Pakistan bans Da Vinci Code film

Pakistan has banned The Da Vinci Code, which has been the subject of protests from members of Pakistan's small Christian community.

Culture Minister Ghulam Jamal said the film was blasphemous.

The screen adaptation of Dan Brown's book revolves around the theory that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and their descendants survive today.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5045672.stm

Your bid, Paksitan.

and hit India by mistake.

:hi:

iconically speaking from Pakistan?

I had to Google it to be sure though.

What percentge? One or two percent?

(In my best Jon Stewart voice)

:toast:

Reality doesn't matter.

:hi:

You are off to the left with that remark. Muslim dieties are not
endowed with many arms. India was your target, and the dart landed
in (ok it WAS india), but not any more.

Who would have thought that Christian fundamentalists respond in the same way as other types of fundamentalists?

I haven't noticed Catholic/Christian riots yet. I haven't seen tens of thousands of Christians out en force threatening to kill Dan Brown, the publishers of the book, actors in the film, distributors of the film, or anyone who makes even passing reference to it. I've seen no Christian religious decree's ordering the murder of this author or anyone associated with the story. I've not yet seen any Christian politician put a price on the head of anyone associated with this story. Have you seen any of that yet?

Yeah, all religious fundamentalists are batty. Somehow though, it seems that the majority of Christians have managed to keep their nutballs in check. I've also noticed that, for the most part, Buddhists and Hindu's have managed to keep most of their crazies marginalized as well. Why are not Muslims doing the same thing?

Apparentely something that happened 500 years ago is as relevant burning embassies and death threat fatwas today.

The problem in many Islamic countries these days is that the fundamentalists - the Phelps of Islam, essentially - are the ones in charge. This isn't to say that the Christian fundamentalists here don't wish they were, and aren't working actively to achieve that end.

I will give you a chance to retract your comments because quite frankly......they are beyond silly.

Nothing you said you in your post is accurate. Go around saying stuff like that and people will laugh at you.

"The problem in many Islamic countries these days is that the fundamentalists - the Phelps of Islam, essentially - are the ones in charge."

That is entirely inaccurate.

Most Islamic countries are NOT run by fundamentalists. They are this bad now, even when fundamentalists are NOT in charge. This was precisely part of the reason so many Western nations opposed the US invasion of Iraq. Saddam was actually largely secular. He was a moderate in a religious sense. The fundamentalism that is growing in Iraq, particularly in the Shia areas, is because Saddam's religously moderate government was removed from power.

The reason the West has for so long protected so many existing Muslim regimes is that they ARE the moderates.

The West is desperately afraid that the Saudi royal family might fall - not because some enlightened liberal government will rise in its place. The West is afraid that what follows will be MORE radical.

The West generally backs Mubarak in Egypt, King Abdullah of Jordan, Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc for much the same reason.

No kiahzero, the crazies are NOT even in charge in most Muslim lands. These countries are basketcases even without that being the case.

And even were you correct, which your quite clearly not - how does that explain the Islamic communities in Europe rioting and making threats over a bunch of cartoons? Islamic radicals aren't running the UK, Denmark, France, Germany or anywhere else in Europe.

Now I'm going to go back to trying to find any instances of Christians rioting, burning fast food restaurants, imposing religious decrees of death on artists, etc, etc, etc, etc, over The Da Vinci Code.

Have a lot of Christians been offended by Da Vinci? Yup. Have some called for bans and boycotts? Yup. But unlike far too many Muslims, Christians aren't out killing people and burning stuff over it.

will emerge. I think they fear something socialist-left that would demand that oil benefits the Arab world and it not be sold to tyrants or supporters of Israel. Honestly, there is little more a more radically Islamic government could do. Most dissidents against KSA are much more secular in thought.

The West is NOT concerned that a socialist-left government would replace the royal family. There is no truth to such an assertion at all.

Oh yeah, they are concerned about a possible oil embargo - but not from some populist leftwing regime. The concern is that an Islamist cabal would take over and put religious purity over revenue.

"that would demand that oil benefits the Arab world and it not be sold to tyrants or supporters of Israel."

Your probably correct regarding the ending oil sales to supporters of Israel part. That is tied in to putting religion over economics.

What does demanding oil benefits the Arab world mean? They sell the oil to whomever can afford to buy it. Even if Arab oil rich nations suddenly decided to generously give away their oil revenue to oil deprived Arab nations - they'd still have to sell it to whomever can afford to buy it.

No, the West is more worried about radicals who'd be willing to wreck their own economies as part of their jihad against anything unIslamic.

That's why they destroyed secular democracies across the region and replaced them with fascistic people who kill in the name of Islam like the Saudi Royals. Most anti-royal dissidents are very secular and critical of Israel.

Hehehehehe. Ya, right.

Maybe you could try to use Iran as something of one single example. Mossadegh was forced from power in part by the CIA. The Shaw was very secular though, so even that doesn't fit into your argument.

But where else "across the region" have secular democracies been removed by the West and replaced with Islamists? Surely you don't mean Saddam Hussein's regime do you? Secular yes, but democratic? Please.

We can go through the region nation by nation if you'd like.

The dictators are the "moderates". Sad but true. It has been the dictators that have actually kept the Islamists at bay. Mubarak in Egypt, Abdullah in Jordan, etc, etc..... None of these were secular, democractic nations before the current crop of rascals took power.

"Most anti-royal dissidents are very secular and critical of Israel"

Most anti-royal dissidents are very secular? Are you just making stuff up? Yeah, no doubt some anti-royal dissidents are somewhat secular, but the majority are most certainly NOT secular. If the royal family falls in SA it will NOT be at the hand of the secular left. No, it would be at the hand of fundamentalists that want MORE religious purity and less Western influence.

All sides of the political and religious spectrum in Saudi Arabia are critical of Israel. There isn't exactly a powerful pro Jewish lobby in SA. I don't see how bringing the Jews into this debate helps make your point. Don't blame Israel for the fact that Islamic nations and populations don't seem to have much of a track record of religious tolerance or democracy.

Before you talk about religion as the main problem, realize that poverty is the cause of that and the Watts Riots, the riots of the algerian community in France, riots in Britain among the Africans throughout the 20th century, the Rodney King riots, etc.

Riots are not logical or just -- but there are deep social ills that cause them. This doesn't have anything to do with religion; it's mostly in the background.

to go to



to the city of Rawalpindi


but these people stopped me from seeing the movie.

presentation. Yes, it looks like those friendly folks aren't too excited about the Da Vinci Code.

I went and saw it on Friday. It was a ......great movie. I loved every second of it.

These folks would love it, too. I highly recommend it.

Of course here in the states, and I have not found anymore of my Pakistani friends who have any problem with it.

I'm thinking General Musharraf and his tinpot government are the ones to blame before we start casting Pakistanis as ignorant heathens.

Well Said.

:toast:

I live here near Atlanta in Georgia but have traveled to Pakistan many times. You can get anything you want on the blackmarket; cops don't care much. Movies pretty much the day after they're released in theater here will show up in counterfeit form in the streets of Karachi and many other places.

I'm sure there are plenty of Pakistani families enjoying themselves watching this movie even after this stupid stunt by the government, which often does stupid things -- like banning food at weddings because families were spending too much money on weddings (often driving them into poverty).

DU gathering.

I'll be going to UGA this upcoming so I'll be Athens, but if you guys throw anything during one of my breaks I'll make every effort to get there.

Few things sell tickets and DVDs like having a government try to keep people from watching it.

Quick, the only way to save yourselves is to leave for Pakistan!

Or just go to Iran and enjoy a real theocracy!