The Hazards of Belief

Reuters wrote:

Poland’s Supreme Court has opened the way for a blasphemy verdict against a rock musician who tore up a Bible on stage, a case that has pitted deep Catholic traditions against a new desire for free expression.

Adam Darski, front man with a heavy metal group named Behemoth, ripped up a copy of the Christian holy book during a concert in 2007, called it deceitful and described the Roman Catholic church as “a criminal sect”. His supporters say it was an act of artistic expression, but conservatives say he offended the sensibilities of Catholics in Poland, the homeland of the late Pope John Paul II and one of the religion’s most devout heartlands in Europe.

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 on Monday 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.

Reuters wrote:

Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of secularists protesting at a banned rally in the capital on Monday against what they see as an increasingly authoritarian and Islamist government.

The scenes of chanting men and women draped in Turkish flags and carrying banners portraying the country's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk highlight a longstanding division in Turkish society between staunch secularists on the one hand and more conservative religious Turks on the other. Although Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan won a third term in power last year with 50 percent of the vote, many secular Turks fear his socially conservative AK Party has Islamist tendencies that threaten the secular republic founded by Ataturk.

"They are trying to turn us into another Iran or some kind of neo-Ottoman Empire. We are against this," said retired 64-year-old Erdem Sevinc. "We are here today to send a message to those who are trying to destroy the principles of this republic," he said.

The local government in Ankara, also controlled by Erdogan's AK Party, banned the rally citing "intelligence" it would be used for "provocation", a move protesters said was designed to silence government opponents. "Why have they banned this march? Because they are scared. They are scared of course," said 68-year-old Metin Alkan, sporting a black tie emblazoned with Ataturk's face.

Dawn wrote:

LAHORE, Oct 31: A large number of protesters including religious groups’ activists ransacked a private school’s three buildings and torched owner’s car allegedly on charges of committing blasphemy in Ravi Road area on Wednesday.

It was alleged that the private school administration had distributed a paper among the students, which carried derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet (PBUH) a few days ago.

Police have registered a case against the schoolteacher and the principal under section 295-C (blasphemy) of Pakistan Penal Code.

The principal has been booked and arrested under abetment charges because he did not take any action, when the incident came into his knowledge. Sources said both the teacher and the principal were in police custody. The police have also registered a case against unidentified protesters for taking law into their hands.

Sources in the police told Dawn that the protesters including religious groups’ activists took law into their hands and ransacked school’s three buildings and burnt owner’s car without investigating the issue.

Sources alleged that the case had been built on the basis of a photocopy, which carried derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet. They claimed that the photocopy was of a book, of which a page was torn and the available pages’ text became blasphemous. Sources alleged that the person, who distributed the photocopy, had also translated the available English text into Urdu.

The residents of Ravi Road area had besieged the school building late on Tuesday night and continued to protest on Wednesday and eventually torched owner’s car and ransacked school’s three buildings in the area. The fire brigade was denied access to the area. A heavy contingent of police also clashed with protesters.

MNA Mian Marghoob and MPA Khwaja Imran Nazir urged the protesters to let the police investigate the matter. They assured the protesters that the government would also hold an inquiry into the incident and all those involved would be brought to book.

Banbh wrote: »

Not only did the Soviet Union - the "Russian Communists" as you say - require that citizens report law-breakers but it is general throughout the world, though until recently members of the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland claimed that this did not apply to them.

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Do you know any Commie's. Why didn't you report them? Tell us their names now or else...

Telegraph wrote:

Churches not necessarily for public good, says charity watchdog

Its officials decided that religion is not always for “the public benefit” as it denied charitable status to the Plymouth Brethren, an exclusive Christian group, for one of its churches in Devon. In a letter to the Plymouth Brethren, the watchdog set out its most recent decision that “there is no presumption that religion generally, or at any more specific level, is for the public benefit, even in the case of Christianity or the Church of England”.

The Charity Commission has been in a long running battle with independent schools over how they should get charitable status. However, this is thought to be the first time it has denied the label to a religious group on the grounds that it does not advance public benefit. The Plymouth Brethren, an evangelical movement whose 16,000 believers try to keep themselves separate from the outside world, have been in a lengthy fight with the watchdog over the issue.

The group has already appealed to the charity tribunal and is intending to take its battle to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. The letter emerged in evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee, which is investigating the work of the Charity Commission. Some MPs are now concerned that the commission could start denying charitable status to a growing number of religious groups.

Charlie Elphicke, a member of the committee and the MP for Dover and Deal, believes the commission is “committed to the suppression of religion”. At the hearing, he told the Plymouth Brethren elders that they were “the little guys being picked on to start off a whole series of other churches who will follow you there."

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has said he is a "very concerned" about the warning.

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Ah yes -The Plymouth Brethren. They really are some kind of special.