Link: http://www.examiner.com/x-8928-Philadelphia-Atheism-Examiner~y2009m7d11-Ireland-passes-blasphemy-law

What the Hell??

I thought this was a piece from The Onion, but then... The United Nations Human Rights Commission passed a similar resolution. Theirs would automatically publicly condemn (resolutions aren't enforceable) any "insult" to a religion. Also, Denmarks leader; Anders Fogh Rasmussen apologized for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's famous Mohammed cartoons.

Blasphemy.... you'd think we'd be past stupid things like that. Replace the word 'religion' with 'government' no one would dare say that people should not be free to criticize any government. Those few that would think it would stay silent because they correctly deduce that the free world would ridicule them if they spoke their mind, and any politician in the western world who would have the guts to stand up and propose legislation making it illegal to criticize government would find that proposal had just ended their career.

So why do we tolerate it when we are talking about religion? Never mind the idea that Ireland got into their heads that it is somehow important that they criminalize blasphemy when most other western civilizations consider the very notion of blasphemy being criminal quaint, if not outright distasteful, but why do we even entertain the debate? Isn't it laughable that the freedom to insult a religion is any less vital than the freedom to insult a government or politician or piece of legislation? Those cultures that still outlaw blasphemy do so largely because no one has gotten around to changing a hundred-year old law and it is rarely enforced except when someone is looking for a loophole, yet here is Ireland CREATING such a law. Whether you believe that religion is more or less important than religion, saying that no one has the right to criticize it or yes, insult it is saying that religion needs the protection of law, otherwise it would suffer, but history shows that religion can't suffer from being the subject of ridicule, only by elevating it to a status that makes it above the law, and then it's not just religion that suffers, but everyone. Ireland has always had a reputation for having a strong religious culture, but personally I have never thought of them as backward.

Now it seems I was wrong.