L’Irlande interdit le blasphème

[pankkake]

http://www.palibandaily.com/2009/07/09/ire…sphemy-illegal/

via http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments…sphemy_illegal/

Ireland Makes Blasphemy Illegal

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. Update: The bill went to the Seanad on Friday, July 10, passing by a single vote. 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.

Update: The bill passed the Seanad on Friday, July 10, by a single vote. From the Irish Times:

Seanad deputy leader Dan Boyle (Green Party) indicated his party’s preference for a constitutional referendum in “the mid-term” on the issue of blasphemy. However, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said he would hazard a guess it was unlikely they would come back to this issue for some time.

The Minister rejected Mr Regan’s contention that the matter of blasphemy could be adequately dealt with by an amendment to the Incitement to Hatred Act, saying what was blasphemous did not necessarily constitute incitement to hatred.

During exchanges with Ivana Bacik, the Minister said he had never in his political career received so many e-mails expressing outrage as he had on this issue. Ms Bacik said under the proposed legislation, Fr Willie Russell from Rathkeale, Co Limerick, a critic of those in his parish who appeared to be worshipping a tree with the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary, could be open to a charge of blasphemy because he had stated that no one could “worship a tree”.

Let’s see if he gets charged.

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 ( 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, ( 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, ( 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.

[Invité jabial]

C'est sérieux ce truc?

[Bastiat]

C'est sérieux ce truc?

il semble que oui.

Mais le vote est serré au Sénat.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaki…breaking23.html

C'est la variante locale de "la lutte contre l'incitation à la haine".

En conformité à des directives européennes.

http://assembly.coe.int/main.asp?Link=/doc…7/edoc11296.htm

The Assembly considers that national law should penalise expressions about religious matters only when such expressions intentionally and severely disturb public order and call for public violence or call for a person or a group of persons to be subjected to hatred, discrimination or violence.

…

1. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls its

Resolution 1510

(2006) on freedom of expression and respect for religious beliefs and affirms that freedom of expression is a fundamental cornerstone of democracy. This freedom is not only applicable to expressions that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive,

but also to those that may shock, offend or disturb the state or any sector of population

within the limits of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Any democratic society must permit open debate on matters relating to religion and beliefs.

http://assembly.coe.int/main.asp?Link=/documents/workingdocs/doc07/edoc11296.htm

18. Article 40.6(1)i of the 1922

Constitution of the Republic of Ireland provides that "publication or utterance" of "blasphemous matter" is an offence punishable in accordance with law

, with Article 44 stating that “The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God. It shall hold His Name in reverence, and shall respect and honour religion”.

19. The Constitution does not define blasphemy, although standard reference works characterise it as the crime which consists of indecent and offensive attacks on Christianity, or the Scriptures, or sacred persons or objects calculated to outrage the feelings of the community. The Constitution declares that the publication or utterance of blasphemous matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law. The mere denial of Christian teaching is not sufficient to constitute the offence.

[Bastiat]

Sur l'autre versant de l'intolérance à la liberté d'expression, je me demande comment les velléités de l'état français vis à vis des "sectes" et des tenues islamiques traditionnelles s'arrangent avec ces textes.

[Invité jabial]

C'est un peu comme l'extrême-droite et l'extrême-gauche, les Haniyeh et Liberman, toussa : ils se renforcent mutuellement. Ce sont les meilleurs ennemis. Un peu comme l'alternance démocratique droite/gauche qui fait reculer un peu la liberté à chaque changement de camp.

Ils s'aiment pas mais ce sont des affranchis ; les caves, c'est nous. On est là pour une chose : leur servir de garde-manger.

[A.B.]

[pankkake]

http://blasphemy.ie/2010/01/01/atheist-ire…phemous-quotes/

[Bastiat]

ah! ben elle est passée manifestement cette loi !

Il vont avoir du mal avec le web et les réseaux sociaux.

Voici la liste des 25 blasphèmes.

http://travors.com/post/311346765/atheist-…sphemous-quotes

Up to 25 000 € d'amende depuis le 1er janvier, ça va pas faciliter la vie des musulmans quant ils vont devoir expliquer que selon eux:

• Jésus n'est pas le fils de Dieu.
  
• Que Jésus n'est pas mort sur la croix pour sauver les hommes.
  
• etc.
  

[pankkake]

Up to 25 000 € d'amende depuis le 1er janvier, ça va pas faciliter la vie des musulmans quant ils vont devoir expliquer que selon eux:

• Jésus n'est pas le fils de Dieu.
  
• Que Jésus n'est pas mort sur la croix pour sauver les hommes.
  
• etc.
  

Je ne crois pas que cela vise la religion chrétienne en particulier (même si avec l’Irlande ce serait pas étonnant). Cette loi fait des Chrétiens et des Musulmans des blasphémateurs.

[walter-rebuttand]

Comment les humoristes vont-ils pouvoir continuer à faire leur travail?

[Johnnieboy]

Comment les humoristes vont-ils pouvoir continuer à faire leur travail?

On a pas besoin d'humoristes lorsqu'on a des hommes politiques.

[Zax]

Moi qui suis chrétien, et qui trouve qu'il est fort dommage que la France soit laïcarde, je trouve cette interdiction assez étrange, à croire que c'est un canular.

[Saucer]

Comment les humoristes vont-ils pouvoir continuer à faire leur travail?

[Stephdumas]

Comment les humoristes vont-ils pouvoir continuer à faire leur travail?

Les humoristes du Québec devront être plus imaginatif, ils blashphèment (ou comme on dit au Québec, ils "sacrent" du verbe "sacrer") très souvent

J'ai trouvé un billet sur le sujet http://martineau.blogue.canoe.ca/2010/01/0…ens_de_l_humour

[Ventura]

Je souhaite aux Irlandais de pouvoir défaire les lois plus facilement qu'en France, car ils devraient assez rapidement être exposés aux conséquences grotesques de cette loi.

C'est en tout cas le rêve de l'Organisation de la Conférence Islamique que de rétablir le délit de blasphème dans les droits des différents pays, tout un programme …