Tag: Free Speech

California county OKs limits on picketing in response to anti-Scientology protests

Picketing Scientology The Church of Scientology‘s concerns about protesters outside their Gilman Hot Springs base led Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone to seek and gain approval Tuesday for county restrictions on picketing in residential neighborhoods.

Only Supervisor Bob Buster voted against the ordinance, which forbids demonstrators from coming within 300 feet of a home they are targeting in unincorporated Riverside County.

Buster said a 300-foot buffer would effectively quash demonstrations outside residences. He said the ordinance threatens free-speech rights.

Criminalizing Criticism of Islam

Islam hate free speech Islam is incompatible with free speech (and a host of other values observed by civilized nations).

In an unprecedented case, a Jordanian court is prosecuting 12 Europeans in an extraterritorial attempt to silence the debate on radical Islam.

The prosecutor general in Amman charged the 12 with blasphemy, demeaning Islam and Muslim feelings, and slandering and insulting the prophet Muhammad in violation of the Jordanian Penal Code. The charges are especially unusual because the alleged violations were not committed on Jordanian soil.

Danish publisher hopes to publish The Jewel of Medina

Danish publisher hopes to publish The Jewel of Medina The Jewel of Medina tells the story of Aisha, one of Muhammad’s wives, from the age of six to 18 when Muhammad dies.

It was bought by Random House US for a reported advance of $100,000, but then dropped after the publisher was told by academics and security experts that publication was potentially more risky than Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and the Danish publication of cartoons of Muhammad.

British Church leaders in Jerry Springer row

A city vicar has defended the Theatre Royal Norwich’s controversial decision to stage a production of Jerry Springer The Opera, but other church leaders have blasted the decision. The West End show, which has sparked outrage among some people in the Christian community in the UK, is on national tour and will be at Norwich’s Theatre Royal from Monday, May 8 to Saturday, May 13. The show has been criticised because it depicts Jesus, Mary and God as guests of Jerry Springer’s talk show with one scene featuring Jesus in a nappy. Christian pressure group Christian Voice has been following

Jerry Springer opera tour goes on despite prosecution threat

Theatres across Britain have united in defiance against a threat of prosecution from an evangelical Christian group to save the national tour of the controversial musical Jerry Springer the Opera. Christian Voice, which organised street vigils on the evening of the BBC broadcast of the opera in January, successfully petitioned to have Arts Council funding of the regional tour axed after damning the show as “blasphemous”. It sent letters to theatres up and down the country which said: “We are at this moment preparing charges of the criminal offence of blasphemy for service upon those responsible for broadcasting the show

Christians to sue BBC over Springer show ‘blasphemy’

Security has been stepped up at the London theatre staging Jerry Springer: the Opera as the controversy over the BBC’s decision to broadcast the production intensified yesterday. The move came as Christian Voice, a lobby group that spearheaded a wave of protests against the corporation, announced plans to launch a blasphemy action against the BBC and the West End’s Cambridge Theatre. Christian groups protest outside BBC Broadcasting House at the decision to air the controversial opera The opera, shown on BBC2 on Saturday night, has as its subject the confrontational American chat show and includes strong language and scenes depicting