Muslims slam Freddie Mercury party

A Zanzibar celebration to commemorate what would have been the 60th birthday of the African island's most famous native, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury - has come under condemnation of local conservative Muslims.

A Zanzibari Muslim group has complained that the gay singer’s flamboyant lifestyle offended Islam, brought shame upon the island, and therefore, a celebration must be stopped.

"Associating Mercury with Zanzibar degrades our island as a place of Islam," the island's Association for Islamic Mobilisation and Propagation said in a letter to the Tanzanian archipelago's culture ministry

http://uk.gay.com/article/4902

Freddie Rocks!

say. :rofl:

that pretty much every thread on DU that says something critical of Muslims has a quick response criticizing Christians whether there are any Christians in the linked story or not.

On the other hand any threads critical of Christans don't quickly criticize Muslims.

It's an interesting phenomenon among many here.

Those of us who aren't Christians are sick of living with Christian sanctimony in the public sphere and stupid laws based on Christian sensibilities.

Islam, for most of us, is happening a million miles away.

When we hear about religious people messing up others' rights to live their lives, we are instantly reminded of Christians in America.

The acts of fundamentalist and moralist Christians in public life give us context to understand other forms of religious repression.

Or even "Christian sanctimony in the public sphere". Sometimes I read about an incident where a group of ten members of a church protest there not being a 10 Commandments in a courthouse (like in Alabama a year or so ago), or I might read some crazy quote from the likes of Pat Robertson in the news every now and then. But I don't experience these things on an everyday basis. Not even on an every month basis.

Basically, you're making a mountain out of a mole-hill.

I would chalk up all morality laws to the doing of Christians in the public sphere, including anti-sodomy laws and the war on drugs.

Why can't my gay friends get married? It's not because Buddhists want to stop them.

the various new forms of birth control and contraceptions that SHOULD be legal. don't know what blue state those who "only see it here or there" are from. but Thomas Jefferson would start the Revolution himself if he walked into TN today.

umm, no liquor on christmas
no dancing of certain types/none of "that kind" of music(yes, that went out in MOST places a while ago, but guess who wanted such laws)
AMENDMENTS BANNING GAY MARRIAGE!

"But I don't experience these things on an everyday basis. Not even on an every month basis. "

Wow.... blind much?

So I guess it just doesn't happen, huh?

How about the law our own little community struck down a couple years back- one that would have prevented gay people from jointly entering into ANY CONTRACT in the city limits. They were trying to keep gay guys from living with their partners. JUST GUESS which religion it was that was pushing THAT little gem. I dare you.

Hop on over to witchvox.org, but only if you want your blinders removed.

Jesus CHRIST, where the heck do you live? Northern Alaska? This shit is everywhere I look!

on almost a daily basis. Christian fundamentalism is part of the news, the local commercials, the groups on campus, and the travelling freaky scary preachers who invade campus and heckle the students. You have no idea what it's like 'round here, apparently.

of victimless crimes so poor lazy thinking christer-cultists can get their jollies by breaking them behind closed doors. While they preach about how it threatens civilization.

Hit that nail squarely on the head!

Show a cartoon of Jesus defecating on an American flag and you'll get Christians in Missouri rolling their eyes and half-heartedly boycotting your sponsors for about a day.

Show a cartoon of Mohammed and 20 people will be dead in Cairo the next morning from the rioting.

The areas where a lot of people practice Islam are also areas where there are authoritarian governments, extreme poverty along with a growing educated class that isn't allowed to do much, and guns -- this is a recipe for anything to become extremism, be it Islam or socialism or the next art fad.

So, criticizing Islam is done with higher stakes than criticizing Christianity, in the current political climate; that's got little to do with the nature of Islam or Christianity themselves (and, in fact, the situation was reversed 500 years ago or so)

is that since we have crazy messianic types here breathing fire and brimstone (with their hands out for 'donations') it is pretty natural to compare the two. And since their messages are so similar (follow me or you are an evil-doer and it is ok to kill any evil-doer, or to lock them up or torture them) neither group comes out looking like anything except the shits they are.

lol

and idiots trying to rewrite the Constitution and establish a theocracy in the US. Unfortunately, the motherfucking christian lunatics ARE intent upon that.
Also, whatever happened to the persecution gospel that christians are supposed to embrace? Apparently, they're just a bunch of whining crybabies and bullies.
Bring on the lions.

They both have the same attitude towards sex, at least.

"Who wants to live forever?"

I found a Freddie Mercury doll on Amazon or E-bay, I can't recall which one. It was $48 and it was so hard to not give in and get it. I think it sang some songs.

of ANY religion cause more problems than everyone else put together.

