UK Teen Cited For Calling Scientology a "Cult"

An anonymous reader writes "A 15-year-old in the UK is facing prosecution for using the word 'cult' to describe the Church of Scientology at an anti-Scientology demonstration in London earlier this month. According to the City of London police at the scene, the teen was violating the Public Order Act, which 'prohibits signs which have representations or words which are threatening, abusive or insulting.' There's a video of the teen receiving the summons from the City of London police at the demonstration (starting about 1 minute in), and now he's asking for advice on how to handle the court case."

I've got an idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's protest a "cult" by all wearing strange masks and chanting the same mantras over and over!

That was Version 2.0 of The Sign

[Crypto Gnome]

UK Teen Cited For Calling Scientology a "Cult"

You should have seen the original version of The Sign - there was a N but no L.

I think he was quite well-spoken, really.

Would it be dangerous...

[Dr. Cody]

...to say David Miscavige raped me?

Would it be even more dangerous to say that he needed a small stepladder to do it?

Easy defense...

[Tablizer]

"I meant 'colt' your honor. Scientologists are as cute as pony."
         

What he needs is...

[YahoKa]

Not legal advice, not a lawyer, but an audit.

Re:Whats the difference?

[iNaya]

Well, as I worship the flying spaghetti monster, I consider anything else to be a cult. The Christian cult, the Atheist cult, the Agnostic cult, Hindu's, Buddhists. Damn cults. I have to do battle every day.

Re:Whats the difference?

[Tablizer]

Whats the difference between religions and cults? As far as I can tell they really are the same thing.

If you have any of the following, you are a cult:

* Funny underwear
* Funny hat/cap worn in open
* Weird spiritual machines
* Don't allow your kids to go to "secular" doctors even if dying

(Oh wait, I think Emacs zealots qualify :-)
       

Re:Would it be dangerous...

[Stormwatch]

That's utter nonsense. David Miscavige could never do that. Everyone knows he only gets an erection when he kills a puppy.

Be careful what you say...

[Ux64]

I think I have to stop calling Linux users a cult before I get prosecuted.

Re:1812 Overture...

[Creepy Crawler]

Yep. The only man to enter parliament with honest intentions.

Re:Open source governance

[somersault]

Weird concept, I know.

Yeah, keep your cult-ish ideas to yourself!

Re:Thats right

[LynnwoodRooster]

Islamofascists have guns, suicide bombers, countries and billions of dollars.

Scientologists have copies of the movie Battlefield Earth.

My money's on the Thetan-freaks...

Obvious advice

[Goonie]

The kid should consult a solicitor (Brit-speak for a lawyer) with a background in human rights issues. Liberty [liberty-hu...hts.org.uk] should be able to point him in the right direction.

How about..

[56ksucks]

.. he call it the "fruity little club" instead?

Re:Whats the difference?

[Shuntros]

A religion is a large, popular cult.

A cult is a small, unpopular religion.

Is everyone clear now?

Re:Whats the difference?

[Rockoon]

It makes it easier to deify the guy who thought it's neat to be god.

I'm pretty sure that it IS neat to be a god.

Re:Whats the difference?

[Anonymous Coward]

1. There is no year 0. The year before year 1 was 1 BC.

Not according to Microsoft OOXML [iso-vote.com], and that's ISO approved so you know that means quality ;)

Re:Whats the difference?

[Maxo-Texas]

Just don't say that on the streets in London. :)

Re:The first problem is

[WobindWonderdog]

I agree. I was totally going to say:

IT'S A TRPA!

Re:Advice from an older generation.

[Twisted64]

I think he's old enough to be legally independent anyway, but thanks for the offer.

Re:Bizarreness matters too

[Anonymous Coward]

You obviously have never played D&D.

Animate Dead is a 3rd level spell.

Raise Dead is a 5th level spell.

Resurrection is a 7th level spell.

And true res is a 9th level spell

Don't be insulting God by calling him a low level spellcaster, pls. K? Thx.

Re:Bizarreness matters too

[Oktober Sunset]

true res? well he only lasted 40 days, so that's not really very impressive.

Re:The first problem is

[morari]

Everyone knows that Cthulhu would simply devour the Flying Spaghetti Monster, god and savior or not!

Re:Thats right

[sapphire wyvern]

I agree. Watching Battlefield Earth is liable to make the suicide bombers go off early.

