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Internet & IT
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2007-01-07 21:38:25-05
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Thailand blocks access to U.S.-based porn website that uses images of Buddha
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Bangkok, Jan 8: The Thai government blocked access Monday to a U.S.-based pornography website that uses an image of Buddha as its logo and is calling on Buddhists around the world to condemn the site, an official said. The Chicago-based website, buddha-porn.com, features sexually explicit material beneath an image of a golden statue of a seated Buddha and contains pornographic images divided up in different categories named, the Buddha Galleries, Nirvana Galleries, and Satori Galleries - the last two referring to Buddhist beliefs about reaching enlightenment, reports AP. About 90 per cent of Thailand's 65 million people are Buddhist. "It certainly crosses the line in a Buddhist society, " said Culture Ministry official Ladda Tangsuphachai, adding that the site was blocked by the Information Ministry after culture officials brought it to their attention. "We ask Buddhists around the world to send letters to condemn the website, " he said. The Foreign Ministry is asking the website' s administrators, through the U.S. Embassy in Thailand, to remove all Buddhist references from the site, Ladda said. "I don't know what their intention is, but I assume they did not know that this is unacceptable in our culture," Ladda said. The website' s home page offers this disclaimer: "This site is in no way associated with religion and any religious symbols on this site are just a joke."
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