Justice Minister Dermot Ahern says that he is forced to revive the crime of blasphemy because of legal advice from the Attorney General. But independent legal advisors to the Council of Europe have advised that the offence of blasphemy should be abolished throughout Europe, in a report co-written by the Director General of the Irish Office of the Attorney General.
May 30, 2009
May 28, 2009
General Discussion and Comments Part 2
Discussion is welcome on this website. I’ve moved some discussion-based comments here to separate them from the specific themes of other posts. Please feel free to continue any discussions here that don’t seem to fit in anywhere else.
May 26, 2009
Public Meeting Next Wednesday in Cork
PUBLIC MEETING – BLASPHEMY IS A VICTIMLESS CRIME
- VENUE: METROPOLE HOTEL, CORK CITY
- DATE: WED 3rd JUNE TIME: 7-9pm
The Cork meeting is the third of several being held around the country, organised by Atheist Ireland, an advocacy group for an ethical and secular Ireland. Speakers will include
- Michael Nugent, chair of Atheist Ireland and co-writer of I, Keano
- Lothar Luken, Cork poet, writer and member of Humanist Association
- Local politicians will be invited
Please circulate this information to anyone you know, particularly to people from Cork. Thanks.
Discussion of Dublin Public Meeting
The Dublin public meeting was a great success. Thanks to everyone who turned up, and apologies to those who could not fit into the room.
We agreed to campaign against the new blasphemy law in four areas:
- Real-life and online lobbying of politicans.
- Contacting other relevant groups and individuals.
- Preparing legal challenges against the law.
- Public advocacy including future meetings in Cork on 3 June and Limerick on 16 June.
Can we please use the comments section on this post to discuss how the meeting went, and ideas for the next steps in each of these four areas?
Join the Church of Dermotology
On Wednesday 20 May 2009, speaking at a parliamentary Justice Committee debating his new blasphemy law, Dermot Ahern joked that people were making blasphemous comments about him, and he compared his own purity to that of the baby Jesus.
In response, on Monday 25 May 2009, at a crowded public meeting in Wynns Hotel in Dublin, campaigners against the blasphemy law have founded the Church of Dermotology, to worship Dermot Ahern and his proposed blasphemy law.
Please join at the Church’s Facebook Group Page and our Facebook Fan Page. Please also invite all of your friends to join what will surely become the world’s fastest-growing religion.
May 25, 2009
Stewart Lee on Blasphemy
Stewart Lee, co-writer of Jerry Springer The Opera, examines the impact of religious censorship on artistic expression (40-minute video).
Reminder – Public Meeting Today in Dublin
PUBLIC MEETING – BLASPHEMY IS A VICTIMLESS CRIME
- VENUE: WYNN’S HOTEL, ABBEY STREET, DUBLIN
- DATE: MONDAY 25th MAY TIME: 8-10pm
The Dublin meeting is the second of several to be held around the country, organised by Atheist Ireland, an advocacy group for an ethical and secular Ireland. Speakers will include:
- Michael Nugent, chair of Atheist Ireland and co-author of the play I Keano
- Ian O’Doherty, columnist with Independent newspapers
- Dick Spicer, chair of the Humanist Association of Ireland
- Robbie Bonham, comedian and cartoonist
Please circulate this information today, particularly to people from Dublin. Thanks.
May 22, 2009
May 20, 2009
In the News – May 16 to May 22
- Warning of blasphemy law’s ‘chilling effect’ on free speech
(news item in The Irish Times, May 19) - Ireland’s religion law flouts freedom of speech – watchdog
(news item in The National Post, May 19) - OSCE argues against blasphemy law
(news item on RTE, May 20) - Ahern ‘bemused’ by criticism
(news item in The Irish Times, May 19) - Ahern dismisses blasphemy ‘hysteria’
(news item in The Irish Times, May 21) - Changes to defamation Bill made by Minister
(news item in The Irish Times, May 22)
Submission to Justice Committee
The All-Party Justice Committee is meeting today to discuss the Defamation Bill, and we have arranged to send them a submission which will be circulated to them before they meet. Here is a draft of this submission. Any feedback welcome, before we send it over to the Committee.
Update: the submission has now been sent to the Justice Committee.
May 19, 2009
Public Meeting Next Monday in Dublin
PUBLIC MEETING – BLASPHEMY IS A VICTIMLESS CRIME
- VENUE: WYNN’S HOTEL, ABBEY STREET, DUBLIN
- DATE: MONDAY 25th MAY TIME: 8-10pm
The Dublin meeting is the second of several to be held around the country, organised by Atheist Ireland, an advocacy group for an ethical and secular Ireland. Speakers will include:
- Michael Nugent, chair of Atheist Ireland and co-author of the play I Keano
- Ian O’Doherty, columnist with Independent newspapers
- Dick Spicer, chair of the Humanist Association of Ireland
- Robbie Bonham, comedian and cartoonist
Please circulate this information to anyone you know, particularly to people from Dublin. Thanks.
Justice Minister to Amend New Blasphemy Law
The Minister for Justice is proposing to amend his new blasphemy law by providing, as a defence, that a person accused of blasphemy can “prove that a reasonable person would find genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value” in the blasphemous matter.
