “peaceful protest” but warned that violence or threats of violence are not acceptable: I want to distance myself completely from the kind of thing that happened after the televised performance when the lives of people were threatened. That is reprehensible and has nothing to do with any Christian concern.

From the Southport Visitor

Southport nutters have joined in the call against Jerry Springer: The Opera. Around 600 members of Southport churches have signed a petition calling on the Liverpool Empire and the Manchester Opera House to drop performances of the production.

Dave Allen of Elim Pentecostal Church organised the petition.

Based on an article from The Guardian

The archdeacon of Plymouth and two of the city's former lord mayors have attacked the staging of Jerry Springer: the Opera, as the controversial show begins its national tour. Archdeacon Tony Wilds branded the award-winning musical "unfair and unacceptable", and called for its tour to be abandoned. But the opening performance of Jerry Springer went ahead as scheduled last Friday, and continues in Plymouth until the end of the week.

In a statement entitled Freedom, Not Hate in Plymouth, Wilds was backed by former mayors Tom Savery and David Stark, plus ministers of five other Christian denominations. According to the statement: The local production of the controversial Jerry Springer the Opera is ... a serious and damaging misjudgment.

The shameful archdeacon said that he was in favour of the principle of free speech... BUT... he  argues that Springer takes undue liberties according to this standard. The abusive portrayal of figures held by Christians to be [dear] should be recognised by all people of goodwill as unfair and unacceptable ...

Organising this tour has been the most difficult thing we've ever done, said producer Jon Thoday. It's been on and off about three times, to the point when we thought we were fighting a losing battle. Further protests against the show are planned across Britain as the tour progresses.

But Thoday is heartened by the events of last Friday, when only a handful of protesters attended the opening night of the show. If they can only muster 35 people praying on the first date of the tour, my hope is that it will be the show that prevails and not the protests.

From Yahoo News
From MediawatchWatch

Arts Council England has given £30,000 to the national tour of Jerry Springer: The Opera, six months after turning down an application for funding.

In August the organisation threw the future of the production into doubt when it decided against subsidising the tour. On that occasion the application was from the producers Avalon and the Arts Council claimed it could not justify the use of public money for a commercial tour.

But it has now made the £30,000 award in response to a separate application from a consortium of theatres. The musical is in the middle of a nationwide regional tour. The funding will enable the production to reach new audiences across the country.

Sir Christopher Frayling, chair of Arts Council England, said: "We are committed to continuing our association with Jerry Springer: The Opera. The original production provoked an important debate and attracted new audiences during its time on the London stage. Our award will allow the production to reach out to new audiences across England allowing them too to take part in the debate."

Stephen Green of Christian Voice, the organisation which is currently picketing venues around the country, is predictably furious: It would not be possible for this show to be any more blasphemous and insulting to Christians if it tried. I cannot believe it has qualified for public money. It needs the money to keep it going. As far as I am concerned, Jerry Springer: The Opera appeals to people who like treading in dog shit. Taxpayers have no business supporting it.

So full of love and the grace of his lord Jesus Christ, isn’t he?

By my calculations the Jerry Springer version of Christ is just as likely to be the truth as the multitude of church versions. Which in turn is equally likely to be the truth as a prophet from God wearing a turban bomb and indeed, equally likely as a prophet from God wearing any other sort of headwear.

From Christian Today

Protestors gathered in Yorkshire earlier this week, regarding the controversial stage show Jerry Springer – The Opera. As part of a national tour, the show is at the York Grand Opera House every night this week, and will visit the Bradford Alhambra in May as its only other Yorkshire date.

Major Paul Westlake, of York Branch of the Salvation Army, said: We are here to put across to people that they should not formulate any ideas about Jesus Christ from this production they are going to see. In the production, he is portrayed as a ridiculous figure who says he may be a little bit gay. The issue is that there is a lot in the show that is offensive to Christians. In this country we seem to be able to poke fun at Christianity but not other minority faiths.

Lizzie Richards, general manager of the Grand Opera House, said: It's up to them if they want to protest. They are perfectly entitled to say how they feel. We are trying to offer a balanced programme. We think it is a great show from great producers written by two very talented people in Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas, which is why we wanted it to come to York.

I think the Springer protestors must be feeling a little bit overshadowed by the cartoon protests. They simply cannot support their own beliefs with the same level of intimidation that Islam can command.

Perhaps they can achieve some feeling of fairness in knowing that both beliefs are equally absurd and equally unlikely to be the truth. 

From MediawatchWatch

Jerry Springer: The Opera opened at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester recently accompanied not only by the usual gaggle of Springer protestors, but also by a counter-demo by the active Leicester Secular Society in support of free speech. As far as we can gather, this is the first time the anti-Springer brigade have encountered organised opposition.

If the show is coming to a theatre near you, and you want to know what the Christian demonstrators are up to (if anything), Stephen Green of Christian Voice has helpfully set up a web page (Stopspringer.com) with contact details for would-be activists

From Christian Today

Christians are planning to come out to protest against Jerry Springer: The Opera when it opens in Glasgow next week.

The protest will kick off on the opening night of the show next Monday night and will be attended by numerous prominent Christians, including Rev. George Hargreaves, leader of the Scottish Christian Party, reports the Scottish Herald.

