Indonesian atheist attacked and charged with blasphemy

[wautd]

Link

Indonesian atheist attacked, arrested for claiming God does not exist on Facebook

An Indonesian atheist was attacked and arrested for posting "God does not exist" on his Facebook page. He could face up to five years in prison, The Associated Press reported.

The man, 31-year-old Alexander Aan, is a civil servant in the Dharmasraya regency of West Sumatra. He was arrested on Friday under charges of blasphemy for creating a Facebook fan page called Ateis Minang (Minang Atheist), which was ‘liked’ by over 1,700 Facebook users.

The post caused a public uproar. A mob came to Aan's office at the Dharmasraya Development Planning Board on Wednesday and attacked him before he was taken into custody, according to the Jakarta Post.

“He has triggered unrest among local residents,” Dharmasraya Police Chief Chairul Azis told the Post on Friday. “He said he realized what he had said and was prepared to lose his job to defend his beliefs."

Dharmasraya Regent Adi Gunawan told the Jakarta Post that he had not decided whether or not Alexander would be dismissed from his job, saying that he would wait for the legal process to make a decision.

“I told him that there was no place in this country for his beliefs,” Gunawan said.

On the Facebook page, Aan wrote that he is an atheist of Minang descent from Muslim stronghold Padang in West Sumatra. However, he calls himself a Muslim on his identity card, the Post reported.

Indonesia acknowledges six official religions — Islam, Protestant, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhism and Confucianism — but atheism is illegal, the AP reported. The nation, which has a population of 240 million, is predominantly Muslim.

I knew it was pretty bad, but it looks like Indonesia is turning into a fundie shithole quicker than expected. It's illegal not have imaginary friends? Holy fucking shit.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I love how you feign surprise, shock, and horror at this when it's been the norm in human society for thousands of years and the idea that someone can not share the one of the officially authorized state religions is basically 200 years old and was limited to a small portion of the world until the last 75. Do you really need to play up the farce so much of acting like you're shocked? Like you've just discovered for the first time that within living memory this was the accepted norm of human civilization? Grow up. This needs to change, sure, but acting shocked is about as believable or appropriate as acting shocked when smoking cigarettes gets you addicted.

[wautd]

^ As countries where Islam is the dominant religion, I always thought it was a relatively moderate about religion. If the news came from Saudi Arabia or Sudan then no, I wouldn't have been as surprised as now.

[K. A. Pital]

"No place for atheists in this country" sounds like a bad movie title.

[Zadius]

^ As countries where Islam is the dominant religion, I always thought it was a relatively moderate about religion. If the news came from Saudi Arabia or Sudan then no, I wouldn't have been as surprised as now.

Relatively moderate and moderate are two different things. The fact is, most of the Muslim world is a shithole place to live if you are an atheist. And before the fairness police pipe in, yes, I know there are a lot of non-Muslim countries that have blasphemy laws on the books. I wouldn't describe any country that enforces blasphemy laws as moderate in their religion.

[Eulogy]

^ As countries where Islam is the dominant religion, I always thought it was a relatively moderate about religion. If the news came from Saudi Arabia or Sudan then no, I wouldn't have been as surprised as now.

Turns out people don't like having their beliefs questioned? The Dark Ages is a great example of this. Even in the US atheists are scorned and reviled.