Well done Germany!

[Dowding]

Cruise banned from filming for being a cultist

Would you want Tom portraying your father in a film about his life and death?

I'm still stunned that Hollywood have given the part of Guy Gibson to Tom Cruise in the upcoming Dambusters remake. Not to mention casting Paris Hilton as his dog.

[Airscrew]

 Mission Impossible 4: to make Tom Cruise look and sound German...

[Viking]

Sounds to me Mr. Cruise is being discriminated against because of his beliefs, which are non-violent in nature. I think this is fundamentally unjust. I sympathize with Germany’s intentions to curb religious extremism and Neo-Nazism, but they have to stop acting like Nazis while doing it.

[LePaul]

I think the Germans called out Scientology fairly accurately.  A kooky faction that seeks tax-free status claiming to be a religon.

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Viking
Sounds to me Mr. Cruise is being discriminated against because of his beliefs, which are non-violent in nature. I think this is fundamentally unjust. I sympathize with Germany’s intentions to curb religious extremism and Neo-Nazism, but they have to stop acting like Nazis while doing it.

A comet is approaching Earth, and FAST, because this is the first time GSholtz and I agree.

However the original poster only made the post because he's anti-American and anti-Religion. It really had NOTHING to do with T. Cruise at all....

[soda72]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
A comet is approaching Earth, and FAST, because this is the first time GSholtz and I agree.

Say it ain't so rip....





(I also agree on both counts)

[Ripsnort]

Also note: German Gov't sentences a pastor 1 year in prison for simply comparing abortion to the holocaust.

Freedom of speech is dead in Germany. All Hail Hitler.

German Pastor Sentenced to a Year in Jail for Comparing Abortion to the Nazi Holocaust

By Elizabeth O’Brien and John Henry Westen

ERLANGEN, Germany, June 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A city court in Erlangen, Bavaria, gave Lutheran Pastor Johannes Lerle a one year jail sentence for the “crime” of comparing abortion to the Nazi holocaust.  

In response, Jim Hughes, Vice President of International Right to Life Federation has called on pro-life activists internationally to take action on the matter by contacting German authorities to demand freedom of speech and freedom of religion for the pastor (see contact information below story).

Pastor Johannes Lerle compared the annual murder of 150,000 babies through abortion in Germany to the murder of thousands of innocent Jews in Auschwitz. The court, which consisted of no jury and a single judge, ruled that this statement made Lerle a holocaust denier.  

On 14 June, Judge Erda Erdenhofner convicted Lerle of a particular crime known as “volksverhetzung”, or “incitement of the people”. Ironically, volksverhetzung was an accusation that was frequently used by the Nazis to convict those with whom the regime disagreed, a slap-conviction that could be used to dispose of inconvenient people.

During his address to the court, Lerle defended himself and claimed that his statement was in no way taking away from the gravity of the sufferings of the Jews.

The German Catholic news service kreuz.net reports that the reason for the severity of the punishment is in part due to the pastor’s six previous convictions, which have seen the pastor serve two prison terms lasting eight and a half months in total.  He was formerly imprisoned for calling abortionists and their aides “child murderers.”

Brussels Journal reporter Paul Belien notes that German courts have slammed other pro-life advocates with heavy sentences for similar statements. German pro-life advocate Günter Annen, for example, was reported by the Journal as having called for an end to “unjust abortions” in 2005. She received a 50-day jail sentence on the grounds that her claim that abortion is “unjust” is legally inaccurate. The courts decided that her words wrongly implied that abortion is illegal in Germany.

Other Germans have also faced stiff sentences in the past for using strong language to condemn abortion.

After calling abortuaries places where, “life unworthy of living is being killed,” some were convicted for allegedly choosing similar language to what Hitler used to describe euthanasia under the Nazi regime.

Pope John Paul II underlined the parallel between the Nazi Holocaust and abortion, which he calls “legal extermination,” in his book “Memory and Identity” (2005). He wrote, “It was a legally elected parliament which allowed for the election of Hitler in Germany in the 1930s.” He also pointed out that the same country that declared Jews non-persons less than a century ago has ruled that unborn babies are not persons either (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/05022306.html).