Re:Whats the difference?

[Jesus_666]

Is everyone clear now?

No, but if you take this $20.000 course I can help you become clear. ;)

Re:The first problem is

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but would he follow up with a side of bread-sticks and salad?

Re:Whats the difference?

[DMoylan]

best described by emo phillips

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said. I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!" He said, "Like what?" I said, "Well...are you religious or atheist?" He said, "Religious." I said, "Me too! Are you christian or buddhist?" He said, "Christian." I said, "Me too! Are you catholic or protestant?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me too! Are you episcopalian or baptist?" He said, "Baptist!" I said,"Wow! Me too! Are you baptist church of god or baptist church of the lord?" He said, "Baptist church of god!" I said, "Me too! Are you original baptist church of god, or are you reformed baptist church of god?" He said,"Reformed Baptist church of god!" I said, "Me too! Are you reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1879, or reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915!" I said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off. -- Emo Phillips

Re:No, Correct

[Adlopa]

So "irony" isn't a synonym of "metallic", then? Hm.

Re:No, Correct

[RMH101]

Unless you're marrying a Weatherman.

Re:Once again

[jeremyp]

This is off topic. We are talking about cults here. So would you be arrested for obscenity for shouting "George Bush is a cult"? Or would you be arrested for poor spelling?

Re:No, Correct

[sm62704]

Irony is the thingy your mommy uses to make your shirtys flat.

Re:Protester now faces harrasment.

[elrous0]

Dear Irony Nazi,

You are receiving this reply because you responded to a /. or usenet post with the pedantic "That's not the proper use of irony" reply, or some variant. *This* reply is to point out that, in your anal retentive zeal to show the world how smart you are, you obviously never even bothered to research the issue (beyond hearing your high school English teacher get all pissy about the issue once). Had you researched the issue, you would know that there is an academic disagreement [wikipedia.org] within the field of modern linguistics between "descriptive linguistics" and "prescriptive linguistics," over this very sort of issue.

To put this in clear and simple terms (for your benefit): There is no "the" definition of irony. It depends on what source you consult.

To put it in even CLEARER terms: Sit down and shut the fuck up, you ignorant smug twat.

I forget...

[tooyoung]

It is now illegal to discuss religion in Britain. If you are British and you post a comment in this thread, your government can throw you in jail.

But we in the US don't have a lot of room to talk. As I wrote [kuro5hin.org] two years ago,

But our own freedom to speak carries such heavy limitations that to think we are better than the Chinese is laughable. You can be arrested for "hate speech." If you badmouth the wrong corporation (and face it, the corporations are the government here, the politicians only being figureheads who do the corporations' bidding) you will be slapped down with a S.L.A.P.P. suit. You won't go to jail, but you will be financially ruined.

How do you mod someone Bushy-bearded nut job on the street corner?

Re:The first problem is

[ORBAT]

Core dumped: stack overflow.

God Bless America

[srobert]

Thank God I live in the U.S. where at least we have free speech zones where we are free to speak our minds. We value our freedom of speech so highly that we protect those in the free speech zones with chain link fencing and barbed wire.

Re:Britain 1, USA 0

[mikael]

There is a small suburb in Aberdeenshire called "Cults". So if you were to make a roadsign with this word and an arrow on it, you would have a alibi that it was a direction sign and not a political comment.

Re:Open source governance

[paeanblack]

If you want to get really technical, one could serve as POTUS indefinitely by continuing to be elected to the office of Vice President and bumping off the latest President-elect before inauguration day.

It's not a very practical loophole...voters might get suspicious after this happened a few times.

They both...

[AioKits]

...have noodly appendages, so I can see some validity in their fight.

Re:Open source governance

[PachmanP]

Not to troll too much, but incidentally there is a reason Obama does not want Clinton as VP...

Re:Protester now faces harrasment.

[Z34107]

you obviously never even bothered to research the issue (beyond hearing your high school English teacher get all pissy about the issue once)

Oh, the humanities?!

Re:Rise of the hive mind

[Kelbear]

Great, our new government's anthem will be "Chocolate Rain".

Better use 'cu*t'

[Roger W Moore]

Rather than that why not a sign reading "cu*t". If the police stop you you could explain that you always find Scientologists somewhat curt but didn't want to hurt their feelings by spelling it out. After all it is not your fault if there are at least two other appropriate letters.