Ireland’s bizarre war on blasphemy
We read:
"It does seem bizarre that, in 2009, a modern European nation would seek to shield religious belief from criticism – yet that is what is happening in Ireland right now. In repealing the 1961 Defamation Act, the Irish government sought to expunge the worst excesses of Ireland’s draconian laws restricting free speech, but in the process it has ended up making offending religious belief a criminal offence.
Many are asking why on earth blasphemy should be criminalised, particularly at a time when the Catholic Church in Ireland is being investigated for widespread child abuse and its public image has hit rock bottom.
The government has responded to its critics by saying there is a constitutional requirement for a specific blasphemy law in Ireland. Indeed so: freedom of speech is guaranteed by Article 40.6.1 of the Irish constitution. However, it goes on to prohibit the publication of ‘blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter'. One might call the Irish constitution a clear case of the left hand giving and the right hand taking away.
The fact that this has been the case since the constitution came into effect in 1937 seems to have blinded the government to its usual option: the traditional Irish response to divisive issues is to pretend that they don’t exist. It is not for nothing that Ireland’s acceptance of abortion for those with enough money to travel to Britain is called ‘an Irish solution to an Irish problem’.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the constitution, only one case was ever taken under the blasphemy prohibition since the introduction of the constitution in 1937 (a 1999 case against a newspaper, in which the Supreme Court concluded that it was not possible to say ‘of what the offence of blasphemy consists’ and that ‘the state is not placed in the position of an arbiter of religious truth’). So, at the very least, it seems peculiar to bring the issue into the light of day in 2009.
The new blasphemy law is clearly an issue of offence. In an era when robust debate is needed more than ever, the government of Ireland has not only succeeded in assaulting the right to free speech – it has also introduced a law that incentivises outrage by encouraging religious groups to play up hurt feelings when their views are challenged.
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4 comments:
I think these morons get along better when they're shooting at each other. Besides, it's Irland. I mean, who cares.
Although not an Irish citizen, I had my boots on the ground in this lovely land of Political correctness for several years and I've discovered most of the indigenous population could be classified as sheeple. I see and hear a lot of plain old appeasement bullshite from politicians and others in authority and very few question or refute the statements of appeasement.
The Irish "blasphemy" law was brought in simply as an insurance policy. It will be used when some (heroic) person in Ireland publishes or publicly makes a statement that causes the 35,000 Muslim residents of Ireland to take to the streets and start riots.
The Irish politicians saw the resulting carnage happen when the Danish cartoons published in Denmark. They've also seen the car and building burnings in Sweden and France by "disenfranchised" youth of the Islamic culture when one of their ilk is arrested for a crime.
Now, with this law in place the financial sword of Damocles hangs over the heads of every person who is thinking about using religious rhetoric about the prophet Mohammed or other perceived insults to the Muslims.
30,000-Euro is the price one will pay for speaking out. And that is meant to deter the razing of Dublin. Come to think of it, that might be an improvement!
Blasphemy is a victemless crime
not when you get imprisoned for it or even executed
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