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. Well known examples include the censorship by the Vatican of Galileo's support for heliocentric theory and of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses by the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It has been suggested that Suppression of dissent be merged into this article or section. ... Freedom of speech is the right to freely say what one pleases, as well as the related right to hear what others have stated. ... The term theocracy is commonly used to describe a form of government in which a religion or faith plays the dominant role. ... Galileo before the Holy Office, a 19th century painting by Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury The so-called Galileo affair, in which Galileo Galilei came into conflict with the Catholic Church over his support of Copernican astronomy, is often considered a defining moment in the history of the relationship between religion... Galileo can refer to: Galileo Galilei, astronomer, philosopher, and physicist (1564 - 1642) the Galileo spacecraft, a NASA space probe that visited Jupiter and its moons the Galileo positioning system Life of Galileo, a play by Bertolt Brecht Galileo (1975) - screen adaptation of the play Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht... In astronomy, heliocentrism is the theory that the Sun is at the center of the Universe and/or the Solar System. ... Ahmed Salman Rushdie KBE (Hindi: Urdu: سلمان رشدی; born 19 June 1947) is a British-Indian novelist and essayist. ... The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdies fourth novel, first published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of Muhammad. ... Ayatollah Khomeini founded the first modern Islamic republic Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini (آیت‌الله روح‌الله خمینی in Persian) (May 17, 1900 – June 3, 1989) was an Iranian Shia cleric and the political...

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, impiety - the censored work was obscene or violated 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. Look up blasphemy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Heresy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Sacrilege is in general the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object. ... Impiety is a lack of proper concern for the obligations owed to cult in its proper sense. ... Obscenity has several connotations. ... This article is about cultural prohibitions in general, for other uses, see Taboo (disambiguation). ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is on dogma in religion. ... Venetiis, M. D. LXIIII. 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. ...

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, and the sex manual The Perfect Marriage which argues for positions other than the missionary position. “Erasmus” redirects here. ... The Comma Johanneum was a clause present in most translations of the First Epistle of John published from 1522 until the later part of the 19th century, owing to the widespread use of the third edition of the Textus Receptus (TR) as a sole source for translation. ... “Copernicus” redirects here. ... In astronomy, heliocentrism is the theory that the Sun is at the center of the Universe and/or the Solar System. ... Nicolai Copernici Torinensis De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, Libri VI - On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, by Nicolaus Copernicus of Torin, Six Books (title page of 2nd edition, Basel, 1566) De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (English: ), first printed in 1543 in Nuremberg, is the seminal work on heliocentric theory and the... Sex manuals are books which explain how to perform sexual intercourse and other sexual practices. ... The missionary position A variation on the missionary position as depicted in Pompeii The missionary position is a common human sex position also used by certain other species including bonobos[1] and armadillos. ...

Other books were so successfully suppressed that they were thought lost until the chance rediscovery in the 20th century of some parts of the New Testament apocrypha. The Gospel of Thomas is prominent amongst these as being regarded as most dangerous by the church - it contains alleged logia (sayings) of Jesus that contradict the teachings of the church, and instead support gnosticism. In the process of determining the Biblical canon, a large number of works were excluded from the New Testament. ... The Gospel of Thomas is a New Testament-era apocryphon completely preserved in a papyrus Coptic manuscript discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt. ... Logia is a term applied to collections of sayings credited to Jesus and used as source materials by the Gospel writers in the writing of the familiar canonic narrative gospels. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Similar methodology has been carried out under Islamic theocracies, such as the fatwa (religious judgment) against the Satanic Verses (a novel), ordering that the author be executed for blasphemy. For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      For the metal band, refer to Theocracy (band). ... A fatwā (Arabic: ; plural fatāwā Arabic: ), is a considered opinion in Islam made by a mufti, a scholar capable of issuing judgments on Sharia (Islamic law). ... For the novel by Salman Rushdie, see The Satanic Verses. ... Look up blasphemy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Examples

• Depiction of the human form in art (Islam, Judaism)
• Fig-leaf campaign to cover nudity in art (Roman Catholic Church)
• Scientific theories
  • Darwinian evolution (Roman Catholic Church)
• Literature
  • Works by Taslima Nasrin (Islam)
  • The Da Vinci Code (banned by the government of Iran and attacked by several religious organizations)
• Censorship of pornography is supported and advocated by conservative religious leaders and organizations (see Anti-pornography movement).
• 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.

“Catholic Church” redirects here. ... This article is about biological evolution. ... “Catholic Church” redirects here. ... Taslima Nasrin Taslima Nasrin (Bangla: তসলিমা নাসরিন), also known as Taslima Nasreen, (born 25 August 1962 in Mymensingh, Bangladesh) is a Bengali Bangladeshi physician, author, feminist human rights activist and secular humanist. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... This article is about the novel. ... Porn redirects here. ... A sign outside an Adult store. ... The Profit is a 2001 film directed by Peter N. Alexander. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Look up Injunction in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Scientology cross Symbol Doctrine Practices Concepts People Public outreach Organization Controversy The Church of Scientology is a religious organization, often controversial, that is devoted to the practice and the promotion of Scientology belief system. ...

See also

• aniconism
• freedom of speech versus blasphemy
• iconoclasm

Aniconism is the absence of representations, in a restricted sense that of God and living beings, and more generally of any type of artificial production of substitutes. ... Freedom of speech versus blasphemy represents the tension which exists between political freedom, particularly freedom of speech, and certain examples of art, literature, speech or other acts which some consider to be sacrilegious or blasphemous. ... Statues in the Cathedral of Saint Martin, Utrecht, attacked in Reformation iconoclasm in the 16th century. ...

External links

• Articles about censorship by religion in the field of music on Freemuse.org - the world's largest database on music censorship