A MOB attacked Alexander Aan even before an Indonesian court in June jailed him for two and a half years for “inciting religious hatred”. His crime was to write “God does not exist” on a Facebook group he had founded for atheists in Minang, a province of the world’s most populous Muslim nation. Like most non-believers in Islamic regions, he was brought up as a Muslim. And like many who profess godlessness openly, he has been punished.

In a handful of majority-Muslim countries atheists can live safely, if quietly; Turkey is one example, Lebanon another. None makes atheism a specific crime. But none gives atheists legal protection or recognition. Indonesia, for example, demands that people declare themselves as one of six religions; atheism and agnosticism do not count. Egypt’s draft constitution makes room for only three faiths: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21567059-ex-muslim-atheists-are-becoming-more-outspoken-tolerance-still-rare-no-god-not

stupid people commit stupid actions and sometimes the stupid actions are against the laws in the jurisdiction were they commit their stupid actions. then these stupid people are, if/when caught, punished for their stupidity.

stupid people commit stupid actions and sometimes the stupid actions are against the laws in the jurisdiction were they commit their stupid actions. then these stupid people are, if/when caught, punished for their stupidity.

That's stooopid !!

stupid people commit stupid actions and sometimes the stupid actions are against the laws in the jurisdiction were they commit their stupid actions. then these stupid people are, if/when caught, punished for their stupidity.

There is a certain irony getting into trouble for denying the existence of something for which there is no proof of it's existence. Perhaps he could have outwardly rejected the existence of unicorns and successively other mythical beasts to test whether or not the zealots do satire.

stupid people commit stupid actions and sometimes the stupid actions are against the laws in the jurisdiction were they commit their stupid actions. then these stupid people are, if/when caught, punished for their stupidity.

There is a certain irony getting into trouble for denying the existence of something for which there is no proof of it's existence. Perhaps he could have outwardly rejected the existence of unicorns and successively other mythical beasts to test whether or not the zealots do satire.

he knowingly violated a law. that's stupid and he was punished for being stupid. blasphemy laws exist in many countries and even a number of European countries have similar laws which punish "religious insult", e.g. in place of blasphemy or in addition to blasphemy in some European countries is the crime of "religious insult".

A religious insult is forbidden in Andorra, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

stupid people commit stupid actions and sometimes the stupid actions are against the laws in the jurisdiction were they commit their stupid actions. then these stupid people are, if/when caught, punished for their stupidity.

There is a certain irony getting into trouble for denying the existence of something for which there is no proof of it's existence. Perhaps he could have outwardly rejected the existence of unicorns and successively other mythical beasts to test whether or not the zealots do satire.

he knowingly violated a law. that's stupid and he was punished for being stupid. blasphemy laws exist in many countries and even a number of European countries have similar laws which punish "religious insult", e.g. in place of blasphemy or in addition to blasphemy in some European countries is the crime of "religious insult".

A religious insult is forbidden in Andorra, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

It's also forbidden in the UK unless your a Christian.

Blasphemy is the act of showing contempt or lack of reverence for a religious deity or the irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things.

reverence =

Noun Deep respect for.

Verb

Regard or treat with deep respect.

So let me get this straight: If i don't show deep respect for a religion or an important dildo for that religion, -i can face jail for 2.5 years ?

Q: how can i deeply respect something i don't believe exist ?

I don't even respect delusional people, lest they have tried anti psychotic meds for their problems

Blasphemy is the act of showing contempt or lack of reverence for a religious deity or the irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things.

reverence =

Noun Deep respect for.

Verb

Regard or treat with deep respect.

So let me get this straight: If i don't show deep respect for a religion or an important dildo for that religion, -i can face jail for 2.5 years ?

Q: how can i deeply respect something i don't believe exist ?

I don't even respect delusional people, lest they have tried anti psychotic meds for their problems

You can feel as much contempt or lack of respect as you like, so long as you don't show it. Blasphemy laws are not about what you feel; they're about what you show, generally in a very public way.

The point of blasphemy laws is to avoid public disturbances caused by showing lack of respect. Try disrespecting Mohammed publicly in an Islamic country, and see what happens to you (I doubt whether the laws would be needed). Whether those laws are too strict in some countries is another question.

Blasphemy is the act of showing contempt or lack of reverence for a religious deity or the irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things.

reverence =

Noun Deep respect for.

Verb

Regard or treat with deep respect.

So let me get this straight: If i don't show deep respect for a religion or an important dildo for that religion, -i can face jail for 2.5 years ?

Q: how can i deeply respect something i don't believe exist ?

I don't even respect delusional people, lest they have tried anti psychotic meds for their problems

You can feel as much contempt or lack of respect as you like, so long as you don't show it. Blasphemy laws are not about what you feel; they're about what you show, generally in a very public way.

