Irish atheists are horrified by new legislation making blasphemy illegal, and punishable by a 25,000-Euro fine. Christians of all stripes should be, too.

As part of a revision to defamation legislation, the Dail (Irish Parliament) passed legislation creating a new crime of blasphemy. This attack on free speech, debated for several months in Europe, has gone largely unnoticed in the American press.

The text of the legislation is provided at the end of this post.

How does this impact free speech? Just don’t be rude.

* Atheists can be prosecuted for saying that God is imaginary. That causes outrage.
* Pagans can be prosecuted for saying they left Christianity because God is violent and bloodthirsty, promotes genocide, and permits slavery.
* Christians can be prosecuted for saying that Allah is a moon god, or for drawing a picture of Mohammed, or for saying that Islam is a violent religion which breeds terrorists.
* Jews can be prosecuted for saying Jesus isn’t the Messiah.

Is it really THAT big a deal?

Ireland’s Blasphemy Bill not only criminalizes free speech, it also gives the police the authority to confiscate anything deemed “blasphemous”. They may enter and search any premises, with force if needed, upon “reasonable suspicion” that such materials are present.

* The local Freethinkers society, with its copies of Hitchens’ God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.
* The video store, with copies of The God Who Wasn’t There.
* The history teacher, who uses The Dark Side of Christian History to teach her class.
* The library, with its collection of books deemed blasphemous.
* Even the homeowner who lets the wrong person know he has a copy of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses could find his door broken in by the Thought Police, his bookshelves ransacked, and his books burning in the front yard!

Satirizing religion in any way, shape, or form, if it “causes outrage”, is now a prosecutable offense in Ireland. Saying anything negative about a religion, if it “causes outrage”, can now be prosecuted as a crime. Just like in Muslim countries.

Witness the return of the Dark Ages.

The text of the legislation:

36. Publication or utterance of blasphemous matter.

(1) 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 €100,000. [Amended to €25,000]

(2) For the purposes of this section, 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.

(3) It shall be a defence to proceedings for an offence under this section for the defendant to prove that a reasonable person would find genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value in the matter to which the offence relates.

37. Seizure of copies of blasphemous statements.

(1) Where a person is convicted of an offence under section 36, the court may issue a warrant (a) authorising any member of the Garda Siochana to enter (if necessary by the use of reasonable force) at all reasonable times any premises (including a dwelling) at which he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that copies of the statement to which the offence related are to be found, and to search those premises and seize and remove all copies of the statement found therein, (b) directing the seizure and removal by any member of the Garda Siochana of all copies of the statement to which the offence related that are in the possession of any person, © specifying the manner in which copies so seized and removed shall be detained and stored by the Garda Siochana.

(2) A member of the Garda Siochana may (a) enter and search any premises, (b) seize, remove and detain any copy of a statement to which an offence under section 36 relates found therein or in the possession of any person, in accordance with a warrant under subsection (1).

(3) Upon final judgment being given in proceedings for an offence under section 36, anything seized and removed under subsection (2) shall be disposed of in accordance with such directions as the court may give upon an application by a member of the Garda Siochana in that behalf.

Major new legislation reforming the State's libel laws and enabling judges to advise juries on the size of damages was passed in the Dáil yesterday.

The Defamation Bill, which also introduces a new crime of blasphemous libel, will come into operation after it is passed by the Seanad later this week and signed into law by President Mary McAleese.

The legislation, which the media industry broadly supports, also aims to ensure that the recently established Press Council operates as efficiently as possible.

It also enables newspapers to offer an apology without risking an admission of liability, and to defend libel actions by arguing that a story was in the public interest.

The new laws are expected to be in full operation by October.

In recent months, the stalled legislation was the subject of major debate when Justice Minister Dermot Ahern announced the introduction of a new crime of blasphemous libel. He argued that a new definition was required by the Constitution.

Under the changes, the maximum fine for blasphemy will be cut from €100,000 to €25,000.

During a debate on 33 proposed amendments to the legislation yesterday, Mr Ahern refused calls from Opposition parties to continue the debate today.

He claimed that TDs had debated the legislation "endlessly" since 2006 and it was now time to pass it.

"There is an understanding that it will and should pass before the summer.

"Many of the following amendments are simply a regurgitation of what members discussed on Committee Stage ad nauseam and of what has been debated in the Seanad and the Dáil over the past two years," Mr Ahern said.

Sinn Fein's Aengus O Snodaigh earlier argued that the legislation should be changed so that TDs who took a legal case or who were sued could remain in public office if they ended up bankrupt.

