Indonesia upholds blasphemy law
An Indonesian court has ruled to uphold a 1965 blasphemy law that allows for criminal penalties and bans on people or groups that “distort” the central tenets of six officially recognised religions.
The court on Monday rejected a petition by moderate Muslims, religious minorities, democracy advocates and rights groups against the law in a case seen as a major test of the mainly Muslim country’s pluralism.
By a margin of eight to one, the judges ruled that while the law was imperfect, it did not contravene the country’s constitution and “was vital to religious harmony.”
The law carries a maximum punishment of five years for beliefs that deviate from the orthodox versions of six sanctioned faiths – Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Confucianism.
“The law should be upheld because if it is annulled … Islam and the Quran could be interpreted at will and people and figures could declare new prophets and establish new religions,” Suryadharma Ali, Indonesia’s minister of religious affairs, said before the ruling.
Continues: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/04/20104208101575962.html
Indonesia upholds blasphemy law,
Hinduism is a cool religion that is also oriented towards peace and prosperity.,-`
the religion of my grandfather is Hinduism and he says that it is a great religion.~;:
“”…people and figures could declare new prophets and establish new religions,” Suryadharma Ali, Indonesia’s minister of religious affairs…” – and we wouldn’t want people stealing The Prophet’s idea now would we?!
How absurd, as if that’s not how religions have been founded since the dawn of civilisation, as if that’s not how each of those six religions were forged in the first place.
Muhammad for Islam, Buddha for Buddhism, Jesus for the Christianities, Confucius for Confucianism; each with its own prophet, each with its own agenda. (Hinduism might be considered the only exception, as its origins are so shrouded in antiquity, as well as having a habit of absorbing other religious figures into its collective.)
If the criteria for blasphemy is as stated, above, then Muhammad is by far the most culpable of the six; –
Firstly he was the most recent. Muslims would argue that this is because he’s god’s last prophet, but for everyone else, he is simply the latest in a long line of (false) prophets establishing yet another (bogus) religion, just like Joseph Smith (Mormons) and L. Ron Hubbard (Scientology). The fact he called himself the last is neither here nor there, that’s what any “new prophet” would say to stamp his seal of ultimate authority on a religion.
Secondly, Muhammad actually set out to found a new religion. For all the other “prophets”, religion was something that happened unintentionally, often long after their deaths. Buddha, Jesus, Confucius never (to my knowledge) intended for their works to be venerated and codified as religious dogma. They simply lived their lives according to their own moral inklings and passed away accordingly. Muslims might argue that Muhammad’s intention to found a religion is proof that we was ordered by god to do so, yeah, sure and so was Joseph Smith? According to Muslims Muhammad was a Prophet and the other is a Conman, to Mormons Joseph Smith was a Prophet and Muhammad was a Conman; to anyone with any sense the two are exactly the same, neither of them is a Prophet.
Why doesn’t the Indonesian government just come out and admit it, they’re afraid to let people practice religion freely because it might lead to the unthinkable realisation that Islam is no different from a modern day cult, like Mormonism or Scientology!
Hinduism is also a religion of peace and it is also full of wisdom just like any other religion-~,