Teen arrested for 'blasphemous T-shirt'

Im a huge COF fan have been for going on two decades now, while i do agree that the T-shirt can be offensive to a lot of people, what i kind of take offence to is the Christian faith calling it an attack on their beliefs.

Now i follow a Pagan path, not going into the ins and outs of it simply because its none of anyones business, However for a very very long time now ive taken offense of the label myself and a lot of my friends around the world are given by these so called followers of love and joy, that label is Satan worshipers,

Any self respecting Christian would know that Satan is a christian thing, Paganism is nothing to do with Satanism of any kind, Paganism is a Nature based faith, working with the Goddess and God, then the scream what about Baphomet, well Baphomet is a symbol of wisdom not evil, it was the catholic church who used Baphomet to destroy the knights templar.

In fact the Christian faith is almost all based on Pagan worship.

Now ill tell you what offends me, the burning of thousands upon thousands of Pagas, (WITCHES) in the name of Jesus Christ, its easy to use another's name as an excuse to do their own evil deeds.

And while the t-shirt is just plain ole merchandising, i can see it causing offense, its the same people who are trying to ban Harry Potter from schools, is HP offensive?

Make you own minds up, kettle calling the pot black if you ask me.

Im sure Jesus was a very nice fella, but then again he could have had a nasty side couldn't he? who am i to say. soooo sad.

My 2 cents on this issue...
If you don't like what someones' shirt says or depicts, don't look at it or read it. If people in this world spent more time worrying about themselves than what other people are saying or doing, it would be a hell of alot better off.

EGO is the root of all evil

You will conform, or you will be punished!


Thats essentially the way I see their views.

It's pretty ridiculous actually... the number one response to the threat of terrorism is apparently "Oppress independence!"

Yeah, that makes sense...


I'm beginning to think the whole of the world has gone insane. Maybe it's something in the water. heh.

[edit on 25-6-2008 by johnsky]

When did common decency and respect become a bad thing, folks?

(It's a one line post, but the question is self explanitory so I'm leaving it as a one line post)

I care less about the religious overtones of the t-shirt. I'm thinking in terms of ideals of public obscenity standards. There was a word on the t-shirt that I wouldn't be particularly pleased to see. For me it wouldn't matter much WHO was being called a ****, but that it was being said at all. Is this a desire for supression of personal freedoms on my part? Perhaps. I think of it more as a standard of decency.

Lot of worldwide visitors to this place I live...... primarily divers, some world-class rock climbing, etc. People frequently wear t-shirts with things that are thought by many of us to be in poor taste, but they aren't regulated. Would this t-shirt be illegal here? I don't know, but I think it would fit under the heading of "public obscenity", however I doubt the person would be arrested. Probably just asked by various management folk to replace the shirt with another until they leave. Otherwise, they could enjoy being pretty much shunned by the locals.

I think the question for me is does someone else have the right to display an insulting/obscene/vulgar t-shirt? I think they do, because otherwise who is going to be the one to judge the criteria? Not me. When I lived in California, there was existing hate crime legislation, very complex language used and lots of it and it addressed the wearing of hate group clothing. I think it was pretty successful in addressing the parameters and criteria of such clothing, but was likely difficult to enforce.

reply to post by Britguy


Are you kidding?? The shirt wasn't depicting a criminal activity of pedophilia. All countries need to be protecting the right of people to express themselves and not to promote an attitude of offended. As long as he / she is not trying to cause violence against another person, live and let live. It's because parents don't want to explain what a word means to their child and educate them to the fact that there are words "nice" people don't use - the c word being one of them. So tough for parents to take responsibility these days - we need the government to save us from WORDS and IDEAS!!! If you support this type of arrest and example, you have asked for your enslavement - i hope you enjoy it.

Who and what you find to be in good taste, or bad taste, is not to be determined nor enforced by the government. Period.

It's up to you to voice whether you like or dislike a persons attire. The government has much better things to be taking care of than some prude who can't handle a bad dresser.

Seriously people. Using the government to enforce your taste of fashion? You make me sick.

When I was younger I owned a Christian Death t-shirt which had the album cover with Jesus shooting up, I knew, and reveled in the fact, that it was offensive. I'm older now and realize it's not such a good thing to walk around with something which is innapropriate for children to see. There are things which children just shouldn't be exposed to until they're ready. I'm not for censorship, just a little tact.

Indeed. So much for the freedom of expression.
But, then again, the article does mention that Australia doesn't have a Bill of Rights.

Hopefully the judge will just toss it out of court, as prosecuting this kid would be a large waste of time.