LOL

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or paradise, or wherever. It's a dead end.

I agree with you; organized religion is too often a barrier to mutual understanding and brotherhood. The embrace of fundamentalisms is the greatest threat to peace and security, and there is no compromise to be made with fanatics.

Neither religion is disgusting in and of itself, but it's fringe elements are not that far different.

We have nutjobs who bomb abortion clinics and kill doctors in the name of Christianity.

We have nutjobs who claim that 9/11 was because we tolerate gay people.

We have nutjobs who are doing their damnedest to persecute gay people and people differing faiths.

We have nutjobs who fire a Sunday school teacher for being a woman.

We have nutjobs who vote to disallow a child of two races to attend church for fear his black relatives would start trying to come to the church with the "good" white folk.

We have nutjobs who rail against our freedom to watch what we want on tv, purchase for our own enjoyment, listen to on the radio.

We have nutjobs who say we ought to assasinate the leaders of other countries.

I could go on all day, but everything you said about Islam can be said for Christianity including the fundamentalist zealots who warp the faith to justify their own desire for control.

There are 1.2 billion Muslims and everytime we get a story like this, someone like yourself comments on how awful Islam is and make some genuflection toward the dominant religion of our own country.

It IS divisive and serves no purpose except to justify and reinforce your own petty prejudices and the prejudices of others.

I rarely see anyone making fun of how muslims dress, behave, etc OTOH Christianity (rightfully so) is laughed at and taken lightly. I can't tell you how many times I've seen God and Jesus featured in various commercials, tv programming, radio, etc while the prophet mohamed is NEVER seen or heard because we in the west are too scared that a few dopes with their towels wrapped too tight will feel offended.

most fundies of most if not all other religions would agree with the Islamics on this issue.

The one thing they have in common is that they aren't really the faith most of us are familiar with.

People write humor to appeal to their audience and there are ways to poke humor at religion without going over the top (although it occasionally does).

Would you expect Carrottop or Robin Williams to be familiar enough with Islam to think they know where that line is? Of course not.

The most likely result of trying to make comedy or entertainment or ads that use Islam or Hindu or other faiths that are not particularly commonplace in America is that we would end up with something that was really offensive.

And there have been some fascinating examples of this in our history. Think of how we turn up our noses, rightfully, at the thought of minstrel shows of the 19th and 20th century or the portrayal of African-Americans in radio and tv when those technologies first came on the scene.

That's why you see a great deal more humor/entertainment with references to Christianity AND Judaism, because we are kinda familiar with them.

Nobody with a decent heart and mind wants to be responsible for creating something that may be looked at in 50 years as an appalling racist or bigotted production.

Thus, people stick with what they know by being a part of this country and culture which is largely ignorant of most faiths except Judaism and Christianity.

He actually said, "So, I'm Iranian-American", and the crowd was completely silent, then he said, "Damn that's a show stopper!"

He poked fun at his religion(Islam), and his culture and the country his parents were born in(he was born in the states).

To claim it's rare to see people making fun of how Muslims dress, and then to use the insulting cliche of "towels wrapped round their heads" in the very next sentence! You should be writing for TV.

when christians berate the way muslims dress - because Jesus would probably have looked very similar to a ME palestinian/israeli dressed in traditional robes with head-dress and beard etc.

in my life.

People should be able to make fun of an angry muslim fundie who has his head towel wrapped too tight or some fat, stinking, inbred southern fundie who waves around the stars and bars yet calls himself an American, why are we now taking these small dick sexually deprived "men" seriously?

I believe we made such great advances within the past 100 years because we became independent of religion, we didn't let it control our everyday lives but sadly looks like we're going backwards.

media in countries with mixed populations or tolerant forms of government in Muslim countries do poke fun at the religion.

Its just that Muslims arent a significant number in the US.

Ever hear of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda? A christian terrorist group that has been kidnapping, killing and raping women and children for the last 30 years. Or remember the genocide of one million people in Rwanda which was tacitly allowed by the church there?

Some guys in Zanzibar being against Freddy Mercury isn't the end of the world or proof tha Islam is more evil than any other religion or culture.

Their Christ is a terrorist. They worship a false god. They routinely commit blasphemy and defame Christianity, exalting hate and abuse to the level of sacraments. It's followers are ignoramuses.

The first two won't get a rise out of most people. To the extent that the LRA is mentioned in western churches, such statements are said. The latter are simply semantically anomalous statements for many Americans. Nobody supports them or defends them, or gets outraged when their Christianity is insulted.

Mesh'al's Muhammed is a terrorist. He worships a false god. Hamas routinely commits blasphemy and defames Islam, exalting hate and abuse to the level of an obligation. It's followers are ignoramuses.

