Censorship by religion  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

The Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("List of Prohibited Books") is a list of publications which the Catholic Church censored for being a danger to itself and the faith of its members. The various editions also contain the rules of the Church relating to the reading, selling and censorship of books. The aim of the list was to prevent the reading of immoral books or works containing theological errors and to prevent the corruption of the faithful.

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Censorship by religion is a form of censorship where freedom of expression is controlled or limited using religious authority or on the basis of the teachings of the religion. This form of censorship has a long history and is practiced in many societies and by many religions. Examples include the censorship by the Vatican of Galileo's support for heliocentric theory and of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses by Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Overview

Religious censorship is defined as the act of suppressing views that are contrary of those of an organized religion. It is usually performed on the grounds of blasphemy, heresy, sacrilege or impiety - the censored work being viewed as obscene, challenging a dogma, or violating a religious taboo. Defending against these charges is often difficult as many religions permit only the religious authorities (clergy) to interpret doctrine and the interpretation is usually dogmatic. The Catholic church banned hundreds of writings, and maintained the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (index of prohibited books), most of which were writings that the church had deemed dangerous, until 1965.

Other types of book on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum include works by Desiderius Erasmus, a Catholic scholar who pointed out that the Comma Johanneum was probably forged, Nicolaus Copernicus who argued for a Heliocentric orbit of the earth in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium.

• Scientific theories
  • Biological evolution (Islam , Fundamentalist Christianity, Charedi Judaism)
• Literature
  • Works by Taslima Nasrin (Islam)
  • The Da Vinci Code was banned in Samoa.
  • The Power and the Glory: The Cult of Manalo was banned by the Philippine sect Iglesia ni Cristo from being published in the Philippines.
• The Profit is a feature film written and directed by Peter N. Alexander in 2001. Little seen, worldwide distribution of the film was prohibited by an American court order, the result of a lawsuit by the Church of Scientology although the filmmaker claims that the film is not about Scientology.

See also

• Aniconism
• Freedom of speech versus blasphemy
• Iconoclasm
• Religious deception
• Religious intolerance
• Theocracy
• Discrimination against atheists