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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: blasphemy

blasphemy stories: 9 news summaries

Atheists Split Over How Mean to Be to Faithful

'New atheists' want to decry religion, not just promote secularism

Oct 19, 09 11:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - Can a non-religion schism? Maybe that’s too dramatic a phrase, but there’s a rift growing between so-called “new atheists,” who favor an aggressive, mocking stance toward religion, and the old live-and-let-live kind. On “Blasphemy Day” last month, for example, new atheists were out in force,... More »

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religion • atheism • blasphemy • atheists

Afghan Writer's Death Sentence Reduced

Student gets 20 years for 'blasphemy' about women's rights

Oct 22, 08 2:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - Parwez Kambakhsh won’t be executed for distributing literature on women’s rights, but the student and part-time journalist will spend the next 20 years in prison, an Afghan appeals court ruled yesterday. “This is arguably worse for him,” one human-rights advocate told the Los Angeles Times of... More »

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Afghanistan • free speech • Islamic Sharia law • blasphemy • Parwez Kambakhsh

 'Gay Last Supper' Sparks Rage 

Catholics upset over Vienna museum's painting of apostle orgy

Apr 9, 08 11:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - A tiny Vienna museum with ties to the Catholic Church has became the target of worldwide outrage after displaying a homoerotic mural depicting the Last Supper, ABC News reports. The painting, by one of Austria's most cherished artists, shows naked apostles drinking and having an orgy. It has now been... More »

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Catholic Church • art • painting • artist • Vienna • The Last Supper • blasphemy • orgy • homoerotic • apostles • Bill Maher Grid

Teddy Teacher Spurs UK
to Kill Own Blasphemy Law

House of Lords strikes down statute questioned since Sudan teddy-bear case

Mar 6, 08 2:12 PM CST
(Newser) - Britain's House of Lords voted yesterday to abolish blasphemy laws after an international incident sparked debate over secularism and tradition, the Los Angeles Times reports. With the UK and Sudan at odds in November over the prosecution of a British teacher allowing students to name a teddy bear Mohammad, many... More »

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Islam • Christianity • Sudan • hypocrisy • Britain • blasphemy • teddy bears • Gillian Gibbons • Jesus Christ

Afghan Senate Revokes Call
for Execution

About-face is lifeline
for journalism student convicted of blasphemy

Feb 2, 08 1:40 PM CST
(Newser) - Following international outcry, the Afghan Senate has withdrawn its call for the execution of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a 23-year-old student convicted of blasphemy for downloading a report on women's rights. The Senate now calls its previous endorsement of the death penalty for Kambaksh "a technical mistake," raising hopes... More »

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Afghanistan • death penalty • United Nations • radical cleric • blasphemy • Sayed Pervez Kambaksh

Afghan Student Faces Death for Blasphemy

Journalist condemned for reading document on women, Koran

Jan 31, 08 8:43 AM CST
(Newser) - Protesters in Afghanistan and abroad have taken up the cause of a journalism student sentenced to death for blasphemy after he downloaded and distributed a document on women and the Koran. Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, 23, was convicted in an Islamic court, and the country's Senate has upheld the ruling. He... More »

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Afghanistan • Taliban • Hamid Karzai • journalism • Koran • Muslim women • blasphemy • Sayed Pervez Kambaksh

Springer Opera Dodges Blasphemy Bullet

Christian group can't sue BBC director: court

Dec 5, 07 9:33 PM CST
(Newser) - A British court has ruled that the BBC can't be prosecuted for blasphemy for airing Jerry Springer—The Opera, which features scenes set in Hell with Jesus and Satan. The High Court ruled that not only is the opera not blasphemous—because it satirizes a TV show rather than attacking... More »

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free speech • opera • blasphemy • Jerry Springer The Opera

Teddy Teacher May Gain
Early Release

British Muslim lawmakers optimistic as they arrive in Sudan

Dec 1, 07 10:27 AM CST
(Newser) - British Muslim lawmakers came to Sudan today to push for the early release of the teacher whose class set off a national furor by naming a teddy bear Muhammad, the BBC reports. The move raised hopes that Sudan leaders can free her to a Muslim delegation without angering protesters calling... More »

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Islam • Sudan • Muslims • blasphemy

Teacher Held
for Teddy Bear Blasphemy

Briton in Sudan faces 40 lashes over bear named 'Mohammed'

Nov 26, 07 7:25 PM CST
(Newser) - A UK teacher in Sudan may get 40 lashes and a 6-month sentence over a teddy bear named "Mohammed," the Telegraph reports. Sudanese cops nabbed Gillian Gibbons yesterday for blasphemy after she let her elementary school kids name the bear after Islam's prophet. School director Robert Boulos, who... More »

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Sudan • Islamic Sharia law • Khartoum • blasphemy

9 Stories


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