A US church’s advert telling people about an Easter service has been banned from cinemas and branded “too controversial” because it mentions the name of Jesus.
The agency, NCM Media Networks, said it has a policy of rejecting ads featuring religious figures and remarked some cinemagoers might be offended by such an ad.
Yale University is publishing “The Cartoons That Shook the World” about how cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad caused outrage, violence and other bad behavior across the Muslim world.
But it won’t include the cartoons themselves — for fear of further violence on the part of Muslim extremists.
Amazon UK has barred the sale of a new Scientology expose penned by a former member of the church’s “elite paramilitary group.”
In a recent post to an anti-Scientology discussion forum, an Anonymous Brit says that after pre-ordering the book, he received an email from Amazon announcing it had been “removed from sale for legal reasons”.
Too bad. Then again, you already know all the reasons why it is best to avoid Scientology.
Satanic Verses author Sir Salman Rushdie has spoken of the need to ask questions about religion in the wake of the row about a new book on the Prophet Mohammed.
Muslim hate criminals recently firebombed the home of a British publisher of the novel, Jewel of Medina. The US publisher of the book, Random House, cancelled publication for fear of violent reprisals.
Satanists and pagans will enjoy the same protection as Christians under new laws banning incitement to racial hatred. Even atheists will be protected by legislation which aims to prevent people being victimised for their “beliefs”. Home Office Minister Paul Goggins said: “It is any religious belief or lack of belief.” The law is intended to extend protection from incitement to racial hatred, which already exists, to religions. It means Muslims will be treated in the same way as Sikhs and Jews. However, it is opposed by Conservatives, who say it will be counter-productive, and TV star Rowan Atkinson, who fears
Race and religion are different – which is why Islamophobia is a nonsense and religious hatred must not be outlawed. A mandate is a wonderful thing, even if this government’s rests on just 22% of the electorate. A bad bill already twice rejected with a big rebellion on Labour benches was tabled again yesterday, regardless of the strength of opposition to it. The incitement to religious hatred bill is back, although it lost the argument resoundingly on every other outing. Forward not back? No, back for the third time. Why? To appease a Muslim vote that elected George Galloway in
News.com.au (Australia), Mar. 7, 2003 http://www.news.com.au/ Correspondents in Beijing China’s internet users are suffering sharp slowdowns in access because of the communist government’s heightened efforts to police online content, industry experts say. Some experts say problems have worsened this week, suggesting Beijing is tightening surveillance during the annual meeting of China’s parliament. China is trying to reap the internet’s benefits while also controlling what its people read and hear. Authorities have invested both in spreading internet access and in installing technology to scan websites and email for content deemed subversive or obscene. Beijing has essentially built an online barrier around
The Guardian (England), Sep. 14, 2002 http://www.guardian.co.uk/ John Gittings in Shanghai China’s web censors have lifted their ban on access to the popular international Google search engine – but they have ways of making sure no one asks the wrong question. A search for Australian prime minister John Howard yesterday netted 200,000 internet pages; his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi scored 40,000. Yet when the magic name of Chinese president Jiang Zemin was entered, Google consistently replied that the information “is currently unavailable”. The BBC’s internet site is subject to similar restrictions. China’s web servers allow access to the BBC homepage,
BBC, Sep. 12, 2002 http://news.bbc.co.uk/ China has reversed its decision to block the popular Google search engine. A ban on the web portal has been lifted, 10 days after it was imposed. “We have been notified by users that they are now able to access Google in China,” Google Spokesman Cindy McCaffrey told BBC News Online. “We have not changed anything with regard to how we operate our service, and we continue to work with authorities in China.” No explanation was offered for the sudden about-face. Media freedom groups had criticised China for the move. The New York-based Committee to
Reuters, Sep. 9, 2002 http://story.news.yahoo.com/ By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A California appeals court has ruled that officials in a Los Angeles suburb cannot begin meetings with prayers invoking Jesus Christ, saying that doing so amounts to an unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity over other religions. A three-judge panel of the state’s Second District Court of Appeal agreed with a Los Angeles Superior Court judge who ordered the city of Burbank to ban before council meetings prayers that promote any one faith or belief over another. Both decisions came in a lawsuit over a 1999 meeting of the Burbank