Well, I might be wrong, but isn't there supposed to be a separation of church and state (SCS) in most of Europe? Seems like the lawyers of our demonstrator will have a pretty strong case:
(a) Either scientology is a 'real' religion, in which case you might wonder if it is acceptable that a police officer in function is so emotionally involved in Scientology that he feels insulted by the use of the word 'cult'. That's a violation of SCS, which is in most non-dictatorships a pretty basic constitutional principle.
(b) Or Scientology is not a real religion and the SCS is not applicable here. In that case, demonstrator guy is right: every religious group not accepted by mainstream society is per definition a cult (see source of all wisdom; also in OED).
Since you are so eager to protect your country from evil bearded terrorists, I would like to suggest some other sensible measures:
- employers can beat their employees with a stick whenever they do something suspicious ('suspicious' should be left vague)
- employers can impound the passports of foreign or poor employees and lock them up all day in overcrowded shacks with no airconditioning.
- employers can strip-search male AND female employees for dangerous substances that could be used for making bombs.
- employers can cut of the beards of their employees, especially when they have darker skin or look suspicious in any other way.
I am sure this will make your society more harmonious and safe.
To dangerous, we can't rely on your offspring continuously reproducing for the next 1500 generations. Much better idea: we all contribute a dollar to help you put into hibernation for some hundred thousand years, by which time humanity will have reverted to cannibalistic cave-dwelling monsters... And then you try... ... ... Ah, forget about it.
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Well, I might be wrong, but isn't there supposed to be a separation of church and state (SCS) in most of Europe? Seems like the lawyers of our demonstrator will have a pretty strong case:
(a) Either scientology is a 'real' religion, in which case you might wonder if it is acceptable that a police officer in function is so emotionally involved in Scientology that he feels insulted by the use of the word 'cult'. That's a violation of SCS, which is in most non-dictatorships a pretty basic constitutional principle.
(b) Or Scientology is not a real religion and the SCS is not applicable here. In that case, demonstrator guy is right: every religious group not accepted by mainstream society is per definition a cult (see source of all wisdom; also in OED).
Dear Australian government,
Since you are so eager to protect your country from evil bearded terrorists, I would like to suggest some other sensible measures:
- employers can beat their employees with a stick whenever they do something suspicious ('suspicious' should be left vague)
- employers can impound the passports of foreign or poor employees and lock them up all day in overcrowded shacks with no airconditioning.
- employers can strip-search male AND female employees for dangerous substances that could be used for making bombs.
- employers can cut of the beards of their employees, especially when they have darker skin or look suspicious in any other way.
I am sure this will make your society more harmonious and safe.
To dangerous, we can't rely on your offspring continuously reproducing for the next 1500 generations. Much better idea: we all contribute a dollar to help you put into hibernation for some hundred thousand years, by which time humanity will have reverted to cannibalistic cave-dwelling monsters... And then you try...
...
... Ah, forget about it.
Hmmmm, choices choices:
(1) unmanned flying robot: 3.2 million dollar (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RQ-1_Predator#Development)
(2) frustrated Afghan country bumpkin: $0.1