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Aussie teen arrested for wearing a T-Shirt


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a very VERY offensive one that is...........

http://goldcoaststage.arkcms.com/article/2008/06/25/12892_gold-coast-top-story.html

shirtnew2506.jpg

Ben Dillaway

25Jun08

IT is blasphemous, will get you arrested and has sparked debate about Australia's lack of a Bill of Rights.

Meet Cradle of Filth, an extreme metal band from England. Their offensive shirt that claims 'Jesus is a (expletive deleted)' and depicts a nun masturbating.

A 16-year-old was arrested on Monday for wearing the shirt and was charged with offensive behaviour under the Summary Offences Act 2005 for public nuisance.

Senior Sergeant Arron Ottaway said the teen was walking along Hollywell Road, in Biggera Waters, when a officer saw him.

See other readers' comments and have your say below

"I'm not religious but that's just offensive," said Sen Sgt Ottaway,

Police conducted inquiries at Australia Fair, where the teen said he bought the shirt, to find any shops selling it.

The Reverend Matt Hunt of the Helensvale Baptist Church said it was sad people spoke about the Lord in such a way.

"It's fairly common language these days to express sadness, anger or hurt," he said. "It's a degrading word to use and Jesus is anything but that. It's like calling white black."

Mr Hunt said using the Lord's name in vain was a serious sin.

"When someone comes to the point of saying Jesus is the devil or Jesus is 'expletive', the Bible does say be very careful because you're on thin ice."

Gold Coast lawyer Bill Potts said the arrest highlighted Australia's need for a Bill of Rights.

"One of the great problems with our country is that we talk about rights such as privacy and freedom of speech and the like but they are not enshrined or protected in any way as they are in America," he said.

"While there are always limits on freedom of speech, you can't incite violence or anything like that, it seems to be now more than ever that our rights to freedom of speech and freedom of expression should be protected.

"A Bill of Rights which enshrines that protection is long overdue in this country."

Mr Potts said charging the teen was 'ludicrous' and brought the law into disrepute.

"A shirt might offend some and might be amusing to others," he said.

"If a person was wearing the shirt in a church or a religious rally where it was specifically intended to offend or cause disruption, then perhaps the prosecution might stand a chance.

"However, to criminalise juvenile or boorish messages is to bring the law into disrepute. The police are acting like the thought police and censors."

Molendinar residents Hayley and Arron, who are big Cradle of Filth fans, bought the shirts from Carrara Markets six months ago but said they had never, and would never, wear them in public.

"I'm not a fan of the T-shirt. I'm only wearing it because it's a band T-shirt and it's rare," said Arron. "I don't actually believe the stuff. I'm not satanic or anything like that. I hate that stuff. I just wear it around the house."

Not surprisingly, this is not the first time the shirt has had a run-in with the law.

In 2005, 19-year-old Adam Shepherd was fined £40 and sentenced to 80 hours community for wearing the shirt in England.

In an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Cradle of Filth frontman Dani Filth bizarrely suggested God was working through the band.

"Defaming organised religion openly in public is now a crime? What is wrong with England? Still, the litter problem on our city streets should improve dramatically if they keep handing out 80-odd hour community punishment orders willy-nilly," he said.

"The country will be spotless in no time, a sure sign that God works in mysterious ways, even through us!"

Whoever wants to know what it really say.

"Jesus is a c*nt"

What an ass hole. I'm glad he got arrested that is unacceptable. Freedom of speech my ass. It goes too far sometimes.

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It's just words.

How you take them and interpret is up to you right ?

J/K.

It's just disrespectful and unneeded. I can certainly not believe in Jesus or God without being 'that guy'.

EDIT: Still no reason to arrest him, unless they claim he was disturbing the peace in some way.

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So would the response from the offended community.

:yes:

hmmm, wonder if any of the athiest/Christian bashers on the board will have a problem with that shirt....

IMO, anybody with the slightest bit of respect and dignity should have a problem with that shirt.

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Though that shirt is COMPLETELY out of line, there's no reason to arrest him. Explain to him how ridiculous the shirt is/ignore his attention seeking self, yes; but don't arrest him.

Can you imagine if if this kid wore a shirt that said "Allah is a ****"?

Yeah, everyone would be up in arms, and a "Holy War" would've been declared on Australia.

Of course it's okay to bash Christianity and to defame the name of Christ.

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In order to benifit as a society from important freedoms. It's also inevitable society must deal with their own frustration when that freedom is used in a personaly offensive manor.

If you want to deny this kids right to free speech because he has bad taste, you harken in the day when free speech will be outlawed because it's offensive to abusive polititians or simple because it's politically expedient to deny folks a voice.

In our own country free speech advocates have been forced to defend Nazi's, Klan members, and pornographers; all of which I think were orders of magnatude more dangerous than this kid who has bad taste in music.

I find it personally hillarious that folks calling themselves conservatives are the ones clamering to deny folks constitutional rights. Used to be the conservatives were the champions of constitutional rights, not just those dealing with brandishing fire arms.

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In order to benifit as a society from important freedoms. It's also inevitable society must deal with their own frustration when that freedom is used in a personaly offensive manor.

If you want to deny this kids right to free speech because he has bad taste, you harken in the day when free speech will be outlawed because it's offensive to abusive polititians or simple because it's politically expedient to deny folks a voice.

In our own country free speech advocates have been forced to defend Nazi's, Klan members, and pornographers; all of which I think were orders of magnatude more dangerous than this kid who has bad taste in music.

That's great but there are ways to voice your opinions without having a pretty offensive word in bold letters on your shirt.

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I used to have a shirt that said "Jesus is a homo". It was a play on the whole "Jesus is a homeboy" thing. I got some dirty looks, some laughs but I was never approached by a police officer. I agree, it's childish, and I no longer own the shirt, but arrested? That's insane. The only damage it does is shatter the fragile psyches of scared people.

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I used to have a shirt that said "Jesus is a homo". It was a play on the whole "Jesus is a homeboy" thing. I got some dirty looks' date=' some laughs but I was never approached by a police officer. I agree, it's childish, and I no longer own the shirt, but arrested? That's insane. The only damage it does is shatter the fragile psyches of scared people.[/quote']

Right because only "sacred people" get upset when some dumbass walks around insulting what's important to them. Damn them and their fragile psyches.

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I just think it's sad that people can be so angry and malicious.....not to mention for someone who died so they can spend eternity in heaven...

Thats only if you believe in the Bible...

Its an anttention grabber. I highly doubt that anyone is that angry at religion to actually truly feel that. Sure its tasteless, but FREEDOM OF SPEECH ANYONE!?!?

I'm more concerned about my rights as a citizen than people of a particular faith being offended. I know it was in Australia because it wouldn't happen here, unless intended for the use of provoking others of course.

I take my civil liberties and rights over someone getting offended over something like that. We are all adults. Adults should be able to rise above that.

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Right because only "sacred people" get upset when some dumbass walks around insulting what's important to them. Damn them and their fragile psyches.
I once had a guy with a swastika on his forehead approach me and my brother(our family is jewish). His message was that we(society) needed to get rid of all the evil jews. Did his message bother me? Yes. Should he have been arrested? No. There's a difference between being offended and not being able to handle it. I would say that people who think this kid should have been arrested can't handle it and it's because they are scared and fragile.
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