"Micheal Martin, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, opposing attempts by Islamic States to make defamation of religion a crime at UN level, 2009: "We believe that the concept of defamation of religion is not consistent with the promotion and protection of human rights. It can be used to justify arbitrary limitations on, or the denial of, freedom of expression. Indeed, Ireland considers that freedom of expression is a key and inherent element in the manifestation of freedom of thought and conscience and as such is complementary to freedom of religion or belief."
Just months after Minister Martin made this comment, his colleague Dermot Ahern [has] introduced Ireland’s new blasphemy law."
As background, The Republic of Ireland's 1937 Constitution included this language: "...publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditous or indecent matter is an offense which shall be punishable in accordance with law."
In 1961, Ireland also passed a Defamation Law, which was recently amended to take effect yesterday, January 1, 2010. The government stated that it could not repeal the section of the Constitution without a referendum, and further claims that the recent reform of the 1961 Defamation Law was done "despire a desire to abolish it" but could not do so for, again, Constitutional reasons. The new amendment, however, now includes a new "Blasphemy Law" and this new law now calls for a fine of 25,000 Euro (or about $36,000) per offense.
"The new law defines blasphemy as publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, with some defences permitted."
Atheism Ireland is fighting back and they want your help. Today they published their own list of 25 ‘blasphemous’ quotes from diverse (and some suprising) sources, with a request for supporters throughout the blogosphere to republish their statement and/or list of quotes in entirety to support AE’s campaign for repeal and a saner, secular Ireland.
Two examples are:
'George Carlin, 1999: "Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He’s all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can’t handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!" '
'Ian O’Doherty, 2009: "(If defamation of religion was illegal) it would be a crime for me to say that the notion of transubstantiation is so ridiculous that even a small child should be able to see the insanity and utter physical impossibility of a piece of bread and some wine somehow taking on corporeal form. It would be a crime for me to say that Islam is a backward desert superstition that has no place in modern, enlightened Europe and it would be a crime to point out that Jewish settlers in Israel who believe they have a God given right to take the land are, frankly, mad. All the above assertions will, no doubt, offend someone or other." '
For the rest of the quotes, see the whole story at Europenews
Other links to the story are:
Irish Times
Canada.com