“Cult” not an acceptable word in the UK? May 20, 2008
Posted by Evil Bender in News and politics, Religion, language and lit.trackback
Via Tiny Frog, I see that a teen in the UK facing prosecution for (rightly) calling Scientology a “cult” during a demonstration:
A teenager is facing prosecution for using the word “cult” to describe the Church of Scientology.
The unnamed 15-year-old was served the summons by City of London police when he took part in a peaceful demonstration opposite the London headquarters of the controversial religion.
Officers confiscated a placard with the word “cult” on it from the youth, who is under 18, and a case file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Clearly, free speech was seen by the officers as a problem. What was so offensive?
Demonstrators from the anti-Scientology group, Anonymous, who were outside the church’s £23m headquarters near St Paul’s cathedral, were banned by police from describing Scientology as a cult by police because it was “abusive and insulting”.
Writing on an anti-Scientology website, the teenager facing court said: “I brought a sign to the May 10th protest that said: ‘Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult.’
“Abusive and insulting” apparently has a very specific meaning in British law.
A policewoman later read him section five of the Public Order Act and “strongly advised” him to remove the sign. The section prohibits signs which have representations or words which are threatening, abusive or insulting.
You can read the relevant sections of the Public Order Act here.
I have no expertise on British Law, but the Public Order Act seems subject to abuse, and certainly was abused here, if this report was accurate. A sign condemning Scientology is certainly no threat to the public order. Let’s hope these charges are quickly dropped.
Damn. So, do they arrest comics for making jokes about people?
I have been observing Scientology since I first read Dianetics in the mid 1960’s.
Scientology is not a cult. It is a criminal conspiracy. There was never any time at which the leaders of this organization believed one shred of their alleged ideology. Scientology has always been a cynical device to extort money from its pathetic followers. It has nothing to do with religion.
As for “anonymous”, I know people who have been involved with 4chan for some time now. This is an incredibly powerful force, almost totally beneath the radar. I believe that it will, in fact, destroy Scientology. Just wait and see.