Atheist Ireland Challenges New Blasphemy Law
In 2009, Ireland made history with its great leap backward, imposing a 25,000-Euro fine on anyone convicted of the heinous charge of blasphemy . . . that is, offending the delicate sensibilities of someone else’s imaginary friend. The organization Atheist Ireland has posted 25 “blasphemous quotes” in a challenge to this ridiculous law.
As we reported in July, the Irish Constitution has always held a reference to the illegality of blasphemy. However, there was no punishment and no mechanism for enforcement specified. It was largely considered an anachronism . . . until 2009, when Ireland’s elected bodies decided to fix the problem not by sponsoring a referendum to remove the language, but by providing the opportunity for enforcement and punishment!
Atheist Ireland has provided a succinct history of the blasphemy law; reading this, written in May 2009, makes one wonder just how the law could ever have passed!
Blasphemy was a common law offence under Irish law when the 1937 Constitution explicitly made it an offence punishable by law. The Defamation of Act of 1961 also made it a statutory crime, but did not define what blasphemy was.
The 1996 Constitution Review Group called for the deletion of the crime of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution, along with other references to the Christian God, religion and religious oaths. Two other All-Party Committees have also called for the removal of religious references in the Constitution.
In 1999, the Supreme Court found the Irish law against blasphemy to be unenforceable. In 2008, the UK abolished its blasphemy law from which ours evolved. And the 2008 Irish All-Party Committee on the Constitution repeated the call to remove the blasphemy reference from our Constitution.
Just last year, Ireland voted at the UN against an attempt by Islamic states to make ‘defamation of religion’ a crime.
AI points out the dangers of this new law:
This new law is both silly and dangerous. It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas. And it is dangerous because it incentivises religious outrage, and because Islamic States led by Pakistan are already using the wording of this Irish law to promote new blasphemy laws at UN level.
In October, Pat Condell commented on the blasphemy resolution put forth by Islamic states to the UN . . . one which, if accepted by member states, would trump the United States Constitution’s First Amendment!
On their new website, blasphemy.ie, Atheist Ireland has published its list of 25 blasphemous quotes. Ranging from luminaries known to exist like Mark Twain and Randy Newman to illustrious figures whose existence is a bit less certain like Jesus of Nazareth and Muhammed, there’s something to offend everyone who relies upon the purported reality of an all-powerful yet easily-offended imaginary friend.
A few of my personal favorites:
2. Jesus Christ, talking to Jews about their God, in John 8:44: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” This is one of several chapters in the Christian Bible that can give a scriptural foundation to Christian anti-Semitism. The first part of John 8, the story of “whoever is without sin cast the first stone”, was not in the original version, but was added centuries later. The original John 8 is a debate between Jesus and some Jews. In brief, Jesus calls the Jews who disbelieve him sons of the Devil, the Jews try to stone him, and Jesus runs away and hides.
3. Muhammad, quoted in Hadith of Bukhari, Vol 1 Book 8 Hadith 427: “May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they built the places of worship at the graves of their prophets.”
11. Frank Zappa, 1989: “If you want to get together in any exclusive situation and have people love you, fine – but to hang all this desperate sociology on the idea of The Cloud-Guy who has The Big Book, who knows if you’ve been bad or good – and cares about any of it – to hang it all on that, folks, is the chimpanzee part of the brain working.”
15. George Carlin, 1999: “Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He’s all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can’t handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!”
20. Pope Benedict XVI quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor, 2006: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” This statement has already led to both outrage and condemnation of the outrage. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the world’s largest Muslim body, said it was a “character assassination of the prophet Muhammad”. The Malaysian Prime Minister said that “the Pope must not take lightly the spread of outrage that has been created.” Pakistan’s foreign Ministry spokesperson said that “anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence”. The European Commission said that “reactions which are disproportionate and which are tantamount to rejecting freedom of speech are unacceptable.”
23. Ian O’Doherty, 2009: “(If defamation of religion was illegal) it would be a crime for me to say that the notion of transubstantiation is so ridiculous that even a small child should be able to see the insanity and utter physical impossibility of a piece of bread and some wine somehow taking on corporeal form. It would be a crime for me to say that Islam is a backward desert superstition that has no place in modern, enlightened Europe and it would be a crime to point out that Jewish settlers in Israel who believe they have a God given right to take the land are, frankly, mad. All the above assertions will, no doubt, offend someone or other.”
Please spread the word. Share your support of Atheist Ireland, and your condemnation of the ridiculous blasphemy law.
What can I do?
- Visit their website at blasphemy.ie.
- Become a fan of the No Blasphemy Law in Ireland Facebook page.
- Sign the Online Petition.
- Stay tuned and look for more opportunities to get involved!
How pathetic and small must gods be, if they need to be defended by puny little humans from the insults of those who don’t believe in them?
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