Tag: religion

FEB 6, 2013 - An all-girl rock band out of Kashmir, "Praagaash", were forced to disband after a top cleric issued a fatwa against them. The 3 girls got scared for their lives and dissolved the group. They were starting to get many supporters, and even a "I Support Praagaash" Facebook page was put up to try and support them, but the pressure and fear was too much. A petition has been started on Change.org asking for the cleric to step down. The name of the band, Praagaash, means "first light" in Kashmiri, and they hoped to bring about more freedom for girls and music in their country; but their was a massive backlash against them by conservative and religious Kasmhmiris to what they saw as supposed bad western influence on their culture. Read more on Yahoo news here, including a video with video clips of the band. Watch a small clip of them playing below.

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MAR 30, 2012 - One of the freethinking musicians that will be playing at the Rock Beyond Belief event tomorrow March 31 at Fort Bragg, NC is Spoonboy, and JTMP got a chance to catch up with him and get his thoughts on the event. Below is the interview, and at the end there is a video of his song "What You Want" promoting Rock Beyond Belief. (Photo courtesy of Spoonboy)

JTMP: David thanks for doing the interview, we are Justice Through Music Project and musical activism is very important to us. Has activism always played a role in your music?

Spoonboy: I got into playing music around the same time as I became interested in activism.  A lot of the bands I grew up on were political bands, and being exposed to music through the DC punk scene in the early 2000's meant necessarily being exposed to politics.  All things in life have a political element.  There are politics in how you choose to write and distribute your music.  There are politics in what you choose to say with your music.  So I try to acknowledge that in my music, while also always trying to write from a personal place, because I think politics should always come from a personal place as well.

Click READ MORE  for rest of interview...

MAR 15, 2012 - Musician Miley Cyrus Tweeted a pic the other day about science, stardust, and the scientific part of the origin of life, and angered her Christian Twitter followers. The Tweeted pic had a quote from Canadian-American theoretical physicist Professor Lawrence Krauss that said, "...forget Jesus. Stars died so you can live." (see Tweet and full quote below) After angering many of her religious and Christian followers, she responded with the famous Einstein quote, "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind". 

Miley Cyrus continues to be brave and take a stand for equality and tolerance by ReTweeting NOH8 Campaign Tweets, and now she takes a stand for science and facts, and didn't back down when attacked for her beliefs and free thought by religious extremists.

Conservative hate-talk show host Rush Limbaugh who has been under fire recently for his 3-day anti-women hate-filled diatribe attack on activist Sandra Fluke, has been ordered by another musical artist to stop playing their music. Last week it was Peter Gabriel and the Canadian trio Rush, and now when Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine heard that Limbaugh had played their 1999 song "Sleep Now in the Fire" he tweeted and told Limbaugh to stop using their music:

Rage Against The Machine is one of the biggest activist bands ever, with lyrics that are not afraid to be in-your-face political, with songs such as, "Killing in the Name" and "Sleep Now in the Fire". Tom Morello of course has his alter-ego "The Nightwatchman" who has been heavily involved with the Occupy Movement. Watch the Michael Moore directed video of "Sleep Now in the Fire" below.  (Photo credit: Penner/Flickr)