The Glasgow campaign will be spearheaded by Bob Handyside, a local Christian, who criticised the play for its biased disregard of the Christian faith: Christianity is a whipping boy, and obscenities like this, which are absolutely shocking, just seem to be expected. You would never get away with this if you were ranting about Islam. Glasgow City Council would be attacked and there would be Muslims complaining to everyone.

A website for the anti-Springer opera campaign, www.stopspringer.com, is calling for Christians to write to Prince Edward, patron of the Glasgow theatre, voicing their concerns for the musical. The website states, “It’s time for Prince Edward to stand up for Jesus Christ.”

The protest organisers are hoping that many local churches will get involved with the campaign by encouraging their congregation to express their concerns over the play.

The tour is due to continue to Aberdeen’s His Majesty’s Theatre after the Glasgow week-long run. The Aberdeen theatre is also facing criticism for going ahead with the run of the show.

Shamelessy lifted from one of my favourite sites: MediawatchWatch. The observation surely deserves wide distribution.

Has the BNP taken over the anti-Jerry Springer: The Opera protests? Above left is a photo from the Leicester Mercury showing a group of protestors outside the de Montfort Hall. On the right is a group of BNP supporters outside Leeds Crown Court in January, during the trial of Nick Griffin and Mark Collett.

The “Defend Christian Values” banners they are holding are from the self-styled Christian Council of Britain, one of several new BNP offshoots.

From Lancaster Unite Against Fascism blog:

The Christian Council of Britain, replete with one or two hundred rabid members of the BNP (who also happen to be Christians), was set up by the BNP as a so-called balance to the Muslim Council of Britain. They claim to represent the Christians of Britain, which of course, they don’t. They actually represent a racist though supposedly Christian offshoot of the BNP formed solely so that the party could almost-legitimately jump on the back of the anti-’Jerry Springer - The Opera’ campaign. The real Christian group who actually are organising the campaign have stated clearly that the BNP is unwelcome.

Stephen Green did indeed come out and speak against the BNP involvement in the anti-Springer campaign, eventually. But if the Leicester Mercury photo is representative, the very least we can deduce is that they are good at distributing their banners.

Certainly an illuminating quote: We do not think any decent-minded person would want to watch this show.

Based on an article from ic Liverpool

More than 500 Christians descended on St George's Plateau to make their feelings about Jerry Springer: The Opera coming to the city very clear.

Nutters in the region were protesting in the hope of deterring people from buying tickets. The show is part of the Empire Theatre's summer season and campaigners plan to stage a series of demonstrations over the next two months and throughout its run.

Dave Allen, from Merseyside Christians Against Jerry Springer, said: We regard this production as disgraceful, disgusting and dirty. We do not think any decent-minded person would want to watch this show.

It very clearly demeans our Lord Jesus Christ by depicting him as a baby in a nappy and makes God out to be a bumbling fool. There is no doubt about it, we will be raising our voice very strongly over the next few weeks to show our disgust.

From Manchester Online

The staging of controversial musical Jerry Springer The Opera brought protesters to the streets of Manchester last night - but placard-waving supporters of the show outnumbered Christian protesters.

But on the streets outside the Opera House last night, a small group of around 10 protesters opposed to the show were out-numbered by a group of noisy Manchester comedians, who carried placards reading "Don't Gag the Gagsters".

Organiser Mike Landers, who heads the Manchester Comedy Forum, said: We are concerned about freedom of speech. There seem to be a lot of things conspiring against this freedom because of the protest against the Prophet cartoons and the religious hatred bill. We think it is the job of comedians to be able to say what we think, even if it offends people.

From the excellent MediawatchWatch

Mike Landers reports:

We gathered in the Sports Cafe on time, hurriedly finishing off placards and so on. A nice little turn out, and then we found out that the tables around us were occupied by people going to see the show and were laughing themselves silly at some of the slogans.

The original plan was to wander up to the Opera House around 6.30pm (7.30pm show start) but a distinct lack of Christian “opposition” meant we kept putting it back and putting it back. As the queues of audience members grew and still no sign, we finally made the Executive Decision to head up at about 6.50pm.

As we gathered opposite the Opera House, there were a lot of curious looks from the Springer audience, but as soon as the placards were unveiled, there was a big cheer and a lot of laughter.

A round of interviews (TV and radio) with myself and John Cooper, more laughter and chanting and some grateful thanks from some of the backstage crew, who left with their own stickers.

Eventually some of the Christians turned up at about 7.15pm. We serenaded them with “You’re late! And you know you are!” as they took station right outside the doors. A quick countup of protesters versus anti-protesters led to the football style chant of “16-3! 16-3!”.

At 7.30pm, showtime so time to retire to the pub. I wandered past the Opera House at about 8.45, and one of the protestors was still there. Earlier she had given out a huge number of handwritten cards about spreading the word of God. As my good friend Geoff said, quite frankly, with dedication and determination like that, she’s wasted doing what she is doing.

I’ll write more, set up a webpage to show the pictures, but from memory the slogans were:

“Down with protests”
“Don’t gag the gagsters”
“Jerry Springer stole my other cheek”
“Free Speech! I’m a believer!”
“Its digusting. Its a musical, not an opera”
“It was either this or the hoovering”
“I don’t care about blasphemy, I just hate opera.”
“For one night only: Much Ado About Nothing”
“Stop being so bloody silly.”
“Golf Sale”.

Very tired, but happy.