Ireland bucks trend with anti-blasphemy lawGoddamn It, Ireland Outlaws Blasphemy
Well, here I though it was the 21st century, and it turns out to be the 11th. How could I have missed that? They sure make good beer these days. I was thinking it was the 21st century because no thinking person would even consider trying to outlaw something as nebulous as blasphemy, as they apparently recently have in Ireland. Now I know you will say "Jesus McTitfuck, you must be crazy, that could never happen now!" But you would be wrong to assume such a thing. And hey, watch the language, okay? Let's not get you in any trouble.
I mean, this is Ireland we're talking about here. Ireland! Now I know religious intolerance is nothing new in that part of the world, considering the long history of bloodshed in Northern Ireland, but damn, this is just insane. I would expect this in Iran or Pakistan where this probably seems like a no-brainer, and entering the civilized family of nations has rarely been a laudable goal. But not in Ireland. Not even if this is only procedural and is quickly overturned. Goddamn, what the fuck!? Seriously!
Well, scratch off Ireland along with Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea as places to visit.
From this point I'll just post the best article that I came across on this subject, because from here on out it was just going to be me and every goddamn blasphemous fucking thing I could think of to say about religion, sky fairies, and yes probably even fluffy bunnies if I got mad enough.
And just for clarification purposes and covering my own ass: I am not in any way affiliated with ABC News or Mr. Paulos, and the photo for this post is from the ABC article.
The following story is from ABC News.com
New Blasphemy Law in Ireland
Monitoring the Illogic of Modern-Day Religious PersecutionWhen a modern Western country whose economy is based on science and technology adopts an absurdly medieval law, one would think that this would be a news story of at least moderate size.
Oddly though, almost no attention has been paid in the United Stares to the passing last month of a bill establishing a crime of blasphemy in Ireland.Approved by the Irish parliament, it states: "A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding euro."
Furthermore, "a person publishes or utters blasphemous matter if (a) he or she publishes or utters 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, and (b) he or she intends, by the publication or utterance of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage."
Even if I weren't the author of a book entitled "Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up," I would find this bill abysmally wrong-headed.
Even Parodies and Bad Jokes Liable to Fine
Although it provides for exceptions to prosecution if a "reasonable person" finds literary, scientific or other significant value in a work, it would allow for atheists to be prosecuted for denying the existence of God, a denial that clearly causes outrage in many.
Those writing parodies and bad jokes would also be liable to the 25,000 euro fine. Even an innocuous riff on God rescinding the Bible in the middle of the night the way Amazon called back the Orwell book from its Kindle reader could be prosecuted.
And if the reaction of some irate readers of my book is any indication, so could an imagined instant message exchange between me and God that appears in the book.
But non-believers would not be the only, or even the primary, ones affected by this blasphemy bill. People, irreligious or not, presumably could be prosecuted for drawing cartoons of Mohammad. Christians could be prosecuted for expressing scorn or even disbelief in the Christian teachings of other denominations.
Likewise, Jews and others could be prosecuted for denying the divinity or even the existence of Jesus. Or, if atheism is considered a religion (which it is not), atheists also could claim to be outraged by the expressions of their religious countrymen, each of whom could then be required to cough up 25,000 euro.
Law Allows for Confiscation of Blasphemous MaterialsThe law also allows for the confiscation of blasphemous materials -- novels, non-fiction books, short videos, full-length movies, etc.
Interestingly, the blasphemy law is not the only medieval aspect of Irish law. The preamble to the Irish Constitution maintains that the state's authority derives from the most holy trinity, stipulates that no one can become president or a judge without taking a religious oath, and declares that all citizens have obligations to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Similar but less overt sentiments and statutes exist in this country. Witness the arguments put forth by many that the U.S. is a Christian country.
More analogous is a little-known example involving the state of Arkansas, which has not yet roused itself to rescind article 19 of its constitution: "No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court." A few other states have similar laws.
Same Impulse in Politics
The impulse to enact benighted laws of this sort gives rise to more than these Taliban-like religious laws. After all, it is not only all-mighty deities that need special legal protection. Generals and politicians do too, so the same fearful defensiveness also leads to draconian edicts to protect political leaders and parties from ridicule.
Pakistan, to cite a recent example, has just announced a prohibition of jokes about President Asif Zardari. Anyone sending e-mails, text messages or blog postings containing such jokes is subject to arrest and a 14-year prison sentence. I'm sure even more prohibitive restrictions exist in those hotbeds of free-wheeling political humor, Burma and North Korea.
It's instructive to contrast these authoritarian laws against blasphemy, jokes, political humor and free speech generally with the way people deal with dissent from established scientific laws.
No laws prohibit people from denying that Earth is spherical, that evolution explains the development and diversity of life, or that the moon landing ever took place. The same holds for mathematics. No one claiming that pi is a rational number, that there are finitely many prime numbers, or that Godel's theorem is false has ever been hauled into court.
Of course, I by no means intend to equate the irreligious with scientific quacks. Just the opposite, in fact. It's simply that in most domains, those who insist on denying conventionally accepted beliefs are for the most part simply ignored. Statements that can stand on their own two feet (evidence and logic) don't need crutches (blasphemy laws) to support them.
As mentioned, Ireland is a modern pluralistic state with an educated population, a world-class literary tradition and a healthy economy that has transformed itself in recent years in large part through science and high-tech jobs. To continue this transformation, the religious and irreligious alike should reject this silly blasphemy law.
The religious should probably be most opposed to it, however. Placing punitive sanctions on the robust, or even the rude, expression of irreligious thought does not seem to say much for religion.
John Allen Paulos, a professor of mathematics at Temple University, is the author of the best-sellers "Innumeracy" and "A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper," as well as (just out in paperback) "Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up." His "Who's Counting?" column on ABCNews.com appears the first weekend of every month.
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