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An Election 2012 thought…
Black and White Cookie Recipe

A sad day for freedom of expression in Russia?

August 17, 2012 Leave a Comment Written by Rob Reed

Today, a Russian court sentenced three women to two-years in prison for “hooliganism.”

These three women – members of the group “Pussy Riot” – went to the altar of a Russian Orthodox Church in masks, dancing, singing mock prayers to the Virgin Mary to remove Putin from office, and doing multiple signings of the cross. The church was open to the public, and there were gates surrounding the altar, as well as church members and employees in the area.

Here is a video of the alleged “hooliganism,” which you should watch first before reading on:

This blog post was mostly inspired by my brother’s tweet (not singling him out negatively because his opinion is a popular one – subscribe to him!), where he said:

Anyone who believes in freedom of expression should be alarmed by today’s events in the Soviet Union, I mean Russia #pussyriot @CDReed

The fact of the matter is that – even in the United States – there are rules against trespass like this. For instance, did you ever wonder why Westboro Baptist Church (of “God hates fags” fame) doesn’t just walk into funerals or gay pride parades and protest there?

Criminal trespass.

Now, this being said, most trespass claims are not prosecuted unless there are repeated trespasses or another crime was committed during the trespass. And, even then, one is probably looking at most at a 1-year sentence, so I would agree that the sentence of 2-years seems rather harsh.

However, if you are very sympathetic of these three women, how sympathetic are you if I change the scenario a bit?

In the details that I described above, replace “Pussy Riot” with “Westboro Baptist Church” and replace “altar of a Russian Orthodox Church” with “grave of a fallen soldier.” Replace “singing mock prayers to the Virgin Mary to remove Putin from office, and doing multiple signs of the cross” with “singing a ‘God hates fag enablers’ poem while pretending to shoot each other with fake guns and pretending to fall and die.” Replace religious bystanders (nuns, etc) with family members of the fallen soldier.

These three women – members of the group “Westboro Baptist Church” – went to the grave of a fallen soldier in masks, dancing, singing a ‘God hates fag enablers’ poem while pretending to shoot each other with fake guns and pretending to fall and die. The grave was open to the public, and there were gates surrounding the tombstone, as well as family members of the fallen soldier.

Is this “freedom of expression” that should not be prosecuted?

Current Events, Featured, Law, Politics, Prayer, Rant, Religion, YouTube Video
freedom of expression, opinion, Pussy Riot, Putin, Russia, Russian Orthodox Church, trespass
An Election 2012 thought…
Black and White Cookie Recipe

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In May, 2005, Rob was a secular, Jewish, thirty-something, Los Angeles, personal injury attorney whose idea of getting up early on a Sunday was getting up for the third quarter of the first televised, NFL games.

Thirsting on the idea of playing in a band for the first time in a decade, Rob finally accepted his neighbor's request to get up at seven-in-the-morning on Sundays in order to participate.

Eleven months later, his world was turned upside down by Jesus. Instantly, he began leading songs on the worship team and was the worship leader from 2010-2022.

God is cool like that.

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