More on Ireland’s proposed blasphemy law – atheists organise
Dermot Ahern tries to justify his introduction of a blasphemy law onto the Irish statute books by claiming that just wants to make life safer for blasphemers:
My intention is to remove the possibility of prison sentences and private prosecutions for blasphemy, currently provided for in Irish law.
If this is the case, why the 100,000 Euro fine and raid-and-confiscation powers to the Gardai? Surely, if the Constitution requires that blasphemy be a punishable offence and a referendum to change that is prohibitively expensive, a maximum fine of 1 Euro would be sufficient.
Meanwhile, church and mosque leaders claim they were not consulted on Ahern’s new proposal, although a spokesman for the Islamic Cultural Centre in Clonsskeagh did say they “would welcome any policy or law to maintain or strengthen respect for religion or faith”. Surprise, surprise.
At least one religious commentator is very strongly against the move. John Waters, in the Irish Times:
It is true that we now live in a culture where what passes for humour is often elevated beyond merit, but the right to speak and joke freely remains as precious as the right to religious freedom. In truth, because both relate to the fundamental impulses of humanity, they are almost co-terminous.
Which seems to be circumlocutory paraphrase of something we wrote here on MWW two years ago – the right to believe in shit is inseparable from the right to take the piss.
Atheist Ireland are organising active opposition. Join them.
Seeing as he has completely failed in Blighty, this might be a good time for Stephen ‘Birdshit’ Green to emigrate and ‘treat’ the Irish to more of this kind of thing:
http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/ulster.html
Those bloody Pastafarians are backing this move. One of their ilk has left a message on the link above. May their meatballs bubble in hell.
This merely shows that ‘god’ seems to require laws to survive all of which are created by humans…who seem to be running scared a lot more these days now that ‘we’ can voice our opinions freely without the risk of the religious burning us at the stake…which is being replaced by being prosecuted by ‘the law.
Let me get this straight Mr. Ahern, you believe in talking animals, magic fruit and dead people coming back to life, and a thousand other childish absurdities. One of these re-animated people levitated to a place called Heaven which was claimed to be in a place that has now been explored, and it isn’t there. You now think that there should be a law preventing people from telling you that you are mistaken, is that about right? As for humour, you have to admit that religious beliefs are inherently likely to attract ridicule.
It would be an outright lie for Irish faith leaders to say they were ‘not consulted’.
In 2005 a project called the ‘Dialogue between Government and Religious, Philosophical and Non-Confessional Groups’ began, and involves at least 25 religious groups, including one ‘non-confessional’ – the Humanist Association of Ireland’ -though due to fannying about by leading Catholics it didn’t start meeting until 2007. It meets ministers from key departments regularly in a format where, by law, they are obliged to listen to any concerns expressed.
I know because I was told a hilarious story from the HAI representative about the first meeting, where she, a very respectable lady, sat at one end of the table while 24 spookchasers cowered at the other, fingering their holy whatsits and demanding that she be thrown out.
She wasn’t, the group still meets and the spookchasers no longer get exclusive private audiences with senior government figures, which is the way they prefer to be ‘consulted’.