Blasphemy is publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion. It's scary to think that a progressive state would drag out antiquated laws to suppress freedom of speech. Sometimes you have to shake your head and wonder how in this day and age a law that supports prosecuting detractors of a two millennia old fairy tale is allowed to be on the books.
Three heroic members of Pussy Riot, the band who performed a punk-rock anti-Putin song at Christ the Savior Cathedral, go on trial. Khamovnichesky Kangaroo Court starts the hearing into the religulous case that ridiculed Putinland all over the world.
Blasphemy violates no one's rights. To cave in to intimidation and not publish anything religulous freaks feel is offensive is to surrender the crucial principle of free speech. This clash is about respecting man's right to express his views, however unpopular, in the face of religious attempts to subordinate that right to mystical dogmas. Instead of appeasing the mobs who call for executing anyone offending their faith, the West must support those who share its political ideal of free speech.
Czar Putin promotes theocracy to perpetuate his power. Across Russia, popular affection for Putin turns to religious worship. In Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg, a proliferation of posters show Putin as an angel, with one hand extended, blessing the city's inhabitants. Putin's face is mounted on a photo of the cherubim crowning the
city's Peter and Paul Cathedral. http://venitism.blogspot.com
There are churches of Saint Putin in Putinland! Mother Fotina declares
Putin is the reincarnation of Saint Paul and he has the spirit of a czar in him!
Golden butterflies and cherubs adorn her homemade altar. Fotina swings a smoking
censer before an icon of Saint Putin! Mother Fotina believes God has sent Putin
to Putinland to prepare the world for the second coming of Jesus Christ!
Over the last decade, the Russian Orthodox Church has grown immensely powerful, becoming so close to the Kremlin that it often seems like a branch of government. It has
extended its influence into a broad spectrum of public life, from schools to
courts to politics. Kirill publicly backed Putin in the presidential election.
Heroin sniffers sniff heroines! Cock Riot and Pussy Riot lock horns! Misogynist gay bishops, Cock Riot, managed to imprison the female punk rock group Pussy Riot who held an impromptu concert inside Moscow's golden cathedral in February as part of a protest against the church's political ties. In the song, the Russian heroines prayed to the Holy Mother Blessed Virgin to chase Putin out!
Blasphemy laws are silly and dangerous. It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas. And it is dangerous because it incentivizes religious outrage, and because Islamic States are already using the wording of blasphemy laws to promote new blasphemy laws at UN level. Blasphemy laws are unjust, because they silence people in order to protect ideas. In a civilized society, people have a right to express and to hear ideas about religion even if other people find those ideas to be outrageous. http://venitism.blogspot.com
Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Irina Loktina were arrested by Russian authorities and accused of hooliganism, for which they face up to seven years in prison. Their arrest is illegal, as there is no material damage, no vandalism, and no health damage to anyone. The arrested women started a hunger strike in protest against being held in jail away from their young children until their case comes to trial. They are considered prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International and other leading human rights activists in Russia and abroad.
Secular society is rejected by religulous freaks. They demand a special position, insisting on special consideration of their religulous feelings. But this is incompatible with freedom of speech, where one must be ready to put up with insults, mockery, and ridicule. Journalists should treat religulous freaks the same way they treat atheists, cultists, spiritualists, spirituals, politicians, philosophers, scientists, artists, and businessmen, integrating them into the Graecoroman tradition of criticism and satire, because they are part of society, not strangers. Blasphemy is including, rather than excluding, religulous freaks.
The women's arrests triggered an emotional public discussion about the Orthodox church's relationship with Russian authorities and society. Putin has been preventing activists from protesting against Pussy Riot arrests. The Church, led by patriarch Kirill, who publically supports Putin, performs public prayers against the Pussy Riot blasphemers! Kirill's support of the Pussy Riot prosecution has concerned many religious Russians, who have petitioned for the release of the women.
The controversial trial has sparked a heated debate all over the world, because it's politically motivated. Patriarch Kirill calls the performance blasphemous and an attack on both the Church itself and on Russia's Christian national identity. Magdalene, Jesus's wife, is the most important person of Christianity. She was the smartest and best apostle. She was the only apostle who could understand Jesus completely, and that's why all other twelve apostles were jealous of her. Magdalene is the first bishop of Christianity. Nevertheless, misogynist gay bishops defamed Magdalene in order to restrict hierarchs to males, transforming church leadership to a gay club.
Thousands of eggheads, mainstream Russian actors, and cultural figures signed an open letter calling for their release. "The girls didn't murder anyone, didn't rob or use violence, didn't damage or steal anyone's property. Russia is a secular state, and no anti-clerical action can be reason for a criminal prosecution, unless it violates the criminal code," the letter insisted.
Eurokleptocrats are in cahoots with Orthodox mafias and Orthodox oligarchs. The
three main Orthodox mafias are the Tambov gang from St. Petersburg and
Izmaylovskaya gang and Solntsevskaya Brotherhood from Moscow. Their activities
focus on political corruption, church corruption, protection money, blackmail,
drugs trade, shipping, commodity trade, and natural resources. Orthodoxy's
circle of tycoons, such as aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska, banking magnate
Vitaly Malkin, and shipping magnates, have been investigated by Europol for
involvement in crimes of Eurokleptocrats. Russokleptocrats use the Orthodox
Church to control Putinlandians and influence Orthodox Christians all over the world.
Pussy Riot fans have held numerous events in support of the heroes in different cities across Russia and abroad. In St. Petersburg, an artist has sewn his mouth shut and paraded through the city's Kazansky Cathedral. On July 20 the Moscow City Court rules that the group would remain in custody until January 2013. The case is a theater of the absurd and a show trial dictated by officials who want to see the girls serve years in prison.
In 1966 John Lennon claimed the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Lennon said: Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me. http://venitism.blogspot.com
Lennon uttered those fateful words at the height of Beatlemania. The British Invasion happened to also coincide with the decline of Christianity, especially in England, and especially amongst the younger generations. The mass hysteria of Beatlemania was analogous to religious ecstasy. Many fans truly saw the Beatles as musical messiahs. John, Paul, George, and Ringo reported that fans would bring sick people to their concerts, in the belief that the band had a divine healing presence.
Stung by myriad charges of clergy sexual abuse, corruption, orgies, and coverup that reach the pope, patriarchs, and archbishops, churches face a crisis of empty pews and empty coffers. Churches need to address their own failures, acknowledge their own guilt, ask for forgiveness, and heal as a family. Apostates of Christianity outnumber converts by four-to-one. http://venitism.blogspot.com