Speaking of wasting time. Didn't the officer have a REAL criminal to arrest? I guess not sense he's wasting time harassing kids.

...mean while, 4 blocks away, a Seven Eleven shop was probably getting robbed.

As a Cradle of Flith fan myself iv seen the shirt i agree that if you find the shirt offensive then dont look at i find it offensive and uncomfortable when christians push there belives on you and thats all this kid was doing was wearing what he belives in. Plus the ONLY reason COF made this shirt was for the shock vaule and thats excacty whats happening so by making a big deal about the shirt COF is happy there just wanted to stir things up.

I'm going to go put on a half shirt, lower the fly of my levis, and pull my testicles out, letting them dangle for everyone to see, and mosey around the city of Seattle this afternoon. Obviously no-one in this liberal Mecca should say anything about it since I'm merely using my freedom of expression and topics like decency and tact are all subjective, anyway.

Doesn't anyone realize how ridiculous it is to suggest there is no such thing as standard decency and decorum? Are you so far out there that you actually believe expecting people to follow even the most basic of civility is infringing upon their rights? To what degree do you support this? Would you be so condescending if it had been a guy walking around with a shirt that showed a lynched black man with racial epithets written all over the shirt? How about if it was a shirt with a picture of someone you loved along with profane babblings pertaining to them?

Well cradle of filth does suck horribly ;p

To all of you who are worried about this teen ager's rights; what do you think should have been done had his shirt read: Jesus is a N----r ("n" word), Jesus is a Q---r, (homosexual) etc . . . Hate speech is hate speech whether it is directed to minorities, homosexuals, or Christians.

reply to post by tomcat ha


I do quite agree. They were good once upon a time though.

In reference to another post onthis page I would like to point out that an image that is publically obscene is not a person being obscene in public.

Originally posted by burdman30ott6
I'm going to go put on a half shirt, lower the fly of my levis, and pull my testicles out, letting them dangle for everyone to see, and mosey around the city of Seattle this afternoon. Obviously no-one in this liberal Mecca should say anything about it since I'm merely using my freedom of expression and topics like decency and tact are all subjective, anyway.

Doesn't anyone realize how ridiculous it is to suggest there is no such thing as standard decency and decorum? Are you so far out there that you actually believe expecting people to follow even the most basic of civility is infringing upon their rights? To what degree do you support this? Would you be so condescending if it had been a guy walking around with a shirt that showed a lynched black man with racial epithets written all over the shirt? How about if it was a shirt with a picture of someone you loved along with profane babblings pertaining to them?

LoL, way to funny.

I agree with you to a certain degree. But did the kid deserve to be arrested? Wouldn't it have been more appropriate to just confiscate the T-Shirt?

reply to post by tezzajw


Minors have no rights as far as adult material or offensive conduct. If it is tool foul an adult might get flack in public. One right we have lost sence 911 is freedom of speech. Try walking down street with that shirt and have everyone driving by see it. I know you will be speeking to a police officer about that shirt. You may not get arrested, but you will be asked to turn itside out or something like that.

That falls under the same priciple of the law of willingly subjecting a minor to adult or offensive material. That is against the law.

Know with that law why would a child wearing it be any different?

I find this news to be quite alarming, isn't one's person the last fortress of freedom that we have?

When people are arrested for what they wear on themselves, isn't that a bit over the edge? (sort of reminds me of nazi Germany)

And these post's saying something along the lines "he shouldn't wear that because it's offending (to some people)" are ridiculous to my opinion.

Every little thing in the world might somehow offend someone, so let's all revert to our cubicles, wear the same kind of clothes, have the same opinions in every matter, and never disagree with each other , sounds like fun doesn't it?

What is so terrible in being offended? Or are these offended folks so weak in mind that a little bit of disturbance collapses their world?

One should wear whatever he/she wants. Of course if there is for example nudity or something like that what might be illegal in some countries, there might be problems... but that is one's own matter entirely!

Personally I find the text and artwork to be quite funny!

masturbating is fun and relaxing, almost everybody does it so no problem there.

Of course it might be revealing to somebody that nuns are human too!

What comes to matter "What to say to kids if they saw that word and asked about it?" , why not just say it is a curse word and someone obviously want's some attention wearing it? It's not like kid's brain will rotten or explode if they see a rude word written on someone's t-shirt...

As to the motive of the picture on that t-shirt, why not tell the curious mind of a minor human beeing actually what the activity is about, making oneself feel good, and that is something a bit older human beeings do? And while at it why not turn the instance a bit educational and teach them about nervous system and such, after all that is what it is all about, stimulating your nervous system

And to the guy who was planning to let his testicles frolick free, go for it!!! I for one would laugh my a** off if saw anyone in that tight of an outfit.

peace out!

