Religion

Kevin Bennett, acting CEO of the religious moralist campaign group Premier Christianity, said:

The government is currently considering how best to review laws around pornography. Premier would like to see new regulations that make online platforms and websites more responsible for the content they host.

The Online Safety Act is a welcome development. However, while it limits children's exposure to pornography, it doesn't regulate it. Illegal explicit content will continue unchecked, which means children will still be at risk of exposure to harmful images. Also, young and vulnerable adults with addictive personalities will continue to be damaged by abusive content.

Hard copy videos containing strong sexual content are rated R18 by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and can only be supplied through a licensed sex shop. The BBFC is the main statutory regulator of pornography but their powers only extend to offline distribution. If the BBFC refuses to classify (because, for example, it contains illegal content) it cannot be published. However, the BBFC has no regulatory or enforcement powers over online pornography.

At a recent inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Commercial Sexual Exploitation, the BBFC said:

Regrettably, equivalent protections do not currently exist on the internet, where hard-core pornography (including illegal content and content the BBFC would refuse to classify on harm grounds) is freely accessible to viewers of all ages.

The online pornography industry has been unregulated for too long. Pornography has proven, harmful effects on loving and meaningful relationships and can form destructive addictions. Pornography consumption leads to the dehumanisation and objectification of women and can fuel sexual violence.

The government should regulate the supply of pornography as well as the demand for it.

It is welcome that the government is now undertaking an internal review, and we expect a consultation next year - but we don't yet know when and what it is prepared to legislate for. Advert

It is imperative that action is taken soon -- certainly before a general election is called. Pornography should be acknowledged as a form of sexual exploitation, and routes for redress for those harmed by pornography provided. Third party facilitators will then be more mindful of their contribution to the industry and how accountable they are prepared to be.

The existing outdated patchwork of laws governing pornography need urgently updating. But it must be more than a tidying up exercise. It is critical that reforms are introduced to ensure that pornography is regulated consistently both online and offline.

Ofcom has imposed a £40,000 fine on Islam Channel Limited after our investigation found its service, Islam Channel, had failed to comply with our broadcasting rules.

On 22 February 2021, Islam Channel broadcast The Andinia Plan, a one-hour documentary examining a conspiracy theory which originated in a neo-Nazi publication. This theory, known as the Andinia Plan, alleges there is a plan to establish a Jewish state in Patagonia, the southern region of South America governed by Argentina and Chile.

In our Breach Decision, published on 5 December 2022 in Issue 463 of the Broadcast and On Demand Bulletin, Ofcom found that this programme amounted to hate speech against Jewish people. We also found that this antisemitic content was highly offensive and not justified by the context. The programme had therefore breached Rules 3.2 and 2.3 of the Broadcasting Code .

In addition to the financial penalty of £40,000 to be paid by Islam Channel Ltd to HM Paymaster General, Ofcom is also directing the Islam Channel not to repeat the programme, and to broadcast a statement of Ofcom's findings on a date and in a form to be determined by Ofcom.

Oppenheimer is a 2023 UK/US historical biography by Christopher Nolan
Starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon

The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.

India's film censors have made cuts to a nude scene in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer.

Florence Pugh's naked body and breasts have been blacked out with a CGI mess supposed to indicate a black slip.

Pugh plays Oppenheimer's girlfriend Jean Tatlock, to whom Oppenheimer briefly returns for an assignation during his later marriage. She functions in part as a device to introduce the audience to Oppenheimer's interest in Hindu mythology -- and in ancient Sanskrit texts such as the Bhagavad Gita , which form the foundations of Hindu religious narrative.

At one point during their love--making -- mid-huff, mid-puff -- Pugh-as-Tatlock rises from Oppenheimer's body to trawl his bookshelf, picks up a copy of the Bhagavad Gita and clambers back onto her lover's midsection as she opens it and begins to read aloud. Thus the film introduces a line which is now core to Oppenheimer's personal legend: Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.

There were calls from religious groups to remove the references to hindu mythology. Uday Mahurkar is one of India's two information commissioners. He condemned the sex scene as waging a war on the Hindu community. If Nolan did not remove the scene, he insisted, it would constitute a deliberate assault on Indian civilisation.

A perennial hindu whinger, Rajan Zed, has complained about references to hindu texts in Christopher Nolan's movie, Oppenheimer.

Zed said in a statement that such irreverence and trivialization of sacred Bhagavad Gita and consequently Lord Krishna, who was hugely revered in Hinduism, was quite inappropriate and disturbing to the devotees.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged director Christopher Nolan and Universal Pictures to edit the scenes around references to Hindu text, depicting it appropriately and in a dignified manner. He added:

Inappropriate usage of Hindu scriptures or deities or symbols or concepts or icons for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees and belittled Hinduism.

We understand and appreciate theoretical physicist Julius Robert Oppenheimer's profound interest in and acquaintance of Hindu texts and his learning of Sanskrit to read the original works (who was reportedly deeply impressed by their wisdom); but Christopher Nolan and Universal Pictures should have shown some maturity in their treatment of the holy scripture.

Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.2 billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken frivolously. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled.

Zed further claimed that:

Hindus were for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more ... BUT ... faith was something sacred and attempts at trivializing could be painful for the followers.

Zed suggested that Hollywood executives should be sent for training in religious and cultural sensitivity so that they had an understanding of the feelings of audiences and communities when creating new products.