The point of blasphemy laws is to avoid public disturbances caused by showing lack of respect. Try disrespecting Mohammed publicly in an Islamic country, and see what happens to you (I doubt whether the laws would be needed). Whether those laws are too strict in some countries is another question.

The trouble with blasphemy laws is that they are open to abuse, as routinely happens in Pakistan as a means of settling personal scores by resorting to trumped up blasphemy allegations. If Voltaire were alive today I wonder what he would make of sudry European Countries protecting group delusion by virtue of it's age, though at least in Europe they no longer arrange an auto de fe for those found guilty.

Yeah, them cursed atheists, heretics, infidels, worshipers of satan, is a good reason to develop new formidable torture techniques !

It's also forbidden in the UK unless your a Christian.

Abolished in 2008 but I get your drift.

Interestingly enough on my first few weeks in Indo, whilst going through all the paperwork, police checks, physical checks etc etc for my KITAS I was asked what my religion is.

Answer, "no religion".

Not allowed, you HAVE to be of some kind of religion. After trying to convince the guy for quite a while I told the Immigration guy just to choose one for me.

I don't know what he put down but it really got my back up that I HAD to be one of 3 or 4 religions he had listed. I had no choice, I had to follow one religion or the other.

I would have chosen Buddhist if I saw it on the list, well actually it didn't matter as I am of no religion. How the heck do you choose a religion when you don't believe in, nor agree with ghosts, imaginary friends or anything to do with what goes on inside a church, mosque, temple etc etc.

Luckily the guy must have seen it from foreigners many times, but if I had unknowingly tried that in another part of Indo I may have been jailed myself.

Anyway, I just tell them I am muslim now, but I will never step inside a mosque or bang my head on the ground.

In the RAF, and I expect this applied to the Army and RN too, you were automatically classified as CofE if you didn't have any preference (mind you, I think the only options were RC and Jew in those days).

Would it hurt you to say CofE? If it would, I'm sorry for you; there is such a thing as being over-scrupulous. (I wonder what the Indonesian authorities would make of CofE?)

i would probably tic the lapsed Catholic box if there was one. I do still entertain the slight possibility that Christianity might be real.

Hindu dont have to wear helmet driving MC, so that would be my religion of choice

Could be worse!

A new report from the International Humanist and Ethical Union names the seven countries in which atheists can be executed for their beliefs: Afghanistan, Iran, Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2012/12/11/atheists_and_capital_punishment_iheu_report_documents_criminalization_discrimination.html

stupid people commit stupid actions and sometimes the stupid actions are against the laws in the jurisdiction were they commit their stupid actions. then these stupid people are, if/when caught, punished for their stupidity.

There is a certain irony getting into trouble for denying the existence of something for which there is no proof of it's existence. Perhaps he could have outwardly rejected the existence of unicorns and successively other mythical beasts to test whether or not the zealots do satire.

he knowingly violated a law. that's stupid and he was punished for being stupid. blasphemy laws exist in many countries and even a number of European countries have similar laws which punish "religious insult", e.g. in place of blasphemy or in addition to blasphemy in some European countries is the crime of "religious insult".

A religious insult is forbidden in Andorra, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

It's also forbidden in the UK unless your a Christian.

Denis Lemon might disagree with you.

In the RAF, and I expect this applied to the Army and RN too, you were automatically classified as CofE if you didn't have any preference (mind you, I think the only options were RC and Jew in those days).

Would it hurt you to say CofE? If it would, I'm sorry for you; there is such a thing as being over-scrupulous. (I wonder what the Indonesian authorities would make of CofE?)

At our school assemblies you were either CofE or RC. If you were RC you didn't have to attend.

Hindu dont have to wear helmet driving MC, so that would be my religion of choice

I think you probably mean Sikhs rather than Hindus.

^{In the RAF, and I expect this applied to the Army and RN too, you were automatically classified as CofE if you didn't have any preference (mind you, I think the only options were RC and Jew in those days).}

^{Would it hurt you to say CofE? If it would, I'm sorry for you; there is such a thing as being over-scrupulous. (I wonder what the Indonesian authorities would make of CofE?)}

^{The whole problem with religion is that many don't have a choice.}

^{I do and my choice is to live the way I live. Ofcourse if I had known I had to make that choice with the immi officer I would have rolled the dice and chosen one, but I wasn't aware that is was compulsory, which gets back to why I am of no religion.}

^{The first time I had these feelings was watching my ex-gf Mum cry and live her life knowing she was going to h_ell because her husband had divorces her. What a sad life she was living all because she was a catholic..}

^{I don't recall what the Indos had down as options, but I seem the think that the term Christiani covered the whole load of Christian religions.}

Sorry about the font size in my previous post. I don't know why but it does it sometimes and is impossible to fix it seems.

