Atheist imprisoned for 11 years, freedom of conscience, and the Symmetry Thesis.

[daaron]

http://www.alternet.org/story/155746/11_years_in_prison_for_posting_on_an_atheist_website_/?page=1
Austin Dacey

...atheists’ conversations on the internet should be seen as one end of a continuum of manifestations of conscience, exercises of the capacity to grapple with ultimate questions of meaning, value, and morality. From a moral perspective, there is an important symmetry between the attitude of the believer who reserves special reverence for a deity, saint, or prophet, and the attitude of the secularist who asserts that every person is equally holy. Neither of these beliefs is uniquely deserving of being labeled a spiritual commitment, relegating the other to mere “speech” against that commitment. Alexander Aan has no less moral ground to claim that monotheism insults his sense of what is and what is not sacred. In my book The Future of Blasphemy: Speaking of the Sacred in an Age of Human Rights (Continuum, 2012), I call this “The Symmetry Thesis.”

Except for the boldfaced bit, I'd be interested in a conversation about this Symmetry Thesis. Is what's good for the goose therefore good for the gander?

[On the Road]

1. In a Small Town in a Heavily Muslim Country

it's really not that surprising.

[struggle4progress]

2. ... A verdict in the case is expected on Thursday from the Muaro District Cour

in West Sumatra’s Sijunjung District ...

Activists Call for Acquittal of Embattled Atheist Alexander
Febriamy Hutapea | June 13, 2012
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/activists-call-for-acquittal-of-embattled-atheist-alexander/523839

[struggle4progress]

3. INDONESIA: Blasphemy law should be repealed

Monday, 11 June 2012, 1:40 pm
Press Release: Asian Legal Resource Centre ...

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to bring the attention of the Human Rights Council (HRC) to violations of the right to the freedom of expression and opinion that are being engendered through the use of Indonesia’s legal provisions prohibiting blasphemy.

Religious blasphemy is prohibited in Indonesia under Law No. 1/PNPS/1965, with such provisions also being later adopted within the Penal Code (KUHP) under Article 156a. Paragraph (a) of this article uses vague language, which opens the door to abusive uses of this provision, to prohibit any acts and expression of views considered to be blasphemous, and carries a maximum punishment of five years imprisonment. A similar maximum punishment is also carried by paragraph (b) of the article, which prohibits any acts and expression of views calling for others to embrace atheism.

Alexander Aan is an atheist currently undergoing a trial at the Muaro Sijunjung District Court, West Sumatra. According to his lawyers from LBH Padang, Alex has been charged under paragraphs (a) and (b) of Article 156a. He is being charged with blasphemy for allegedly posting a note stating that “The Prophet Muhammad was attracted to his own daughter-in-law,” and a comic entitled “The Prophet Muhammad had been sleeping with his wife’s maid,” which have been deemed insults to the Prophet as well as to Islam. His Facebook status update that reads “if you believe in god, then please show him to me,” as well as the fact that he is an atheist and a member of a Facebook group, Minang Atheists, have led to him being charged concerning dissemination of atheism prohibited under KUHP Article 156a paragraph (b).

Alex was caught by an angry mob who visited him in his office after learning that he had put the “insulting” posts on Facebook. He was threatened by the mob and risked being lynched before the police took him to a nearby police station for his own safety. The police, however, have failed to take any measures against those who intimidated and threatened Alex ...

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1206/S00252/indonesia-blasphemy-law-should-be-repealed.htm

[cbayer]

4. Just to clarify, he faces a potential 11 year sentence.

As to the notion of symmetry, some theists feel that their god dwells within individuals, which is similar to what this describes about the secularist.

[struggle4progress]

6. NYT article says 6 years

[cbayer]

7. Thanks for that clarification. Stories are conflicting at this point.

[struggle4progress]

5. Indonesia's Rising Religious Intolerance

By BENEDICT ROGERS
Published: May 21, 2012

JAKARTA — Just a few days after Lady Gaga’s concert in Indonesia was canceled after protests by Islamic groups, I flew 1,370 kilometers from Jakarta to Padang, West Sumatra, and drove a further 130 kilometers, a four-hour journey along rough, winding roads, to Sijunjung, to visit an Indonesian atheist jailed for his beliefs ...

Alex is the first atheist in Indonesia to be jailed for his belief, but his case is symptomatic of a wider increase in religious intolerance in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation. The previous Sunday, I joined a small church in Bekasi, a suburb of Jakarta, for a service, but found the street blocked by a noisy, angry mob and a few police ...

When I was there, I felt it could have erupted into violence at any moment. The radicals in control of the loudspeaker shouted “Christians, get out,” and “anyone not wearing a jilbab (headscarf), catch them, hunt them down.” ...

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community is perhaps the most persecuted. Violent attacks against this group, whose beliefs are considered heretical by many conservative Muslims, have increased significantly. Last year I met victims of one of the worst outbreaks of violence, an attack on Ahmadis in Cikeusik on Feb. 6, 2011, which left three people dead ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/opinion/indonesias-rising-religious-intolerance.html