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Newspaper article
summary:
the government of ireland set up a law that makes the publication or utterance of blasphemous matter a crime punishable by a €25,000 fine.
Especially atheist-groups, but also religious-groups are shocked by this new law since there wasn't even a priest, mullah or rabbi who claimed a law like that.
I think this is pretty big since Ireland is (should be) a modern, western state and their behaviour with religion should go the other way around.
I don't see how Ireland can keep this law since it seems like basically nobody likes it.
I, as an atheist but more likely acting as an agnostic, can accept any religion as long as they don't try to convince or even worse denunciate someone because of his faith.
While I think atheist who try the same (convince/denunciate) ain't better, this law it totally against human rights. It's against the right of equality and against the freedom of expression.
Your thoughts?
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Wow that's incredibly retarded, I'm glad I don't live in Ireland.
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17009 Posts
I don't understand how such a law could have passed their legislative body :/
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Thank god im exempt up in the north
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Wow, that's pretty unbelievable. If they are actually going to enforce that, they should make it punishable if you promote religion. It'd be fair then, noone can push their views on anyone else, unless they really want the 25k fine. I don't personally mind Athiests not being able to mutter any blasphemous matter, because they piss me off almost as much as religious fanatics who try to convert you, but as it stands, you can say whatever you want in the name of your God. Not cool.
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The religious version of hate-crime laws.
Both are equally retarded in any society which claims to be free and tolerant.
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On July 16 2009 23:33 Woyn wrote:
Thank god im exempt up in the north
lol I see what you did there.
And if I lived there I'd be getting arrested on a daily basis lol -.-
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And a Pint of Beer costs 5-7 Euros!
Nah, really stupid law... I was there recently and did not get much of the religious stuff, could as well have been an atheist country from my perspective (except all the old churches and stuff)...
Well, if the law has no base it probably won't be used much...
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It won't stand in the EU court.
Only problem is the time and money it takes to get your right.
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Don't a lot of "western" countries have laws against hate speech? I find both to be pretty ridiculous.
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Incidently, the next showing of Jerry Springer the Opera will be in dublin on the 29th if anyone fancies going!
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Tetragrammaton, there's nothing we can't do!
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On July 16 2009 23:34 MutaDoom wrote:
Wow, that's pretty unbelievable. If they are actually going to enforce that, they should make it punishable if you promote religion. It'd be fair then, noone can push their views on anyone else, unless they really want the 25k fine. I don't personally mind Athiests not being able to mutter any blasphemous matter, because they piss me off almost as much as religious fanatics who try to convert you, but as it stands, you can say whatever you want in the name of your God. Not cool.
There's all ready a law on the books for this. Called harassment. Why do people feel the need to have these redundant laws, case in point: Hate Crimes. What a bunch of malarky.
I sure like it how you like to restrict free speech. Might as well also make it punishable if you promote Communism (Envelops Atheism) and Socialism. It is the same thing. If you don't like someone expressing their views simply tell them [No, thanks.] and move along, if they continue then call the cops for harassment. Simple.
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8751 Posts
It seems like it'll severely limit artistic expression and media in Ireland. How many songs, movies, books, etc have blasphemies?
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On July 16 2009 23:28 jello_biafra wrote:
Wow that's incredibly retarded, I'm glad I don't live in Ireland.
Yeah, true.
...oh shit.
Its not gonna hold for too long anyway. I also dont really find Ireland any more religious than other european countries, so thats pretty weird.
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barth, isn't there a huge amount of history of church involvement in Ireland, especially in resisting British invasion and occupation?
Also, any news it this will be applied to tourists? I'm planning to go to Ireland soon ...
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My initial thought is the very branding of this act as "medieval" represents a medievalist kind of thinking, whereby individual features of a law or act is not seen by its individual or circumstantial qualities, but reduced to a symbolic quality to be mapped against the prescriptions of moral norms and general ideals. The very reduction of the Middle Ages to a singular pejorative phrase, and then to treat this phrase with a kind of assumed substantiality must go beyond even Medieval generalizations about history.
Secondly, this law was motivated not by medievalism, whatever that is, but by modern bureaucratic overreach. Its ambitions are not very different from other kinds of hate speech, subject to the Irish context where religion has been the "race" or "ethnicity" issue for a long time.
Thirdly, this is a bad law, since its ambiguous definition of blasphemy gives a lot of leeway for interpretation, and subjective preferences. Furthermore it mutilates the historical memories of Ireland, and painful as they are, should not simply be decked over by an order to silence.
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If I was Irish right now, I'd be demonstratively blasphemous just because of this law. This is ridiculous.
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Seeing Moltke's analysis amidst one-two liners is quite amusing.
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EPT
