Atheist facing jail for saying God doesn't exist

[Zostrianos]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16644141
In Indonesia (a hotbed of Islamic fanaticism)

An Indonesian man who said that God did not exist in a posting on a Facebook page for atheists could face jail.
Civil servant Alexander Aan, 31, is now in protective police custody after he was attacked by an angry mob earlier this week.
He may also lose his job over his posting on the social networking site.
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 five other religions aside from Islam, says the BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta.
Local media said a mob attacked Mr Aan when he arrived for work at a government office on Wednesday.
Police said that according to Indonesian criminal law, anyone who tried to stop others believing in a faith could face up to five years in prison
The Facebook page where he made his comments remains up and supporters have condemned police action against Mr An, calling for him to be released.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Nightmarish... I wonder in what manner more enlightened theories will take prominence in Indonesia.

[RedAtheist]

Wow, scary!

I doubt people will pay as much attention to this as they do when Christians and Jews are killed by Muslims (though the motive is not always religious in nature.) After all we're always told that people of all different religions should get along, but rarely in the media are atheists and non-religious people included among those whose beliefs need to be tolerated. Hell, Indonesia gave people the right to practise five religions other than Islam, so it must be a tolerant country, right? *sarcasm*

We should recognise though that this by no means indicates that Islam is a particularly evil religion. It simply has more power (within certain countries.) If Christianity had this level of power the same things would happen. Also keep in mind that if it had been a Christian or religious Jew who was sent to jail, the conservatives in the US would probably view this as justification for invading, bombing or building a wall through the country (I admit I'm exaggerating, but my point about the double standard remains.)

[Zostrianos]

Indonesia's a pretty bad place for this kind of stuff, nearly as bad as Pakistan, and it's practically an Islamic theocracy as well. A few years ago, when Playboy came out with an Indonesian issue (completely devoid of nudity or offensive material) there were violent riots in Jakarta and the headquarters of the magazine were trashed by rock throwing fanatics.
Another group facing intense persecution are the Ahmadi muslims (a more moderate offshoot of Islam) who are considered heretics by Sunnis, and have faced brutal attacks for their beliefs, including murders and arson, and in 2008 were declared "deviant" by Indonesia's islamic council:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Ahmadis#Indonesia

If I remember, Indonesia also had some of the most violent "Muhammad cartoon" riots.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Wow, that is terrifying and I am glad the law prevents such things from happening here. Although, I know that if given the chance, Christian fundamentalists would gladly do the same. Extremism is a scary thing.

[Zostrianos]

Wow, that is terrifying and I am glad the law prevents such things from happening here. Although, I know that if given the chance, Christian fundamentalists would gladly do the same. Extremism is a scary thing.

Yeah, US Christian dominionists have more than once expressed their desire for a theocratic government, and they're working as we speak to try and implement it.

[Revolution starts with U]

I'm surprised nobody has yet come in here to say "he should have just kept his mouth shut. No need to rock the boat." :rolleyes:

[Solzhenitsyn]

A lenient sentence compared to numerous individuals who have openly denounced Communism and were rewarded with a much less humane fate.

[Balaer]

This is unacceptable, and I say this as a religious person.

If he were to harass religious people and stuff, perhaps I could understand, but jail for a stupid Facebook message? :blink:

[znk666]

It is sad that people in 21st still believe in an invisible man in the sky.
And even sadder that when people say that he doesn't exist,they get shunned,fired from their job and sentenced to jail and sometimes even executed in many countries.

[Balaer]

It is sad that people in 21st still believe in an invisible man in the sky.
I'd say it's quite sad that some people feel the need to belittle the beliefs of others, be it religion or atheism. :thumbdown: