An atheist group in Ireland is challenging a recent new blasphemy law that came into force on January 1st 2010. It is doing so by publishing a series of 'blasphemous' quotes from famous historical figures.
The new law makes blasphemy a crime punishable with fines up to 25,000 euros.
The Irish government says it is needed because the republic's 1937 constitution only gives Christians legal protection of their beliefs.
Of course anyone with any sense would see that to make it fair the original law should have been repealed rather than extended to include other religions.
Story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8437460.stm
The quotes:
http://blasphemy.ie/2010/01/01/atheist-ireland-publishes-25-blasphemous-quotes/
What fun! going to read those now or I will when the site comes back. It's either been removed or collapsed under the strain.
Does this mean that if someone in Ireland reads here that I think Jesus is a fantasy held onto by immature personalities and corrupt control freaks that a crime will have been committed there? (where they were sitting when they read it)
The last thing I want is some bishop telling his flock that jesus wants them to chase after me with an axe.
All religious laws should be scrapped. In court and government, 'Religion', 'God' etc should be null words. Any sentence containing them should be disregarded. Perhaps searching and replacing each instance with 'wibble' to highlight the point.
"The Lord is our Wibble, he maketh us to lie down in green pastures"
"Wibble is Great"
"There is only one Wibble and he is Wibble"
Need that laugh-or-cry icon ...... good for these guys showcasing the absurdity of the law (now with more, extra added religions) by defying it and inviting prosecution. But a law just like this is being forced on the UN by islamic theocracies - it's frightening that the UN, for wibble's sake, is being intimidated into crawling to the dictates of religious bigotry. Bad enough when one little backwater country (such as the UK, even though it happens to be Ireland in this case) does this ... how much worse when it's on a global scale, and with more rabid teeth.
I believe that, sensibly, the UK finally got around to repealing the blasphemy laws in 2008.
Ireland in the meantime is asking for shedloads of trouble in implementing this silly piece of legislation since both the Koran and the Bible contain blasphemous passages. The former attacks both Judaism and Christianity, and the latter just Judaism.
Good point. Piling insanity upon insanity, how can the same piece of legislation possibly be implemented if one lot's Holey Reading Matter lambastes the other lot(s)? On the other hand, wouldn't it be lovely if they all went to court at the same time .... 