Man faces five years for ‘God does not exist’ Facebook post | ZDNet

Man faces five years for ‘God does not exist’ Facebook post | ZDNet

By Emil Protalinski | January 21, 2012, 12:24pm PST

Summary: 31-year-old Alexander Aan faces up to fives years in prison after he declared himself an atheist on Facebook. The Indonesian man is in protective police custody because he fears physical assault.

 

31-year-old Alexander Aan faces a maximum prison sentence of five years for posting “God does not exist” on Facebook. The civil servant was attacked and beaten by an angry mob of dozens who entered his government office at the Dharmasraya Development Planning Board on Wednesday. The Indonesian man was taken into protective police custody Friday since he was afraid of further physical assault.

The posting was made on a Facebook Page titled Ateis Minang (Minang Atheist), which Aan created. At the time of writing, it had over 1,700 Likes. Aan’s posting has been removed, but supporters on the Page are urging police to release him.

Dharmasraya Police Chief Sr. Comr. Chairul Aziz said the district branch of the council and other Islamic organizations believed Aan had defiled Islam by using passages from the Koran to denounce the existence of God and highlight his atheist views. “So it meets the criteria of tainting religion, in this case Islam,” Chairul told The Jakarta Globe.

On Facebook, Aan said he was brought up as a Muslim. In 2008, however, he came to the conclusion that God could not exist. In addition to his comment about the possibility of a deity, he also declared that he did not believe in angels, devils, heaven, hell, as well as other “myths.” He was aware he could lose his job and was prepared to do so to defend his beliefs.
Atheism is a violation of Indonesian law under the founding principles of the country.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, recognises the right to practice six religions in total: Islam, Protestant, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhism and Confucianism. Atheism is, however, illegal. According to Indonesian criminal law, anyone who tries to stop others believing in a faith could face up to five years in jail for blasphemy.

Aan was charged because he used Facebook to spread beliefs that violate the law. Furthermore, it was pointed out he lied on his job application by saying he was Muslim. Aan asked police investigators: if God really exists and has absolute power, why doesn’t God prevent bad things from happening in this world?

See also:

• Facebook posts rush NinjaVideo ‘queen’ to prison
• Australian deported from Bahrain over Facebook posts
• Arrested: man planned sex with 12-year-old girl he met on Facebook
• Russians use Facebook to protest alleged election fraud
• Man tries to sell son on Facebook for $20 million
• Man arrested for allegedly insulting Thailand’s king on Facebook
• UK men lose appeals against four-year Facebook riot sentences

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Bertrand Russel - The Whole Problem with the World - ells » Blog Archive »

ells » Blog Archive » The Whole Problem with the World

Posted: March 25th, 2012 | Author: dells | Filed under: quote | 0 Comments

ells

Joining the legions. Creating a space. Adding some thoughts.

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Jesus, Freddie Mercury and Gay Marriage

May 14 2012

Jesus, Freddie Mercury and Gay Marriage

Following the big news events last week surrounding gay marriage, we received lots of great cartoons, from both the right and the left, about whether gay marriage should be legal in this country (check out our complete collection here).

Mr. Fish is one of my favorite cartoonists and probably the farthest left of any cartoonist on our site; his gay marriage cartoon included the unlikely paring of Jesus Christ and former Queen frontman Freddie Mercury:


I asked Mr. Fish to write up his thoughts about the cartoon, and here’s what he had to say:

The cartoon was drawn in reaction to the vote in North Carolina approving a constitutional ban on same sex marriage. It took me a full day to work through my rage before figuring out the cartoon.

Like so many other progressive cartoonists, my initial instinct was to attack all Southerns in the United States and to classify them as backwoods hicks crippled by a history marred by prejudice and intolerance and legislative buffoonery. Not wanting to join the chorus of such vitriol, though I didn’t find it at all disagreeable, I decided to illustrate the hypocrisy that I heard when listening to those in support of the ban who insisted that their decision was Biblically motivated.

While I don’t believe in the Gospel and think that the subjective nature of Scripture allows for innumerable interpretations and conflicting readings, I do appreciate the historical significance of there having been a big-mouthed radical hell-raiser named Jesus Christ living in Bronze Age Palestine who got in trouble with the political and religious elite for saying that the poor and the sick and the homeless and the misunderstood minorities and the unjustly vilified riffraff were NOT worthless human beings.

It seemed to me that such a committed revolutionary thinker, if presented with contemporary culture, might tend towards acceptance of our glorious differences as human beings rather than condemnation.

What are your thoughts about the cartoon? Either comment below, or drop us a line on our Facebook page.