Put in Hezbollah, JI, or nearly any other fundie Islamic group. Hizb al-Tahrir, for example. Just drawing those fools' Muhammed created a problem--as though it were the 'real' Muhammed. But have the initial alif in 'Allah' grow into a gun, implying that the real Allah is a promoter of violence, wields an AK, and must love bloodshed, and that's fine. Honorable, even.

There is no Islam. There are Islams. Some are good, some are evil. The only things they share are formalities and the name. That's enough to confuse simpletons.

that was my point.

There is a culture of Christianity that involves two billion people, an Islamic culture of one and half billion, a billion Hindus etc etc.

Why would Zanzibar Muslims care about Freddy Mercury? Even though Zanzibar is 99% Muslim, Freddy Mercury doesn't represent all Zanzibar. He was a Iranian Parsi and his family was Zoroastrian. In fact his funeral was conducted by a Zoroastrian priest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Mercury

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanzania

ie one religion gets to determine the mores and culture of everyone.

but his parents were Persian they were Zoroastrians. His name was Farrokh Bulsara. Sounds like a muslim name to me.

it's a completely different religion.

...ie, monotheists, along with Jews and Christians. In theory that requires different rules of warfare against them, freedom from repression, and special taxes to pay for their defense; in practice many areas repressed these populations heavily under muslim rule, with notable exceptions like Persia itself and al-Andalus.

But at any rate, Zoroastrians are not Muslims, and "Farrokh Bulsara" is a perfectly good Persian name.

..

...or all they'd have to say is "GET ON YOUR BIKES AND RIDE!!!"

Maybe someone in Zanzibar should throw an Osama party.

or an Eric Rudolph one.

I have no respect for anyone who denigrates the rights of others. If these people don't like gay people they don't have to show up at the party. Other than that they have no right to say an Allah Damned word.

That somehow seems so right.

We need GodAllahJehovahBuddhaShiva to come down and tell everyone to stop taking religion so goddamned seriously.

Really. Come on Jesus, a little help, here...

the only clue to his background in his music is the word "Bismillah" in the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody.

They need to leave him alone, DAMN IT!!!

I miss his voice and broke down in tears for hours after I learned of his death. I was lucky enough to see him perform live in 1980. He was awesome and a incredible showman as was all of Queen.

...and I still miss him.

Very well said.

I think that if there's anything unique about humans its our ability to predict the future so well, and one of the first things we're able to predict is that sooner or later, we're gonna die. That's a big deal, because like most other critters we really only have two missions in life: survive, and reproduce. Suddenly, our so-damned-smart brains are telling us that we're going to fail at least one of those missions, big time (and in my case, total failure stares me in the face every single day).

So, we invent survival, in as many ways as there are religions--reincarnation, recycling, avoiding futile resistance and being assimilated, you name it. If you sell the idea convincingly enough, it seems like anything works.

Religion often carries with it other survival-like traits which our big brains may have partially forgotten: obey the a-hole in charge; feel free to screw over those who aren't in the club; spread the faith by reproduction and otherwise; bust your ass, and give me my cut of the rewards--pretty much everything that elephant seal is preaching to his flock, with subtle variations in tone and a bit more comity toward his neighbors, I'll admit--I'm talking about the seal, here.

As for those of us who think we're above all that, well, do we really want to see what happens if we teach everyone to be atheists? Think about how bummed out and psychotic some dude with a strong survival instinct would be if he was told day after day, "you're gonna fucking die, and when you do, it's game over, fo-evah!" Who knows what he might do--no, I think I do know what he might do.

And doesn't wishing all those religious types away sound just a little bit like all those religions that are wishing everyone else away (or worse)? It's just more of the "not my tribe, so fuck 'em" mentality.

But now that I think about it, they're not my tribe. So fuck 'em.

I'll let you know when my understanding of that very simple fact starts to drive me crazy. I'd hope you help me get psychiatric treatment instead of sending me off to pray. Religion doesn't treat psychosis.

If someone needs religion to keep from going psychotic because they have a strong sense of survival and dying without reward is more than their sense of self can bear(per your example), then I posit that they have problems religious zealotry would only encourage,not control, and that therapy might be the wiser option. I'm fairly certain an exorcism would not do the psychotic any good.

I understand religion makes certain harsh realities easier for some people to deal with..... I understand rules that come with rewards allow people to feel safer in a world that can be very ugly at times ...and I understand that almost anything can become a religion if your sense of identity is wrapped up in your beliefs going unchallenged and being infallible.

