Icelanders disgusted by US evangelist's visit and a bishop apologises to the gay community

[dimbear]

http://freethinker.co.uk/2013/08/25/icelanders-disgusted-by-us-evangelists-visit-and-a-bishop-apologises-to-the-gay-community/

THE good folk of Iceland – said to be among the most godless people on earth – reacted with horror when they learned that a homophobic US preacher, Franklin Graham, had been invited to preach at a Festival of Hope rally at Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavik.
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Disgusted by Graham’s impending presence – Icelanders, 60 percent of whom say that religion has no place in their lives – decided to disrupt his gig by reserving free tickets they never intend using, in the hopes that Graham will deliver his empty message to an empty arena.
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Bishop of Iceland the Rt Rev Agnes M Sigurðardóttir, had apologised to the island’s gay community for the participation of the Church of Iceland in the festival because of Graham’s presence.
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Above and beyond your bravery, Bishop, gotta love your name.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. Icelandic Names

In Iceland, men take their father's first name, add "son" to the end, and that becomes their last name. Women take their father's first name, add "dottir" to it, and that becomes their last name. Women keep their names throughout their lives, even after they marry. So many people in Iceland carry the same last name that phone books list occupations along with addresses and names.

I read all this in an encyclopedia many years ago, so the part about the phone books might have changed. They might have a different way of identifying individuals today.

[Electric Monk]

3. So the Rt Rev Agnes M Sigurðardóttir is a she.

(to preempt any confusion)

[LuvNewcastle]

4. Yes, the head of their church is a woman at this time. n/t

[MADem]

6. Iceland can be shitty about names, too--the court can tell you what you can and can't name your kid.

In the case of Kanye-Kardashian, that probably would have been a good move, but we object to that sort of thing, even in the case of that poor child named "Messiah."

If you want to name your kid something a bit unique, you have to get it by THE ICELANDIC NAMING COMMITTEE. My POV is that this is a bit...er....heavy handed. Reminds me of the French getting all ballistic over perceived affronts to their language in a global environment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Naming_Committee

The Naming Committee was established in 1991[2] to determine whether new given names not previously used in Iceland are suitable for integration into the country's language and culture. The committee comprises three appointees who serve for four years, appointed by the Minister of Justice—one to be nominated by the Icelandic Language Committee, one by the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Iceland, and one by the university's Faculty of Law.[3]

A name not already on the official list of approved names must be submitted to the naming committee for approval. A new name is considered for its compatibility with Icelandic tradition[4] and for the likelihood that it might cause the bearer embarrassment.[5] Under Article 5 of the Personal Names Act,[3] names must be compatible with Icelandic grammar (in which all nouns, including proper names, have grammatical gender and change their forms in an orderly fashion according to the language's case system). Names must also contain only letters occurring in the Icelandic alphabet, and with only occasional exceptions, a name's grammatical gender must match the sex of the person bearing the name.[6]

As of the end of 2012, the Personal Names Register contained 1,712 male names and 1,853 female names.[7]

Quite recently, a family took a great deal of shit for coloring outside the naming lines--this was only just resolved:

The committee refused to allow Blær Bjarkardóttir Rúnarsdóttir (born in 1997[8]) to be registered under the name given her as a baby, on the grounds that the masculine noun Blær ("gentle breeze" in Icelandic) could be used only as a man's name. Blær—identified in official records as Stúlka[8] ("girl" in Icelandic)—and her mother, Björk Eiðsdóttir, challenged the committee's decision in court, arguing that Blær had been used as the name of a female character in a novel by Nobel-Prize-winning Icelandic author Halldór Laxness.[9][10]

On 31 January 2013, the Reykjavík district court ruled in the family's favour and overruled the naming committee, finding that Blær could in fact be both a man's and a woman's name and that Blær had a constitutional right to her own name, and rejecting government claims that it was necessary to deny her request in order to protect the Icelandic language.[11] After the court's decision, Iceland's interior minister confirmed that the government would accept the ruling and would not appeal the case to the country's Supreme Court.[12][13] The chair of the naming committee, as well as a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, said the ruling in Blær's case could prompt the government to revisit the current laws on personal names.[1]

Imagine being called "GIRL" until you turned sixteen because the gubmint didn't like your name!

[Cha]

2. Franklin Graham.. US homophobic asshole. WTF were

they thinking.

I'm with the 60% of the Icelanders..

[Hekate]

5. Three cheers for the Icelanders. I love their method of "disruption"-- quiet, well-mannered,...

... and very very pointed.

[cbayer]

7. I love what they did here by buying up all the tickets.

This actually happened a few weeks ago. Not sure why they are just getting around to publishing it now.

[No Vested Interest]

8. The bit about the reserving all the advance tickets

was publicized at least a week ago - likely on DU, but not sure where I saw it.

[cbayer]

9. It was posted by SecularMotion in this group on August 9.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/121890018

[No Vested Interest]

10. Thanks for removing cobwebs from my brain!

Still working on my morning coffee.

[okasha]

11. Thought it lookled familiar.

n/t

[Siwsan]

12. I lived in Iceland, for a year, and this does not surprise me

I found the Icelanders to be just about the most kind, generous and down-to-earth people on the planet. But, they also have ZERO tolerance for the 'Ugly American' persona.