Under current rules, if a TD becomes bankrupt, they are debarred from elected office.

However, Mr Ahern said these concerns could be dealt with in the context of the ethics-in-public-office or electoral legislation. He did not adopt the Sinn Fein proposal.

Mad Rabbit wrote:Wow. I'm really glad I'm not in Ireland with my Choking Victim and Leftover Crack albums, t-shirts and patches. I'd be screwed. Also, every 3rd sentence I utter is blasphemous to someone.

Gwar, if you want a Damn Forsaken Country, come to Wheaton, Illinois. Look up Wheaton College if you want to know what it's like here. There's a building called the Billy Graham Center. Ugh.

Trust me, ten minutes in this place will make you wish for Ireland.

Cheese Elemental wrote:Well this is going over the top a bit, but to be fair, it's not much different from outlawing discrimination against other races or people of different sexual orientation.

Cheese Elemental wrote:Then racism should not be banned, after all, it's oppressing free speech, isn't it?

I'm not a racist or a nazi, but that argument seems a bit hypocritical to me.

Cheese Elemental wrote:I think this law is not meant to target people who say "I do not believe in God", but rather the trolls who say "Religious people are retards".

You know who you are. That's just as bad as racism or homophobia.

Gwar! wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:Then racism should not be banned, after all, it's oppressing free speech, isn't it?

I'm not a racist or a nazi, but that argument seems a bit hypocritical to me.

No, there is a difference between inciting hatred towards a race and saying "I don't believe in the same imaginary friends as you."

Gwar! wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:I think this law is not meant to target people who say "I do not believe in God", but rather the trolls who say "Religious people are retards".

You know who you are. That's just as bad as racism or homophobia.

Yeah, because Athiests have cause so much bloodshed in the world....

Cheese Elemental wrote:No Gwar, it doesn't. There is a huge difference between saying "I am not religious/I do not believe in a God" and "Religions are a lie/Religious people are bloodthirsty retards/Religion is evil".

Gwar! wrote:

Mad Rabbit wrote:Wow. I'm really glad I'm not in Ireland with my Choking Victim and Leftover Crack albums, t-shirts and patches. I'd be screwed. Also, every 3rd sentence I utter is blasphemous to someone.

Gwar, if you want a Damn Forsaken Country, come to Wheaton, Illinois. Look up Wheaton College if you want to know what it's like here. There's a building called the Billy Graham Center. Ugh.

Trust me, ten minutes in this place will make you wish for Ireland.

I respectfully disagree. You ever been to Ireland? it isn't somewhere you wanna be 5 minutes, and I've been stuck here 9 years

Cheese Elemental wrote:Well this is going over the top a bit, but to be fair, it's not much different from outlawing discrimination against other races or people of different sexual orientation.

Cheese Elemental wrote:I think this law is not meant to target people who say "I do not believe in God", but rather the trolls who say "Religious people are retards".

You know who you are. That's just as bad as racism or homophobia.

Cheese Elemental wrote:But we've gone off-topic here. This isn't about my religion, it's about the blatant step back.

I don't really see this standing up for long. Everyone, religious people and atheists alike, anybody who believes in free speech, will be against this.

I mean, how is Gwar supposed to troll religious people if he gets arrested for it?

Falconlance wrote:I personally get a kick out of trolling vegans and vegetarians (the ones who do it because they love animals, not the ones who do it to lose weight.) But nobody gets butthurt over that.

Falconlance wrote:As in would it make me feel better if you got butthurt about it?

Not unless you're one of them.

garret wrote:FREE SPEECH!!!!! HA
Free speech are just words. free speech doesnt truly exist anywhere in this world. neither does freedom of religion or freedom of press. There are no true freedoms in this world only lies of freedom

garret wrote:FREE SPEECH!!!!! HA
Free speech are just words. free speech doesnt truly exist anywhere in this world. neither does freedom of religion or freedom of press. There are no true freedoms in this world only lies of freedom

sebster wrote:

Falconlance wrote:As in would it make me feel better if you got butthurt about it?

Not unless you're one of them.

I'm not religious, nor am I a vegan or a vegetarian. I just know the first rule of life, 'that shalt not be jerk'. You seem to want acknowledgement that you were breaking the first rule, and I'm here to confirm that yes, indeedy, you are.

Orkeosaurus wrote:All hail the Heckler's veto.

This is disgusting. To tell you the truth, those relating this to laws banning racism have a point. Freedom of Speech means nothing if it is negated due to unpopularity. Sometimes I forget how much of America's freedom isn't actually just rhetoric.