Religious leaders unite against planned Jesus cartoon

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – It's not on the air yet. It's not shot yet. There's no pilot yet. There might not even be a script yet.

But Comedy Central's plan to develop an animated project about Jesus Christ has the biggest names in the TV watchdog business forming a protest supergroup to preemptively smite the show.

Brent Bozell (president, Media Research Centre), Tony Perkins (president, Family Research Council), Michael Medved (talk radio host), Bill Donohue (president, Catholic League), Rabbi Daniel Lapin (American Alliance of Jews and Christians) and Tim Winter (president, Parents Television Council) are joining forces to form the Coalition Against Religious Bigotry.

Comedy Central's "JC" is in development, which means it's still a couple of steps from getting the green light as a series. The project is about Jesus trying to live as a regular guy in New York City and wanting to escape the shadow of his "powerful but apathetic father." Because Comedy Central recently censored "South Park" for its portrayals of the Prophet Muhammad, some Christian leaders see the prospect of a Jesus cartoon as proof of an offensive double standard.

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Muhammad cartoonist defiant after attack

STOCKHOLM — A Swedish artist whose drawing of the Prophet Muhammad offended Muslims said Wednesday he hopes to get another chance to deliver a lecture on free-speech that was interrupted by violent protests.

But officials at Uppsala University said they doubted they would invite Lars Vilks again after police used pepper spray and batons to help him escape a furious crowd Tuesday.

"It's nothing that we're discussing right now, but it's not very likely given how it turned out here," university spokeswoman Anneli Vaara said.

While Vilks escaped the incident with broken glasses and a degree of shock, he said it raised concerns about the freedom of expression at Sweden's oldest and most prestigious institute of higher learning.

"What you get is a mob deciding what can be discussed at the university," Vilks told The Associated Press, adding he was ready to repeat the lecture if re-invited.

"I'm ready to go up again," he said. "This must be carried through. You cannot allow it to be stopped."

What a guy! Good on him, we can't fear these idiots. If we start to get scared and let their weird ramblings control our lives in the face of reason, we all lose.

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Cartoonist attacked by muslims in Sweden 2010

Read that title again, CARTOONIST attacked by Muslims! What for? Drawing a picture they didn't like.

Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who sparked controversy by drawing Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog, was on Tuesday attacked while giving a lecture at a university, police said.

"The man was sat in the first row and suddenly he rushed at me. He punched me in the head and I lost my glasses," said Vilks, adding that at the very most he was "a little bruised".

Police said around 250 people were present at the time of the attack at the university of Uppsala, north of the Stockholm.

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"When Lars Vilks arrived, five persons started to protest against him with screaming. They calmed down and the lecture continued.

"When Lars Vilks talked about religion and showed a film, 20 persons tried to attack him, probably offended by the film."

Police evacuated the lecture hall but some demonstrators resisted, forcing officers to use tear gas. Two people were arrested.

In 2007, Swedish regional daily Nerikes Allehanda published Vilks' satirical cartoon to illustrate an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.

The cartoon prompted protests by Muslims in the town of Oerebro, west of Stockholm, where the newspaper is based, while Egypt, Iran and Pakistan made formal complaints.

An al-Qaeda front organisation then offered $US100,000 ($A110,730) to anyone who murdered Vilks - with an extra $US50,000 ($A55,365) if his throat was slit - and $US50,000 ($A55,365) for the death of Nerikes Allehanda editor-in-chief Ulf Johansson.

Anyone who thinks that a Religious world is a better world, or that religious guidance makes us better people, is fucking insane.

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