Members of the misleadingly named UN Human Rights Council (HRC) has voted in favour of a resolution for the deliberately and publicly burning of the Quran or any other holy book to be prohibited by law.

The UK voted against the resolution. In a statement , the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said:

We do not accept that, by definition, attacks on religion, including on religious texts or symbols, constitute advocacy for hatred.

Other states opposed to the motion included France, Germany and the USA, but they were outvoted 28 to 12.

The resolution follows a high profile incident in Sweden last month, when Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika burned a Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm. Momika is an atheist formerly from Iraq's persecuted minority Christian community.

The resolution was introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which has long supported efforts to censor blasphemous speech. The OIC is an intergovernmental organisation of 57 states and claims to be the collective voice of the Muslim world. Although it stopped explicitly campaigning for a global blasphemy law in 2011, it has repeatedly spearheaded attempts to install backdoor blasphemy laws.

The resolution passed was amended to include the explicit provision that burning the Quran and other holy books should be banned. The original resolution did not include this statement.

UNHRC resolutions are not legally binding, but can be used to pressure states to change their laws.

National Secular Society chief executive Stephen Evans said:

Equating the desecration of religious books and symbols with incitement to violence is a pernicious attempt to impose blasphemy laws by stealth. The Islamic nations behind this resolution have long been more interested in protecting religion than protecting individuals.

Speech and expression must be viewed in context. Crude attempts to impose blanket prohibitions clearly risk capturing and silencing legitimate expression and dissent.

Democratic societies must find ways to combat intolerance and hatred without further restricting freedom of expression to meet increasing sensitivities of certain religious groups.

Pope Francis I has condemned all pornography as the crudest commercialization of love during a meeting with students and bishops responsible for Catholic schools.

The Catholic Review described Scholas Occurrentes as a global education initiative which connects underdeveloped schools to those with more resources. Francis fielded questions from students and one elderly person connected by video calls from Colombia, Mexico, Spain and the United States, Catholic Review reported.

Following up on a statement where he appeared to support some form of sexual education in schools, Francis lamented that young people are learning about sexuality from pornography:

Pornography is the crudest commercialization of love. How often, for lack of sexual education, do they end up with the commercialization of love. Love is not to be commercialized.

Pope Francis has previously expressed his opinions about pornography, including his belief that it is addictive like drugs and alcohol, and leaves those who use it diminished as humans.

Perhaps he should be getting the Catholic Church's house in moral order before presuming to lecture to the rest of us.

The Portman Group is a trade body representing the drinks industry. It takes it on itself the job of censoring drinks labels and associated marketing.  It recently investigated the packaging of King William Fortified wine over associations with one side of sectarian politics in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

A complainant stated:

The use of King William of Orange as branding, and the ABV of 16.90% is playing to the sectarian elements which cause societal division particularly in the West of Scotland & Northern Ireland, which are stated to be the target markets.

The Portman Group treaded very carefully amongst the eggshells of identity politics and concluded:

The Panel discussed how the overall impression conveyed by the label was likely to be perceived by communities where sectarianism was prominent. The Panel considered that for those affected by sectarianism, the combination of elements on the label were likely to be divisive and inflammatory and would further fuel division in certain communities where religiously aggravated crime was still prevalent.

Whilst the Panel agreed with the producer that the use of King William in and of himself as a monarch did not cause serious offence, it concluded that the presentation of the packaging, particularly the overt references where the product's ABV had been used to signify a year that linked the product, and King William, to a specific conflict associated with sectarianism was likely to cause serious offence to certain communities. Accordingly, the complaint was upheld under Code rule 3.3.

The Panel welcomed the producer's offer to work with the Portman Group's Advisory Service to amend the label in order to address the issues presented by the inclusion of 16.90 as a number, as opposed to a factual representation of the product's ABV.

A few Christians have slammed a plan to erect a statue of an Amazonian love god near a cathedral as offensive and an insult.

A 6ft 2in bronze figure is being paid for by taxpayers as part of a £1million trail of five sculptures through the centre of Wakefield, West Yorkshire. According to its creator, artist Jason Wilsher-Mills, the sculpture was inspired by a painting of local Victorian conservationist Charles Waterton capturing a caiman or alligator-type creature, the love story of his parents and his own connections with Wakefield.

But a planning application to site the pagan statue on Cathedral Walk, close to the Anglican cathedral's main entrance, has prompted more than 60 complaints from members of the public. One objector commented:

How can you possibly think that the erection of a Sun God opposite the central place of Christian worship in the city and district could be acceptable?

It is at best insensitive and at worst a deliberate attempt to mock Christianity, the cathedral and all it stands for. Is this a precedent?

Should we expect the council to place such offensive statues outside other local centres of worship, Christian and otherwise?

The project is being fully funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. If planning consent is granted the sculptures will be in place this summer.

My Mother's Daughter is a 2022 UK documentary short film by Mariam Khan, Ahmen Khawaja

Mehak was 13 when she was abducted by a man known to her family. He repeatedly raped her and forced her to convert to Islam. She managed to escape but not before making a shocking discovery that changed her life forever.

Pakistan's Central Board of Film Censors has banned the short documentary My Mother's Daughter which was due to screen at the Women International Film Festival. Director Mariam Khan shared the letter sent by the censor board which had based its reasons for censoring the film by calling it propaganda as well as for highlighting wrong values which are against the Pakistani culture and society.