I accept that religion, in some form, will always be around. What I don't accept, and will never accept, is the thinking that a religion, any religion, trumps the common good of all. That it must be tolerated when it causes destruction in the name of survival - or god- or whatever excuse is used.

What I will not accept is religion, any religion, used to bash Freddie Mercury, or anyone else, simply because Freddie was gay.

If survival is what it's about - and you say it is - then my survival depends on religion either dying out or learning to survive in a world where people are different.

I can live in a world with religion...it's religion that has the problem being in a world with me.

There is a difference.

surely even Ayatollah Khomeini Loves "Under Pressure".

edit: or would have i suppose

http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/gt/default.asp?topic=article&id=1595&pub=1584

Excerpt:

"If you want to go somewhere with a happening gay scene, this is not the place. Homosexuality, as in all of Tanzania, is technically illegal. Despite this, no-one in Zanzibar seems to be working on anything connected with gay rights. And although there is a dearth of people willing to identify themselves as gay, everyone I spoke to seemed to think that "it's not an issue". There's even a well-known gay-run hotel in Stone Town."

An 8th grade class wanted to sing "We Are the Champions" during their 8th grade graduation ceremony. Their principal wouldn't let them, the reason being that Freddie Mercury sings that song, and he died of AIDS, and "therefore" he must have been gay (gee, ya think?).

I'm pretty sure that principal wasn't a muslim.

Freddie was the pent-ultimate, most kick-ass rock singer of the Seventies & mebbe even the Eighties. If he happened to be gay, who should give a flying *@#%!?! Being gay had nothing to do with belting out some killer rock trax, and vice versa. Why are fanatics always obsessed with other people's behaviors? That attitude is so played. I mean look, I am totally straight, & I don't really wanna even hear about any gay stuff, but deep down I don't really give a sh#! what people do. And what a bunch of hypocritical bullsh*! anyway...it's like if he wasn't gay then the Zanzibarbarian Muslims woud just embrace the living sh#! outta the memory of the guy. Don't they consider Western music and culture to be decadent anyhow? I am the one to condemn them!!! ...for not hoisting suds on Merc's b-day. And anybody else who don't want people to crank the stereo, put on some torn Levi's & jean jackets, and rock out to some kick~A Queen can kiss my hillbilly a## too. ...think I'm gonna go listen to summa the sh*! on yahoo rite now........a~holes.

I wish he was still around.
He'd still be kicking ass on-stage and on the airwaves. And Brian May and the lads would be doing the same.
I'm firing up some Queen right now.
Welcome to DU, missouribreaks.
Here's to Freddie :toast:

Same shit, different religion.

...I got a good laugh out of this thread. Especially comments like this one:

Show a cartoon of Mohammed and 20 people will be dead in Cairo the next morning from the rioting.

Nah. I've been in Egypt for nearly a year, which included the Great Cartoon Blasphemy.

In Cairo a few hundred people would gather in a public square and make a lot of noise. Twenty people dead in Teheran or Karbala, maybe. The Shi'ites tend to be a lot more...enthusiastic about this sort of thing, especially in areas where they are the controlling majority.

Egypt's brand of Islam is pretty unique to the country, greatly influenced by the Sufi mystics and even the ancient Egyptian religion. Overall it's fairly laid-back, especially compared to Saudi Arabia (where I lived for 2 years).

The fundamentalist Muslims here keep ranting about bringing a "pure" form of Islam to Egypt, but I personally don't believe that will ever happen.

All-black clothes? No music? Segregated weddings? The Egyptians I know would never stand for that sort of BS. In a ritual that probably dates back to the worship of Isis, at some Egyptian weddings the bridesmaids do a form of belly dancing. It's incredibly erotic. (Naturally, since the original intent was to lure husbands for the bridesmaids.)

I've been to Egyptian street parties where you see very young girls trying to do the same sort of dance, though they just look sort of silly. Still, even the Southern Baptists where I grew up would probably have heart attacks if they saw those mini-Isises (Isi?) writhing around.

Oh, one last note on riots. I'm staying in Alexandria, which has suffered thru two major religious riots while I've been here.

Neither had anything to do with cartoons.

Both were battles between the Muslims and the Coptic Xians, who make up about 5% of the country. The last one, in April, blew up near my hotel and was very ugly. Burnt-out cars in the streets, mob attacks on homes, churches and mosques, tear gas etc. etc. Several people were injured and killed on both sides.

As usual, the two Ruling Deities made no comment on these activities so enthusiastically pursued in their heavenly names. And as always, mere human beings were left to clean up the unholy mess and bury the dead.

And as a grumpy atheist, I can't help observing that Alexandria was a lot better off under the pagans.