In the RAF, and I expect this applied to the Army and RN too, you were automatically classified as CofE if you didn't have any preference (mind you, I think the only options were RC and Jew in those days).

Would it hurt you to say CofE? If it would, I'm sorry for you; there is such a thing as being over-scrupulous. (I wonder what the Indonesian authorities would make of CofE?)

Would it hurt you to say Zoroastrian? or Satanist? or Pagan? Why should anyone be expected to accept some sort of religious default which follows them round for the rest of their lives based on what someone else thinks?

I really don't mean to insult anyone who is religious but I find it very tiresome that they assume that I ought to be religious too. I find it even more tiresome that they assume that they can impose some sort of default religion on me if I don't choose to espouse my own views in public.

If you want to be religious - fine by me. If you want me to be religious - on yer bike.

Sorry about the font size in my previous post. I don't know why but it does it sometimes and is impossible to fix it seems.

You can "choose" it and click on either size font 14 or 18. One is a little too big and one is a little too big, but at least it is readable. However, sometimes a mod will delete your post for not using the default font size.

In the RAF, and I expect this applied to the Army and RN too, you were automatically classified as CofE if you didn't have any preference (mind you, I think the only options were RC and Jew in those days).

Would it hurt you to say CofE? If it would, I'm sorry for you; there is such a thing as being over-scrupulous. (I wonder what the Indonesian authorities would make of CofE?)

Would it hurt you to say Zoroastrian? or Satanist? or Pagan? Why should anyone be expected to accept some sort of religious default which follows them round for the rest of their lives based on what someone else thinks?

I really don't mean to insult anyone who is religious but I find it very tiresome that they assume that I ought to be religious too. I find it even more tiresome that they assume that they can impose some sort of default religion on me if I don't choose to espouse my own views in public.

If you want to be religious - fine by me. If you want me to be religious - on yer bike.

Yes, it would hurt me, Endure!

Ticking the box for the Army, or for Immigration, commits you to nothing. It's nothing more than officialdom's irritating habit of putting everything into little boxes. Most such questionnaires, though, allow for 'others'.

Many years ago, before I realized Phuket had much more to offer, I used to spend the dec/jan period in Bali.

This was mainly just to escape the quasi religeous, shopping festival in Australia that is called Xmas.

Unfortunately, this didn't completely work, as the Balinese in the tourist industry tried to bring the whole show to me everywhere I went with tinsel, party hats and attempts at providing Xmas fare served by girls in little red dresses. (it wasn't all bad)

One 25/12 I went for lunch at my favorite little Indon restaurant where I was given an interrogation by the waiter as to why I, as a christian, wasn't celebrating the event.

I tried to explain I wasn't a christian, I was an atheist, but had to give it up eventually because he just couldn't understand the concept.

I don't do Xmas in Phuket either.

On that note, it looks quite nice when the gogo girls are dressed up in some santa servants,

so some aspects of religion i rather like

In the RAF, and I expect this applied to the Army and RN too, you were automatically classified as CofE if you didn't have any preference (mind you, I think the only options were RC and Jew in those days).

Would it hurt you to say CofE? If it would, I'm sorry for you; there is such a thing as being over-scrupulous. (I wonder what the Indonesian authorities would make of CofE?)

Would it hurt you to say Zoroastrian? or Satanist? or Pagan? Why should anyone be expected to accept some sort of religious default which follows them round for the rest of their lives based on what someone else thinks?

I really don't mean to insult anyone who is religious but I find it very tiresome that they assume that I ought to be religious too. I find it even more tiresome that they assume that they can impose some sort of default religion on me if I don't choose to espouse my own views in public.

If you want to be religious - fine by me. If you want me to be religious - on yer bike.

Yes, it would hurt me, Endure!

Ticking the box for the Army, or for Immigration, commits you to nothing. It's nothing more than officialdom's irritating habit of putting everything into little boxes. Most such questionnaires, though, allow for 'others'.

'Others' still doesn't allow for those who want to choose 'none'.

'Others' still doesn't allow for those who want to choose 'none'.

It is because those of a religious ilk believe that a lack of belief to be a belief in itself.

'Others' still doesn't allow for those who want to choose 'none'.

It is because those of a religious ilk believe that a lack of belief to be a belief in itself.

Religion abhors a vacuum.

'Others' still doesn't allow for those who want to choose 'none'.

I think it does, Endure. It simply means (in this case) those who do not fit into the named categories.

A funny thing about atheists is that they seem to delight in attacking religion. Surely if they have no belief, they should not be concerned with the beliefs of others? If you fight against something, you have to be fighting for something else, don't you?