Police raids punk concert - "spiritualy cleanses" attendees

[SadakoMoose]

I expected as much from the Indonesian government. Let the people of Indonesia see what has befallen them, and rise up.
There is no justification for these acts.
No religious or cultural background can excuse what this government does.
This is nothing short of tyranny and paranoia.
So, let us all hope that the revolution is nigh for Mr. Yudhoyono...

 

[Ham_authority95]

So, as I was enjoying my morning coffee I came across this "news". Note that it's 2 days old, but since I don't keep up with recent stuff I was rather surprised.

To recap, Police in Aceh (conservative province of Indonesia; only one with imposed Islamic laws) raided a punk-rock concert and arrested 64 attendees under no clear charges. They were than taken to police camp for "reeducation" where they cut their hair, removed their jewelry and thrown them into river for "spiritual cleansing". Those young men and women will be detained 10 days for "rehabilitation", including religious classes and military-style training.

Local police chief Iskandar Hasan said: "We're not torturing anyone. We're not violating human rights. We're just trying to put them back on the right moral path."

I have strong dislike (alright, hatred) for self-righteous, religious nutcases showing their beliefs down everyone's throat so it's hard for me to be objective (I'm also a big fan of punk music and culture). I also understand Islam is religion with rather traditional and conservative views, that frowns on most things that aren't specified in their Holy Book but this seems really unnecessary. Couldn't they just chase them off or something instead of violating their human rights of gathering and expression by means of religious brainwashing?

I googled it and came across several threads, mostly on music sites so here's a [a href=http://eatthis.inmusic.ca/2011/12/indonesian-police-raid-punk-concert-round-up-fans-for-reeducation.html]link[/a] to one.

Opinions?


DISCLAIMER (Ubisoft style ) - I respect all religions, and don't judge them by actions of people who practice them. Since I'm not a big believer I don't claim to know anything about Islam (or any other religion for that matter)

Those people should definitely go into politics and change these laws. But, since that's hard in a corrupt country such as Indonesia, they'll have to wait 20 years or start a political movement.

I don't think there's any excuse for this.

Well, this is Indonesia we are talking about. With all due respect, but this is neither surprising nor high on the list of "Appalling shit that goes on in Indonesia". They have bigger problems.

Also, this.

 

[Vicarious Reality]

I am trying to recall when i last heard about atheists doing something like this...

Doing violent or ignorant things are inexcusable, regardless of their reasoning. Taking cheap-shots at religion in general for the actions of one individual group in one individual place is insipid. This is just unacceptable.

How about no, the whole point is that you take orders from no one.

 

[Lilani]

I am trying to recall when i last heard about atheists doing something like this...

Doing violent or ignorant things are inexcusable, regardless of their reasoning. Taking cheap-shots at religion in general for the actions of one individual group in one individual place is insipid. This is just unacceptable.

How about no, the whole point is that you take orders from no one.

...Wait, what? I'm saying you shouldn't judge anybody so quickly because not everyone holds the same beliefs the same way. And I have a couple of lengthy posts farther down further explaining that. What are you talking about?

 

[CrazyGirl17]

*SIGH* I hate people sometimes, I really do...

 

[ShindoL Shill]

I am trying to recall when i last heard about atheists doing something like this...

I believe lots of kids over the years had their parents "clean them up" for non religious reasons.

a non-religious reason is not the same as atheists doing this. what Vic is saying is it's rare to hear about a group of religious people being imprisoned until they renounce their belief in their god.

OT: see, this is why i dont like religion. more specifically, i don't like DIFFERENT religions. if we were all atheist, or Muslim or flomdiddlyomdist (not a religion. yet) i would be fine with that. we all believe in the same thing, nobody starts a war over different Gods and this shit doesnt happen.
of course, if we were all part of one religion, then we would all face the problems of that religion's teachings...

 

[Aralaas]

Bombing run. I'm just saying (!) This is the kind of problem that can be solved by sitting down and having a long, deep, conversation where everyone can say what they wish, no one interrupts anyone and no violence will be accepted.
But since we know that this is never going to happen, and they're not going to come over to my house to punish, sorry, "Try to put me back on the right moral path" P) me, I think this is a problem best solved with a few history films and 5 minute slap interval.

(Discalimer: I do not have any direct problem with religious beliefs or anything of such spiritual nature. I don't even like punk, but if they come near me I'll knock their teeth out with a baseball bat. Oh, and God does NOT hate homosexuals!)

 

[dyre]

If your religion is Christianity, and they still tout the Bible as the word of God, then your religion is all of those things we mentioned and far more. If they aren't, they need to make up their damn mind about that abhorrent book.

If you're in college right now, you might be interested in taking a course in sociology of religion. The first thing you'll learn is that understanding religions takes so much more than just understanding their holy texts (regardless of whether they're called the word of God or w/e). That's like judging an entire nation by its constitution. It's partly because the holy texts are usually vague and seem to provide contradictory instructions in some cases, or instructions that take precedence over other instructions, but more importantly, it's because religions have long histories full of different theorists writing about what God wants people to do and how much the church should interfere, and usually involves different demographics practicing the same religion in completely different ways.

Here's a simple example. In Christianity, sex used to be seen as an evil (only do it to procreate), but by the 18th/19th century, sex with a married partner for the sake of pleasure was seen as acceptable, even good. Really, the Bible doesn't have much of an opinion on that; it's mostly the work of religious leadership and academics. As for demographics, the nobility in the middle ages often treated religion in a sort of chivalric way, as in, emphasis on sacrifice and doing righteous deeds and such, while the lay congregation often emphasized religion's perceived power to make crops grow and stave off demons.

Same religion, completely different practice and theology depending on your time period and demographic.

 

[Ldude893]

Local police chief Iskandar Hasan said: "We're not torturing anyone. We're not violating human rights. We're just trying to put them back on the right moral path."

I'm conflicted over whether to post an image of a Jesus facepalm, an implied facepalm, or the classic Futurama 'I don't want to live on this planet anymore' image macro.

See, it elicit such a reaction in me that I don't know how to properly express it.