Indonesian author and speaker Felix Siauw believes selfies are a sin.
According to Quartzs Lily Kuo, the Indonesian Muslim cleric posted on his Twitter account a 17-pont manifesto about how selfies are a sinful act for believers.
Felix Siauw argued that taking a selfie often means succumbing to pride, arrogance, and ostentation all of which make them a sin under Islam, Kuo reported.
One of the points on Siauws Twitter also specifically blamed women for this issue. According to a translation from news website Coconuts Jakarta, Siauw said women put too much emphasis on their selfies, which makes both selfies and women impure.
But Siauw isnt the first religious believer to denounce the selfie. Arab News reported last year that scholars felt the selfies Muslims took on their journey to Mecca were inappropriate. And Emmilie Buchanan-Whitlock of Deseret News National reported that some scholars and experts also see selfies as a new way for people to worship a false idol (themselves), which would also make selfies a sin.
There has been some backlash to Siauws declaration, however. Social media users have been posting selfies and tweets with the hashtag #selfie4siauw to show that they support selfies and dont see them as a sin.
And other religions have embraced the selfie, too. Last December, one church in Brooklyn used similar photos in the ad campaign #SelfiesforJesus to bring new members into its community, according to Deseret News Nationals Chandra Johnson.
Similarly, Pope Francis of the Catholic Church rose to fame with the help of a selfie he took with some fans. The selfie went viral and even sparked debate about how religion and new technology mixes together, which I wrote about back in 2013.
According to Quartzs Lily Kuo, the Indonesian Muslim cleric posted on his Twitter account a 17-pont manifesto about how selfies are a sinful act for believers.
Felix Siauw argued that taking a selfie often means succumbing to pride, arrogance, and ostentation all of which make them a sin under Islam, Kuo reported.
One of the points on Siauws Twitter also specifically blamed women for this issue. According to a translation from news website Coconuts Jakarta, Siauw said women put too much emphasis on their selfies, which makes both selfies and women impure.
But Siauw isnt the first religious believer to denounce the selfie. Arab News reported last year that scholars felt the selfies Muslims took on their journey to Mecca were inappropriate. And Emmilie Buchanan-Whitlock of Deseret News National reported that some scholars and experts also see selfies as a new way for people to worship a false idol (themselves), which would also make selfies a sin.
There has been some backlash to Siauws declaration, however. Social media users have been posting selfies and tweets with the hashtag #selfie4siauw to show that they support selfies and dont see them as a sin.
And other religions have embraced the selfie, too. Last December, one church in Brooklyn used similar photos in the ad campaign #SelfiesforJesus to bring new members into its community, according to Deseret News Nationals Chandra Johnson.
Similarly, Pope Francis of the Catholic Church rose to fame with the help of a selfie he took with some fans. The selfie went viral and even sparked debate about how religion and new technology mixes together, which I wrote about back in 2013.