'Draw Mohammed' call prompts Pakistan Facebook ban
Put your pencils down
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Pakistani authorities have ordered ISPs to block access to Facebook ahead of an "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" planned by users for tomorrow.
Prompted by a court order, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority today told providers to suspend access. The order runs until 31 May.
The Facebook group for "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" has more than 43,000 supporters.
The group has become a target for protest in Pakistan, and today a group of Islamic lawyers obtained a court order for a full suspension of Facebook. The government had previously blocked access to only the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" pages.
The group's organisers say it is not designed to offend ordinary Muslims, but as a demonstration of their right to free speech and "to show the extremists... that we're not afraid of them".
Islamic teaching typically forbids depictions of its prophet. After online threats of violence last month, the US cable network Comedy Central bleeped Mohammed's name in an episode of South Park that featured him hidden in a bear suit.
The episode itself sought to satirise the wave of Islamic outrage that greeted a Danish cartoonist's depictions of Mohammed in 2005. In the same episode Jesus was shown watching porn and Buddha snorting cocaine. ®
COMMENTS
I was about to laugh at Pakistan's stupid laws...
...then I~ remembered that it's still illegal to draw pictures of possibly under-age people engaged in possible sexual acts, or to get a bit pissed off an make a jokey remark about airports.
So many religious beliefs need serious disrespecting.
Its the religious belief of some that should they strap themselves with dynamite, wander into a crowded cafe and detonate themselves they will get a direct pass to heaven. You might think it offensive and ignorant to disrespect that belief, but I think it idiotic in the extreme not to.
Its the religious belief of some that women should not be educated nor have a say in who they marry. You might think it offensive and ignorant to disrespect that belief, but i think it misogynistic not to.
Its the religious belief of some that contraception is a sin, despite the multitude of social and health problems that can be prevented or helped by the use of prophylactics. You might think it offensive and ignorant to disrespect that belief, but I think it terribly callous not to.
I will respect a persons right to religious belief about as much as I respect a persons right to psychosis, after all they're nearly the same thing. If someone has a religious belief then the practice of that belief better not negatively impact on me or the community/society I live in if you want me to respect your right to that belief, and in a globally connected world that is damn near impossible.
In this case their religious belief requires the surrender of a tiny little bit of my freedom. Well F*** that I say. I may never have a good reason for exercising that tiny freedom, but I am loath to give it up for fear of offending some nutjob's religious beliefs.
Having said that I am pragmatic and to smooth my ride through life I will tolerate religious belief where the impact is minimal, that does not require that I respect it.
As a final point, you sir lack the conviction of your beliefs. Call yourself an atheist? the logical conclusion of that belief is that all people of faith are at least a little bit unhinged. You're more an agnostic if you think its alright for the god botherers to perpetuate these myths and mental illnessess.
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