With little fanfare, the Irish law prohibiting blasphemy — defined as language or material “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 “intended, by the publication of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage” — went into effect yesterday. Thanks largely to Atheist Ireland, the immediate consequence was a palpable increase in the amount of Irish blasphemy whizzing through the Interwebs
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I do not know how this law differs from the existing anti-blasphemy decree in the Irish Constitution (which prohibits blasphemy, sedition, and something called “indecency”), or why Ireland’s UN apparatus seems to be at odds with its domestic lawmakers. It probably doesn’t matter. The whole thing looks and sounds like an attempt to placate somebody. The immediate fear among Ireland’s right-wingers, libertarians, and traditional liberals was that the Irish legislature was attempting to muzzle critiques of Islamic fundamentalism. At this precise moment, however, the law — if enforced — will likely do the most good for Irish Catholics.
(By the way: Our friend P.Z. Myers shall soon visit Ireland on a lecture tour. Anybody think he’ll get arrested? Some freethinkers do their best work in the gaol.)