He is not proposing to reduce the fine of €100,000, the onus of proof is on the defendant to prove this new line of defence, and the police may still seize and destroy blasphemous statements. The Minister’s proposed blasphemy law now reads like this:
May 18, 2009
Public Meeting this Thursday in Waterford
PUBLIC MEETING – BLASPHEMY IS A VICTIMLESS CRIME
- VENUE: THE TOWER HOTEL, WATERFORD CITY
- DATE: THURSDAY 21st MAY TIME: 8-10pm
The Waterford meeting is the first of several to be held around the country, organised by Atheist Ireland, an advocacy group for an ethical and secular Ireland. Speakers will include:
- Michael Nugent, chair of Atheist Ireland and co-author of the play I Keano
- Barry Grant, Waterford resident and writer/film maker
- Other speakers to be confirmed
- Local politicians will be invited, including Deputy Brendan Kenneally, Chairman of the Select Joint Committee for Justice, and Deputy Brian O’Shea, also a member of said committee.
Please circulate this information to anyone you know, particularly to people from Waterford. Thanks.
May 16, 2009
General Discussion and Comments
Discussion is welcome on this website. I’ve moved some discussion-based comments here to separate them from the specific themes of other posts. Please feel free to continue any discussions here that don’t seem to fit in anywhere else.
May 15, 2009
In the News – May 9 to May 15
- Blasphemous law is another impediment to our freedom
(opinion piece by TP O’Mahony in Laois Nationalist, May 15) - Green Party Senator challenges blasphemy change
(news item by Mary Regan in The Irish Examiner, May 13) - Harney defends introduction of blasphemy law
(news item in the Irish Times, May 12) - Blasphemy law debated on RTE’s Questions and Answers
( 17-min TV clip, panelists include Humanist Dick Spicer, May 11) - Blasphemy law debated on RTE’s Spirit Moves
(hour-long radio show, broadcast May 10)
May 12, 2009
100 Ways to Stop the Irish Blasphemy Law
Here are 100 ideas and arguments to stop the Irish blasphemy law from being passed, based on the many suggestions posted so far on blasphemy.ie. They include:
- Campaign slogans and ideas for lobbying
- Religious, social, political and legal arguments
- Matter that could be Illegal under the new law
- Quotes about blasphemy
The best of these ideas will form the basis of our campaign in the coming weeks. Please let us know what you think of them, and thanks again for your suggestions so far.
May 11, 2009
Help Stop the Irish Blasphemy Law
Do you want to stop the Irish government from reviving the medieval crime of blasphemy? Do you want to promote a rational, ethical and secular society in Ireland?
- Please leave a comment, and we’ll pass it on to the Government.
- Please let us know if you want to help this campaign in any way.
May 10, 2009
Jerry Springer the Opera – Satan and Jesus
Publishing or performing this could be illegal in Ireland if the new blasphemy law is passed.
Ireland Opposes ‘Defamation of Religion’ Being a Crime
In December 2008 in Durban, the United Nations discussed an Egyptian motion on “combating defamation of religion”. Islamic states supported the motion, while European Union states opposed it. The motion was passed, but a later conference in April 2009 in Geneva removed references to “defamation of religion” from the final document.
Ireland voted with the other EU states that there should not be such a crime as “defamation of religion”. The Minister for Foreign affairs, Micheal Martin, later told the Dail that:
“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.”
So why is the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, reviving blasphemy laws contrary to the Government’s stated position?
May 9, 2009
We Must Not Incentivize Religious Outrage
Six months after the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed twelve cartoons of Muhammad in 2005, orchestrated Islamic outrage led to over a hundred people being killed and Danish embassies attacked in Syria, Lebanon and Iran.
The proposed Irish blasphemy law uses religious outrage as one of the triggers for determining whether material is blasphemous. This incentivizes religious outrage, and makes it more likely to happen.
Bloody Cartoons is a BBC documentary in which Danish director Karsten Kjaer examines the controversy and its impact on free speech in a democracy. It is filmed in Europe and the Middle east. Watch this important documentary, and campaign against the Irish blasphemy law.
Continue for parts 2 to 5 of the documentary…
May 8, 2009
In the News – Friday May 8
- If you’re truly liberal even hate-speech must be free
(opinion piece by David Quinn in the Irish Independent) - Ireland bucks trend with anti-blasphemy law
(news item by John Ozimek in The Register)
Is God the Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction?
Publishing or saying this could be illegal in Ireland if the new blasphemy law is passed:
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthristy ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006
Defending the Right to Offend
Many important ideas in the history of humankind have been considered offensive when they were first proposed. Indeed, the people proposing such ideas often did so knowing that they would cause offense. Here are some articles defending the right to offend as a necessary part of free speech.
- Defend the right to offend (opinion piece in Indian Express, 2009)
- Muslim artist gets death threats (news item on BBC, 2008)
- The Virtual Museum of Offensive Art (article in New Humanist, 2008)
- Blasphemy in the Christian World (book review in New Humanist, 2007)
- Why we will defend the right to offend (opinion piece in The Telegraph, 2006)
- I am here to defend the right to offend (speech by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, 2006)
Jesus Christ! The Musical – Jesus Will Survive
Publishing this could be illegal in Ireland if the new blasphemy law is passed.