Ireland Makes Blasphemy Illegal

I think this is just another form of a hate speech law, such as is popular in Europe and the U.K. and Canada.

Ireland is pretty much religiously homogenous, so it's understandable that blasphemy might be taken more seriously there.

I'm glad we don't have such laws in the U.S. as I am an advocate of free speech in almost all cases.

But if I were to go to Ireland or other parts of Europe I think I could live with their laws. I make it a practice not to say offensive things about other people's culture or ethnicity or beliefs anyway.

[edit on 11-7-2009 by Sestias]

reply to post by Essan
That's what I was about to say Essan,the article is actually in The Independant, Ireland and in fact it's the media who seem to be all for it,under the term blasphemous libel,A bit of Niddy Griddy would help though.

reply to post by smurfy


So y'all are saying that this merely extends the laws of libel to dieties? Does this pertain to all fictional characters?

Like would it extend to peter pan? If I said peter pan killed a man, and someone found that objectionable I could be fined?

reply to post by HunkaHunka
Ireland already has a blasphemy law,this is about amendment,otherwise a referendum would be needed.
Quite a few countries have a Blasphemy law such as this,Canada also has a Blasphemous Libel law.The UK law has been succeeded by a new Racial etc; law,this is Reuters report on the Irish law.
uk.reuters.com...
You will see the keywords in the new law are, "Intent to cause outrage"before this amendment, intent was not needed to prosecute!!




[edit on 11-7-2009 by smurfy]

So, no libelling deities... does this mean record stores in Ireland get half their stock taken away over night?

Might make an interesting Catch-22 though, when bibles cause an issue by being "libellous" about Satan...

Originally posted by smurfy
You will see the keywords in the new law are, "Intent to cause outrage"before this amendment, intent was not needed to prosecute!!

Which would then mean this is an improvement of the old version then

Isn't 'Intent to cause outrage" what started the whole IRA catholic/protestant thingy in the first place?

Sounds to me like its meant to take focus from small bar room taunts to more serious 'outrages'

Would it not be blasphemy to shout "Allah is supreme" in Ireland

[edit on 11-7-2009 by zorgon]

Originally posted by smurfy
You will see the keywords in the new law are, "Intent to cause outrage"before this amendment, intent was not needed to prosecute!!

It's a good thing judges and juries in Ireland are all mind readers. As such it will be no problem to read peoples minds to find their "intent".

Vas

blasphemy and free speech 2 diff. entity's. blasphemy should be punishable by death. as it is in a way, treason to any God fearing nation.
a nation that allows the spirit of blasphemy to exist, is invoking the
wrath of God.
it's a childish stupid thing to do, and totaly unneccesary on any level,
save for the demonic. no blasphemy isn't protected by free speech.
you offend God to the right person you, might just end up dead anyway
best leave well enough alone, on that one.

Totally disgusting.

I'm against all hate crimes laws. They are just an excuse to limit freedom of speech.

And of course, as in all countries this is adopted, it will be use selectively against ennemies of the state that want freedom.

Hell is paved with good intentions.

BTW, I don't care what's your religion, as long as you want the same thing as me, freedom.

The Defence calls Jesus H Christ to the witness stand.
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The proposed law flies in the face of a recommendation by the Law Reform Commission which said in 1991 that there was no place for such an offence in a society which respects freedom of speech.

source

The Constitution says that blasphemy is an offence that shall be punishable by law. That law currently resides in the 1961 Defamation Act. Because he was repealing this Act, Ahern said he had to pass a new blasphemy law to avoid leaving “a void”. But this “void” was already there. In 1999, the Supreme Court found that the 1961 law was unenforceable because it did not define blasphemy. In effect, we have never had an enforceable blasphemy law under the 1937 Constitution.

source


I would imagine that the first case of defamation brought before the courts , will bring about an outcry for it to be put to a referendum .Where i hope
it will be defeated .
Leading to a review of more "artefacts" in the Irish Constitution.

Civil wars are vicious and when the dirty deeds were done & dusted, troubled minds sought sanctuary by embracing the Church , almost encorporating it.

We have had our fill of it.

Most Irish people wouldn`t bat an eyelid to this , its rather irrelevant ~we have more pressing concerns . The government would like to talk about anything but the economy.

It will take a test case , for this to sink in ... IMHO.