blasphemy.ie

January 1, 2010

Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes

Filed under: Atheist Ireland, Campaign, Freedom of Speech, Is this Blasphemy?, Quotes — Michael Nugent @ 12:33 am

From today, 1 January 2010, the new Irish blasphemy law becomes operational, and we begin our campaign to have it repealed. Blasphemy is now a crime punishable by a €25,000 fine. 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.

This new law is both silly and dangerous. It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas. And it is dangerous because it incentivises religious outrage, and because Islamic States led by Pakistan are already using the wording of this Irish law to promote new blasphemy laws at UN level.

We believe in the golden rule: that we have a right to be treated justly, and that we have a responsibility to treat other people justly. Blasphemy laws are unjust: they silence people in order to protect ideas. In a civilised society, people have a right to to express and to hear ideas about religion even if other people find those ideas to be outrageous.

Publication of 25 blasphemous quotes

In this context we now publish a list of 25 blasphemous quotes, which have previously been published by or uttered by or attributed to Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Mark Twain, Tom Lehrer, Randy Newman, James Kirkup, Monty Python, Rev Ian Paisley, Conor Cruise O’Brien, Frank Zappa, Salman Rushdie, Bjork, Amanda Donohoe, George Carlin, Paul Woodfull, Jerry Springer the Opera, Tim Minchin, Richard Dawkins, Pope Benedict XVI, Christopher Hitchens, PZ Myers, Ian O’Doherty, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor and Dermot Ahern.

Despite these quotes being abusive and insulting in relation to matters held sacred by various religions, we unreservedly support the right of these people to have published or uttered them, and we unreservedly support the right of any Irish citizen to make comparable statements about matters held sacred by any religion without fear of being criminalised, and without having to prove to a court that a reasonable person would find any particular value in the statement.

Campaign begins to repeal the Irish blasphemy law

We ask Fianna Fail and the Green Party to repeal their anachronistic blasphemy law, as part of the revision of the Defamation Act that is included within the Act. We ask them to hold a referendum to remove the reference to blasphemy from the Irish Constitution.

We also ask all TDs and Senators to support a referendum to remove references to God from the Irish Constitution, including the clauses that prevent atheists from being appointed as President of Ireland or as a Judge without swearing a religious oath asking God to direct them in their work.

If you run a website, blog or other media publication, please feel free to republish this statement and the list of quotes yourself, in order to show your support for the campaign to repeal the Irish blasphemy law and to promote a rational, ethical, secular Ireland.

List of 25 Blasphemous Quotes Published by Atheist Ireland

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May 10, 2009

Ireland Opposes ‘Defamation of Religion’ Being a Crime

Filed under: Defamation of Religion, European Union, Irish Politics, Micheal Martin, Quotes, United Nations — Michael Nugent @ 12:22 am

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 8, 2009

Is God the Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction?

Filed under: Christianity, Is this Blasphemy?, Judaism, Quotes, Richard Dawkins — Michael Nugent @ 4:05 pm

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

May 7, 2009

Blasphemy Laws are Legal Protection of Nonsense

Filed under: Nick Harding, Quotes, Science — Michael Nugent @ 2:13 pm

The blasphemy laws are the legal protection of nonsense. Why is there not an equivalent of the blasphemy laws for science? The reason is that science can take any criticism leveled against it. That’s how science, and therefore our understanding of the universe, continue to develop. 

Factions of scientists do not engage in sectarian violence to the death because one group believes in the Steady State theory while another believes in the Big Bang. Scientists do not picket films that have a perceived anti-scientific stance. There were no howling mobs outside cinemas showing I Robot.

There is a great deal of anti-science in the world but scientists do not congregate waving placards and threatening death to anyone who denies the existence of Einstein. Nor do they place fatwas on those who deny quantum mechanics. They have better things to do.

Nick Harding, How to be a Good Atheist, 2007

May 6, 2009

What if a Religion Deserves to be Disliked Intensely?

Filed under: Quotes, Stephen King — Michael Nugent @ 1:00 pm

Publishing or saying this could be illegal in Ireland if the new blasphemy law is passed:

“But what is wrong with inciting intense dislike of a religion, if the activities or teachings of that religion are so outrageous, irrational or abusive of human rights that they deserve to be disliked intensely?

