Irish atheists use Bjork, Mark Twain to challenge blasphemy law
January 2, 2010 5:27 a.m. EST
(CNN) -- An Irish atheist group has published a series of quotations on religion in an attempt to challenge a blasphemy law that went into effect on New Year's Day.
The 25 "blasphemous" quotations include the words of Jesus, Mohammed, Mark Twain, Salman Rushdie and Bjork.
Atheist Ireland published the list on its Web site Friday. It says it aims to challenge the law, which makes blasphemy a crime punishable by a €25,000-($35,800) fine.
http://www.cnn.com/...
Ah, the fools of Ireland.
As hypocritical as ever they could be. And they do set an international standard for hypocritical behavior.
This is the true blasphemy of Ireland, the blasphemy that the hypocritical fools of Ireland are afraid to criticize:
The latest child abuse scandal is as Irish as it is Catholic
Damian Thompson -- Last updated: May 28th, 2009
One of the most delicate questions surrounding the wicked child abuse by Irish Catholic clergy, brothers and nuns is this: how much of the abuse was Irish and how much of it was Catholic?
The question of Irishness has been hovering over the Catholic abuse scandals for years, ever since journalists noticed (but scarcely dared point out) that they seemed concentrated among the Irish Catholic diaspora of the United States, Canada and Australia. We always knew that terrible things happened in Ireland, too, though it was not until the publication of a 2,600-page report last week that we realised their extent.
The New York Times describes the horror of what happened in the reformatories run in the Irish republic by Catholic orders:
Tens of thousands of Irish children were sexually, physically and emotionally abused by nuns, priests and others [ie, brothers, the major offenders] over 60 years in a network of church-run residential schools meant to care for the poor, the vulnerable and the unwanted ... The 2,600-page report paints a picture of institutions run more like Dickensian orphanages than 20th-century schools, characterized by privation and cruelty that could be both casual and choreographed.
“A climate of fear, created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment, permeated most of the institutions,” the report says. In the boys’ schools, it says, sexual abuse was “endemic.”
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/...
Aye! Irish it is. And Catholic it is too. And it is endemic.
'Endemic' rape and abuse of Irish children in Catholic care, inquiry finds
Beatings and humiliation by nuns and priests were common at institutions that held up to 30,000 children, Ryan report states
Henry McDonald -- Wednesday 20 May 2009 16.40 BST
Rape and sexual molestation were "endemic" in Irish Catholic church-run industrial schools and orphanages, a report revealed today.
The nine-year investigation found that Catholic priests and nuns for decades terrorised thousands of boys and girls in the Irish Republic, while government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rape and humiliation.
The high court judge Sean Ryan today unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland's commission into child abuse, which drew on testimony from thousands of former inmates and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions. Police were called to the news conference amid angry scenes as victims were prevented from attending.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
And, who can possibly forget the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity:
The sisters of no mercy
The Irish flocked to see a film about the Catholic church's enslavement of so-called 'fallen' women in Dublin, but it is certain to touch a raw nerve in Britain too
Finian O'Toole -- The Observer, Sunday 16 February 2003
.... Mullan's film accurately describes the way that, in a climate of sexual hysteria, virtually any young woman could become a Magdalene. Not just conceiving a child out of wedlock but the suspicion that a girl might be in danger of having sex outside marriage was good enough reason to have her locked away. Often, the mere fact of being a defenceless orphan was sufficient proof that a girl was in moral danger and in need of rescue.
This kind of power was inevitably further abused by men in positions of authority. The laundries were a convenient dumping ground for servants raped by their masters and girls abused by priests or family members. Once inside, the women were silenced and, for the most part, institutionalised. Fed on a relentless diet of religious guilt and made to feel grateful for their rescue, many came to accept their lot.
It probably does no harm for British viewers to be reminded that the Magdalene institutions were not entirely a product of Irish Catholicism. There were similar establishments in England and Scotland. They evolved, moreover, from a peculiarly English Victorian cocktail of do-gooder moral activism and sexual hypocrisy. ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
Ah! Good old patronizing, patriarchal, hypocritical, women-hating Christianity. That good Old Time Religion!
And Ireland plummeting back in time to the 15th or 16th century:
Making blasphemy an offence takes Europe back several centuries
Published on 4 January 2010
Reporters Without Borders condemns “with the utmost firmness” a new defamation law in Ireland that establishes blasphemy as an offence punishable by a fine of up to 25,000 euros. The law took effect on 1 January.
Article 36 defines blasphemy as publishing or uttering “matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion.” It adds that judges could regard “genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value” as a defence.
“Originally envisaged as a way to bring Ireland’s press legislation up to date, this already highly questionable law is much more than just an adjustment,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Its definition of blasphemy leaves a lot of room for arbitrary interpretation. Who will decide or rule on the ‘sacred’ nature of a belief that is generally only determined by those who share it? How many adherents are needed to be counted as ‘substantial’? Who is going to be responsible for this strange calculation?
http://en.rsf.org/...
Oh Ireland! Is it time again for a Viking invasion to bring you back to sanity?
It might be well, in the meantime, to keep an eye on:
http://www.atheist.ie/
Pater Nostrus. Dominus. Dominion. Dominionists.
Man, the male sex is next to God. Woman rises from the Earth, She, the Evil One, is of Earth and threatens the sanctity of the Sacred Male Sex.
And, children, fruit of the lower woman, is under the utter dominion of Man who is next to God, and Man, Next to God, may enjoy children as he pleases.
FOOTNOTE ABORTION: Nicholas Kristof column:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
My daughter's experience during a medical internship in Pittsburgh:
A near-term pregnant hovered near death and universes away from the medical care that could save her because she had the bad luck to be hospitalized in a Roman Catholic hospital.
Nothing could be done to save her while the fetus lived.