Ireland has a new blasphemy law, and no one is happy about it. It came about because the 1937 Constitution says there should be a law, and there was not one. The Catholic Church did not want it. Even the sponsor of the law said the country is better off without it.
By a single vote, the parliament passed the bill a last month, and it has now been signed into law.
Damn the free speech, Ireland, you have your blasphemy law now.
This is not really a laughing matter, though. While the rest of the world, except for some Islamic Republics, have been separating church and state, Ireland decided to return to the cultural wonderland of the medieval era.
Deciding to update a 1961 law on defamation, Irish politicians realized that they needed to update the blasphemy law since they were in violation of the constitution that requires one. Updating the defamation law was easier than changing the constitution so they decided to chop the edges of free around speech. Of course, everyone understands that. Who wants to makes a politicians job harder than it is?
You don’t have a problem unless you are an atheist denying God, a Christian belittling Muhammad, A Jew ridiculing Jesus or a Muslim walking on the star of David. In other words, come October when the law takes effect, the Irish will be a bit less free than they are today.
It is not just free speech that has been criminalized by the new blasphemy law, but anything blasphemous. The police now have the right to come into a home and take away anything deemed blasphemous.
If you have a naked picture of the Pope, take it away as blasphemy. Perhaps you scribbled an image of Mohammed on a notepad, then away with the blasphemy. How about a picture of Jesus as gay? Sure, that is definitely blasphemy.
The law states blasphemy as, “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”.
“Substantial numbers” can mean anything. It is not a majority. It is not authorities in a religion. This means the blasphemy can be anything. There are substantial numbers in every religion who break off into separate sects because they are sufficiently outraged with “substantial numbers’ of others.
Luther posting his 95 theses in 1517 would qualify for a violation of this law.
Violating the law can bring a fine of $35,000.
In 2009, this is utterly ridiculous.
Ireland is not alone, though. Canada has a blasphemy law providing two years in jail. Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma and South Carolina also have laws. The UK only recently revised theirs. The difference is that these are laws left over from bygone eras and are no longer enforced.
Not so for Ireland. The ink for their blasphemy law has yet to dry.
Perhaps in the spirit of their new holiness, the Irish government can send some representatives to Saudi Arabia and Iran so they can learn the new techniques for stonings and beheadings.
At least the Irish still have their beer, so all is not lost. That is good because they really need it now.
Good piece, Glenn. When are governments going to learn that legislating religion dogma in any form is always a bad idea. Has history not taught them anything?
I can’t decide what is more shocking – that Ireland just implemented such a law or that SIX U.S. States have the law!
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