To criticise people for their race is manifestly irrational, but to criticise their religion is surely a right. The freedom to criticise or ridicule ideas – even if they are sincerely held beliefs – is a fundamental freedom.”

Stephen King, Irish Examiner, May 6 2009

May 5, 2009

Blasphemy Laws Protect Bigots, Not Religions

Filed under: Dermot Ahern, Fintan O'Toole, Freedom of Speech, Funny, George Bernard Shaw, Jedi Church, Quotes — Michael Nugent @ 11:20 am

“A hundred years ago this month, Bernard Shaw’s little play The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet was refused a licence for performance by the English censors… How brilliant of Dermot Ahern to mark this important event in Irish intellectual life by reminding us of the absurdity of blasphemy laws.

Does he really think that it should be a crime to offend members of the Jedi church (from census returns that includes 70,000 people in Australia; 50,000 in New Zealand; 390,000 in the UK) by saying that a light sabre makes you look like a dork? Of course not.

With one satiric touch he has honoured the memory of Shaw, Yeats and Gregory and reminded us that blasphemy laws exist to protect, not religions, but bigots. For his next trick, he will mark the Darwin bicentenary by threatening to make creationism compulsory.”

Fintan O’Toole, Irish Times, May 5 2009

May 4, 2009

An Insane God who Requires Blood and Misery

Filed under: Christianity, Is this Blasphemy?, Mark Twain, Quotes — Michael Nugent @ 5:12 pm

Publishing or saying this could be illegal in Ireland if the new blasphemy law is passed:

“But you notice that when the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, adored Father of Man, goes to war, there is no limit. He is totally without mercy — he, who is called the Fountain of Mercy. He slays, slays, slays! All the men, all the beasts, all the boys, all the babies; also all the women and all the girls, except those that have not been deflowered.

He makes no distinction between innocent and guilty. The babies were innocent, the beasts were innocent, many of the men, many of the women, many of the boys, many of the girls were innocent, yet they had to suffer with the guilty. What the insane Father required was blood and misery; he was indifferent as to who furnished it.”

Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, 1909

May 3, 2009

Is Islam a Separate Religion At All?

Filed under: Christopher Hitchens, Is this Blasphemy?, Islam, Quotes — Michael Nugent @ 12:05 am

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 books and traditions as occasion appeared to require…

Islam in its origins is just as shady and approximate as those from which it took its borrowings. It makes immense claims for itself, invokes prostrate submission or “surrender” as a maxim to its adherents, and demands deference and respect from nonbelievers into the bargain. There is nothing—absolutely nothing—in its teachings that can even begin to justify such arrogance and presumption.”

Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great, 2007

May 2, 2009

Pope John Paul II Opposed Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws

Filed under: Catholic, Christianity, International, Pope John Paul II, Quotes — Michael Nugent @ 5:42 pm

The following is an extract from a speech by Pope John Paul II in May 2003, addressing the new Ambassador to the Holy See from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

“Your Excellency, I am pleased to acknowledge the considerable political reforms which have recently been implemented in Pakistan for the improvement of civic life… Nevertheless it must also be noted that the grievances which continue to be felt particularly among the Christian minority in your country detract from the overall well-being of the nation. The grave difficulties that the Blasphemy Laws cause and the incidents of violence and vandalism against Christians and their properties have been well documented.”

Pope John Paul was right about this. And blasphemy laws are as wrong in Ireland in 2009 as they were in Pakistan in 2003.

May 1, 2009

Transubstantiation and Desert Superstitions

Filed under: Christianity, Ian O'Doherty, Is this Blasphemy?, Islam, Judaism, Quotes — Michael Nugent @ 12:18 am

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 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.”

Ian O’Doherty, Irish Independent, March 6 2009

April 29, 2009

Irish Constitution – All Authority Comes From God

Filed under: Eamon de Valera, Irish Constitution, Irish Politics, Quotes — Michael Nugent @ 12:04 am

What Eamon de Valera told the Dail during the debate on the 1937 Irish Constitution:

“I want everybody to realise what this Constitution states about authority. In the Preamble, and in the Article that refers to that, there is a clear, unequivocal statement that authority comes from God. That is fundamental. It does not matter what view a group of Catholic theologians may take as to how it comes to the immediate rulers. What we have here is clear at any rate – that authority is from God. That is fundamental Catholic doctrine, and it is here. It is true doctrine.”

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