Cartoonist Faces Greek Jail for Blasphemy

Cartoonist faces Greek jail for blasphemy

Krysia Diver in Stuttgart
Wednesday March 23, 2005
The Guardian

He meant it as a piece of religious satire, a playful look at the life of Jesus. But Gerhard Haderer's depiction of Christ as a binge-drinking friend of Jimi Hendrix and naked surfer high on cannabis has caused a furore that could potentially land the cartoonist in jail.

Haderer did not even know that his book, The Life of Jesus, had been published in Greece until he received a summons to appear in court in Athens in January charged with blasphemy.

He was given a six-month suspended sentence in absentia, but if he loses his appeal next month his sentence could be increased to two years.

Haderer's book is the first to be banned in Greece for more than 20 years, and he is the first artist to fall prey of the European arrest warrant system since it was introduced in June 2002.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1443861,00.html

isn't that like summoning Salamn Rushdie to some country where hey want to kill him?

I thought Greeks had a sense of humor. And I think Jesus probably did smoke weed, if he got the chance. And if he changed water into wine, but didn't have any? Come on!

Probably not a whole lotta surfing on th Sea of Galillee.

about the Greek Orthodox church that was reported yesterday in the UK Guardian.

some references in the form of complaints to about Jesus and the apostles being drunk and rowdy and disturbing the peace.

except for a disputed passage or two in the Jewish historian Josephus, and a couple of other references by Roman authors. My favorite is the comment by Tacitus (Annals 15:44): "Their name comes from Christ, who, during the reign of Tiberias, had been executed by the procurator Pontius Pilate. Suppressed for the moment, the deadly superstition broke out again, not only in Judea, the land which originated this evil, but also in the city of Rome, where all sorts of horrendous and shameful practices from every part of the world converge and are fervently cultivated."

But they don't have a Consititution or Bill of Rights like we have.

I think Jesus would think the picture was funny. He certainly wouldn't want someone to go to jail over it, even if He didn't think it was funny.

instead? I bet they wouldn't have charged him with blasphemy if Jesus was wielding a sword and cutting down a swath of death and blood around him.

your comment is quite accurate. In a very "progressive" magazine, The Sun, there was a photo of cover of a naked statue wielding a sword, holding it in phallic position. They received more letters on that cover denouncing the display of detumescent penis but the sword was okay. This is a liberal mag.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/03/24/2003247569

What's it called when the President of the United States orders the murder of thousands of men, women and children?