Angela T. Wu, International Director of the Becket Fund, an American organization that guards the freedom of religious speech, commented to LifeSiteNews.com, “If these reports are true, this is a harrowing example of a growing trend of government laws that control its citizens’ viewpoints and stifle the free speech rights of religious organizations and practitioners.”

She continued, “Whether or not you agree with the pro-life position, Pastor Lerle and those like him must be allowed to freely espouse his and his church’s views on the issues without fear of government reprisal. While Volksverhetzung laws exist in Germany because of its unique history, that is no excuse for illegally violating the international human right to freedom of belief, which must include the right to profess those beliefs, even those of a controversial nature.”

Calls to the German Embassy in Ottawa for comment were not returned by press time.

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07062606.html

[Lusche]

Originally posted by Viking
Sounds to me Mr. Cruise is being discriminated against because of his beliefs, which are non-violent in nature. I think this is fundamentally unjust. I sympathize with Germany’s intentions to curb religious extremism and Neo-Nazism, but they have to stop acting like Nazis while doing it.

Well, Tom Cruise isn't banned from filming at all in Germany.

He may just don't get the authorisation to film on military installations.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the US Miltiary doesn't permit everybody to film on their bases or does support every production either. As far as I know, not only for security but for political reasons as well. Army doesn't like your agenda, person or project? Film it elswhere. (And I think that's absolutely their right).

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Lusche
Well, Tom Cruise isn't banned from filming at all in Germany.

He may just don't get the authorisation to film on military installations.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the US Miltiary doesn't permit everybody to film on their bases or does support every production either. As far as I know, not only for security but for political reasons as well. Army doesn't like your agenda, person or project? Film it elswhere. (And I think that's absolutely their right).

I'm correcting you. You're wrong on the bold part.

Now, if Germany is banning him at ANY location based on religious beliefs, then you might as well start practicing the goose step.

[Lusche]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
I'm correcting you. You're wrong on the bold part.

 

So US Army does support everyody?

That's kinda hard to believe. It wouldn't even make sense from a Army point of view.:

"Hollywood film-makers have frequently changed plot lines, altered history and amended scripts at the request of the Pentagon, according to recently released military documents. Producers and directors have often agreed to changes in order to gain access to expensive military hardware or to be able to film on military property."

Full "The Guardian" article at: http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/vp01.cfm?outfit=pmt&folder=715&paper=931

In the list of famous films denied any cooperation are for example "An Officer & a Gentleman", "Mars Attacks", "Apocalypse now" and many others.

[Curval]

The thing I would like to know is whether the film locations they need for historical accuracy are on the military bases.  I would imagine they are.  This is a problem.

From the little I read in that link it does not appear that Cruise is persuing any kind of Scientoligist agenda and therefore I don't agree that he should be refused permission to film BECAUSE of his beliefs.  If you don't like Tom Cruise portraying your father in a Hollywood movie, that is a separate issue and the son should be free to  try to stop it from happening through all legal means at his disposal.

[Lusche]

Originally posted by Curval
 If you don't like Tom Cruise portraying your father in a Hollywood movie, that is a separate issue and the son should be free to  try to stop it from happening through all legal means at his disposal.

I wonder if he has really any legal means at his disposal. And personally I'd think that this would be a rather silly thing.

[AKIron]

Maybe Cruise is just a convenient excuse to avoid cooperating with the production of a movie made about bombing GERMAN damns?


or is it dams

[Lusche]

Originally posted by AKIron
Maybe Cruise is just a convenient excuse to avoid cooperating with the production of a movie made about bombing GERMAN damns?

Surely not.
And German society is generally not overly patriotic when it comes to such questions, that should be no problem.
But let's just say: Scientology has been a very hot topic in Germany for years.

[AKIron]

Originally posted by Lusche
Surely not.
And German society is generally not overly patriotic when it comes to such questions, that should be no problem.
But let's just say: Scientology has been a very hot topic in Germany for years.

Really? It's pretty much ignored here in the US. Except perhaps in people magazine.