| abstract | - 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. 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 being viewed as obscene, challenging a dogma, or violating a 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. 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. 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. 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.
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