Alexander Aan jailed today in Indonesia – Intensify campaign for his release and for repeal of blasphemy laws
Atheist Ireland condemns the jail sentence imposed today on Indonesian civil servant Alexander Aan for sharing material on Facebook about the Prophet Mohammad. The law should protect people from harm, and not protect ideas from criticism. We ask all Irish people to contact the Indonesian embassy demanding his immediate release, ...
Why we must combat blasphemy laws – Michael Nugent at the European Atheist Conference in Cologne
On May 26, Michael Nugent gave this talk about blasphemy laws to the European Atheist Conference in Cologne in Germany.
Two Irish Senators support Alexander Aan in Indonesian blasphemy case
Following a briefing of politicians by Atheist Ireland on Tuesday, two Irish Senators have asked the Irish Government to support Alexander Aan, the indonesian civil servant who is facing blasphemy charges for writing on Facebook that God does not exist. Speaking in the Seanad this Thursday, Senators Jillian van Turnhout ...
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 ...
In the News – Thursday May 7
Blasphemy law only panders to the deranged instincts of an intolerant immigrant minority (opinion piece by Kevin Myers in the Irish Independent)
Muslims and Public Religious Outrage
Publishing or saying this could be illegal in Ireland if the new blasphemy law is passed: "Religious 'outrage' is an almost unknown phenomenon in our culture: but it is so common on the Islamic street that one often wonders: do Muslims know any other public mood? And whereas I can ...
George Bernard Shaw – Immorality Needs Protection
In 1909, George Bernard Shaw had a play (The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet ) banned for blasphemy. In a masterstroke of unwitting satire, the parliamentary committee examining the matter also suppressed the statement that Shaw gave them in his defence. Shaw said he deliberately wrote immoral and heretical plays, in ...
Is Islam a Separate Religion At All?
Publishing or saying this could be illegal in Ireland if the new blasphemy law is passed: "There is some question as to whether Islam is a separate religion at all... Islam when examined is not much more than a rather obvious and ill-arranged set of plagiarisms, helping itself from earlier ...
Transubstantiation and Desert Superstitions
Publishing or saying this could be illegal in Ireland if the new blasphemy law is passed: "(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 ...