Ireland passes anti-blasphemy law

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cyberwolf001

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Lnik
On Friday July 11th, 2009, Ireland passed the Defamation Bill by one vote. One of the aspects of this bill would make it illegal to criticize religion… any religion under penalty of fines up to 25,000 Euros. That is the equivalent to nearly $35,000.
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I wonder what will happen when a faith like Wicca, Druidry or Buddhism his Blasphemied by a Christian as I’ll bet money this law will mostly be infavor of religions of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic type.
 
Islam will have a field day with this. They’ll charge the other religions into silence.
 
quote=the new law For the purposes of this section, a person publishes or utters blasphemous matter if (a) he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion, and (b) he or she intends, by the publication or utterance of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.
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I think this law is a mistake. 😦

BTW, since the original news source was from a blog, I will include an Irish newspaper article.
irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0710/1224250387384.html
 
I wonder if we will hear the Vatican condemn this law. To the best of my knowledge, the church considers freedom of speech a basic human right.
 
cyberwolf001 said:
Lnik

I wonder what will happen when a faith like Wicca, Druidry or Buddhism his Blasphemied by a Christian as I’ll bet money this law will mostly be infavor of religions of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic type.
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Thought control.1984.
 
In principle it would be nice to have a law to prevent blasphemy but…

Muslims consider it blasphemous to call God “father”, so the Lord’s Prayer is a form of blasphemy to some of them. So I don’t see how we can have a law like this in a pluralistic society, where one persons worship is another person’s blasphemy.
 
Ilroy said:
Reference to the book 1984 as written by George Orwell. Everyone would be wise to read through that one in these times…much has already come to pass, and much more is just on the horizon.
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When I was a senior in high school (93) this book was required reading. Even then I could see that some of the things in the book were already happening. Since then we have moved even closer to the Big Brother society that was in the book. I do agree, this is one of those books everyone should read. It does make you think.

Back on topic:
I do agree with some of the others. Some of the faiths out there will have a field day with this law. 😦
 
Ilroy said:
Reference to the book 1984 as written by George Orwell. Everyone would be wise to read through that one in these times…much has already come to pass, and much more is just on the horizon.
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1984 is one of my favorite books and I feel INGSOC is incarnated in the Republican Party. But this is probably for another thread.

I’m just wondering how the reference relates to the thread.
 
:eek:

What the heck? Good idea in concept, but this is going to be taken too far I think.
 
For the record, I’m opposed to this new law of blasphemous libel.

That said, I should point out for those not familiar with the Irish Constitution, that Article 40 while guaranteeing freedom of speech, qualifies it by stating:
The State shall endeavour to ensure that organs of public opinion, such as the radio, the press, the cinema, while preserving their rightful liberty of expression, including criticism of Government policy, shall not be used to undermine public order or morality or the authority of the State…The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent material is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.
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Clearly, what is required is a change to Article 40 to remove the term ‘blasphemous’. In Ireland, that would require a referendum. I doubt that there is enough support among the population to run such a referendum.

An Irish Times article of last April gave the following information:
The prohibition on blasphemy dates back to English law aimed at protecting the established church, the Church of England, from attack. It has been used relatively recently to prosecute satirical publications in the UK.
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In the only Irish case taken under this article, Corway -v- Independent Newspapers, in 1999, the Supreme Court concluded that it was impossible to say “of what the offence of blasphemy consists”.
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It also stated that a special protection for Christianity was incompatible with the religious equality provisions of Article 44.
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Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern proposes to insert a new section into the Defamation Bill, stating: “A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €100,000.”
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“Blasphemous matter” is defined as matter “that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion; and he or she intends, by the publication of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.”
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Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section, the court may issue a warrant authorising the Garda Síochána to enter, if necessary using reasonable force, a premises where the member of the force has reasonable grounds for believing there are copies of the blasphemous statements in order to seize them.
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Labour spokesman on justice Pat Rabbitte is proposing an amendment to this section which would reduce the maximum fine to €1,000 and exclude from the definition of blasphemy any matter that had any literary, artistic, social or academic merit.
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Another one of those Disguised “hate speech” laws that will be used by rascals, weasels & enemies of Christianity & the Pro-sin forces to try 7 enrich themselves & squelch Free-speech and Religious Speech.

Clearly another tool by which God Fearing folks will be made to feel afraid. If you should utter something that a group feels is injurious to there basic tenets they will now use this tool to bash the so-called offender over the head.

Truly a bad bill with much potential mischief making potential.
 
imkingdad said:
Another one of those Disguised “hate speech” laws that will be used by rascals, weasels & enemies of Christianity & the Pro-sin forces to try 7 enrich themselves & squelch Free-speech and Religious Speech.

Clearly another tool by which God Fearing folks will be made to feel afraid. If you should utter something that a group feels is injurious to there basic tenets they will now use this tool to bash the so-called offender over the head.

Truly a bad bill with much potential mischief making potential.
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:banghead: 🤷
 
Yellow_Belle said:
:banghead: 🤷
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Yellow being the victim is a corner stone of all forms of Christianity over here in America. Because Jesus said we’d be persecuted, rather than do the crazy things that would get one persecuted: standing up for the sick, helping the poor and so forth (well they do defend the unborn from abortion, but prenatal and post birth care is a no-no) they look for enemies anywhere they can find them.
 
I think that this law greatly curtails peoples freedom of speech. I think what everyone needs to remember, is that this could also be used against religion. For example, if a Christian says something about a Muslim that is considered blasphemous, look out!
 
arcio said:
I think that this law greatly curtails peoples freedom of speech. I think what everyone needs to remember, is that this could also be used against religion. For example, if a Christian says something about a Muslim that is considered blasphemous, look out!
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Eh…surely whole thing about blasphemy is that it’s about religion and religious beliefs? Isn’t it about expressing disrespect for God or for something sacred?

Just curious, if a Muslim said something to a Christian that the Christian considered blasphemous and the Muslim was prosecuted under this law, would you feel differently?

As far as I can see this new blasphemy law has been purposely framed in a way that makes it almost unenforceable - in other words, it is bad law.
 
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