I am into extreme metal. Personally I think this is absurd. The shirt was MEANT to offend people, namely Christians. Almost all black metal bands sport anti-Christian views, if not blatantly Satanic. If the point of the shirt was to just to poke fun at Jesus the "C" word in question would not have been used. This shirt was designed so that when "others" (sorry for the generalizations, simply for compacting this post) look at it they get pissed off. Metalheads are constantly frowned upon, denied opportunities, and shunned by the general public because of the way we look. The reason for this is because we express ourselves through our physical appearance because we don't give a # what you or anyone else thinks about it.

Rather than looking at how offensive this kids shirt is think on these points:
-Appearances SHOULD not matter at all.
-Offense is generally derived from fear and/or insecurity

If people stopped obsessing over Jesus Christ, appearances, and other trivial things that are far less important than their own soul and independent growth we, as metalheads, would not want to offend you.

Also, it is a matter of freedom of speech. There is ONE metal band in Iran that I am aware of, because of the lack of freedom of speech and oppressive religious beliefs the members of this particular band are constantly harassed and attacked, their gear destroyed, etc. I give props to those gentlemen for supporting their beliefs tooth and nail.

I, and most metalheads, do not go around harassing Christians, shouting slurs at people of different ethnicities, or engage in violence. We are approached and insulted and we defend ourselves. This is a very general statement, I know and I apologize for grouping and I know that a lot of you will come back with "This one time... blah blah blah... so your wrong because a metalhead did this to me/someone I know" but I'm approaching this from the viewpoint of someone who LIVES the music, the message, and the lifestyle. I myself possess shirts that state equally or more offensive slogans. "[SNIP] Me Jesus" is a good example. How about the band named "Jesus Anal Penetration". You might be offended by this but I am equally offended at the slanderous remarks thrown out about Satanism, Paganism, Wicca, Shamanism, etc. If Christians have the right to insult my religion you better believe I'm going to wear "[SNIP] Me Jesus".

Also, just for the record, I do have the respect to remove "offensive" clothing items. I can't deny that I've walked to the corner store with them on, but if I intend to go somewhere I know there will be children around I don't wear anything that could be interpretted as offensive. As for adults I couldn't care less, I get enough dirty looks walking down the street as it is, what's one or two more generated from the slogan on my shirt.

[edit on 25-6-2008 by Scurvy]

Profanity/Circumvention Of Censors – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 25-6-2008 by Gemwolf]

Originally posted by Scurvy
I, and most metalheads, do not go around harassing Christians, shouting slurs at people of different ethnicities, or engage in violence. We are approached and insulted and we defend ourselves. This is a very general statement, I know and I apologize for grouping and I know that a lot of you will come back with "This one time... blah blah blah... so your wrong because a metalhead did this to me/someone I know" but I'm approaching this from the viewpoint of someone who LIVES the music, the message, and the lifestyle. I myself possess shirts that state equally or more offensive slogans. "[SNIP] Me Jesus" is a good example. How about the band named "Jesus Anal Penetration". You might be offended by this but I am equally offended at the slanderous remarks thrown out about Satanism, Paganism, Wicca, Shamanism, etc. If Christians have the right to insult my religion you better believe I'm going to wear "[SNIP] Me Jesus".

Before you make the mistake of a potentially embarassing stereotype, I'm a tattooed redneck headbanger with a massive heavy/death/black/nu/classic metal CD & record collection and a Zune with 60 Gigs of metal on it... AND I worship the Lord, Jesus Christ. Yup, a Christian who listens to music that doesn't suck, imagine that! It also might surprise you that my collection includes everything COF has done from Evil made Flesh to Thornography. I realize I'm in a minority (especially considering I'm a far right conservative who owns and enjoys everything Ministry has done), but I do know of several of us Christians floating around out there who take exception to the idea that anyone who listens to metal must be killing goats and worshiping gods with names that sound like they were villians on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (Don't tell me Hordak isn't a cool name for an evil deity.) So carefull with the stereotypes, my friend.

Mod Edit: Removed Quoted Circumvention Of Censors.

[edit on 25-6-2008 by Gemwolf]

what about the manufacturers of this shirt,how about holding them responsible,a shirt like that is disgusting and taste less,like stated earlier noone should want their kids to see this.but arresting a kid for wearing it is stupid,start at the source.but i guess that would be like holding tobacco companies responsible for cancer,it just wont happen because the government makes money off these kinds of companies,