Tuesday 20 May 2008

‘lost’ has me quite lost.
smoke monsters, dead men talking.
no one needs to shave.

It must be the season for religious lunacy. A 15 year old boy has been charged under section five of the Public Order Act, which seeks to restrict signs that might be considered "threatening, abusive or insulting." for putting up a sign which read ‘Scientology is not a religion. It is a dangerous cult.’
Admittedly, the boy was asked to take the sign down, and refused, and was subsequently taken away by the bizzies. It seems to me, however, that the policeman could have employed a modicum of common sense and removed the sign himself.
On the other hand, one could argue that the sign was simply proclaiming the truth. There is an issue here of free speech, as we supposedly live in a country where we can express any opinion we wish.
It has become a little surreal that we have a so-called religion, based on the works of (let’s face it) a not very good science fiction writer, whose central ‘truth’ is that we are the descendants of aliens called Thetans who are some day coming back to get us. That may not be exactly right, but it’s something along those lines and is plainly nonsense. Added to that we now have a boy arrested for erecting a poster stating his version of the truth, which somehow conflicts with the law. This truth it is illegal to tell, it would appear.