The Defamation Act 2009, which came into force on Friday, January 1, provides Ireland with a newly defined crime of blasphemy.
Blasphemy is now a crime punishable by a maximum €25,000 fine. The new controversial law defines blasphemy as publishing or uttering 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.” However, it may be a defence if the defendant can show that a reasonable person would find the statement to have “genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value”.
It has sparked outrage among the organisation Atheist Ireland, who have branded the law as anachronistic. They believe it is wrong in principle for a modern democratic republic to have any type of blasphemy law and that theological thought-crimes belong in the past.
“This new law is both silly and dangerous,” Atheist Ireland’s chairman, Michael Nugent pronounced “medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic.”
In a posting on Blasphemy.ie, the website dedicated to the campaign, Nugent writes, blasphemy laws “silence people in order to protect ideas. In a civilised society, people have a right to express and to hear ideas about religion even if other people find those ideas to be outrageous.”
Just minutes after the law officially came into force, Atheist Ireland began their campaign to have it repealed. They published 25 quotes which they believe to be blasphemous under the new legislation.
Under the terms of the new Defamation Act, Nugent faces possible prosecution and may even be subjected to having his home searched.
The statements include utterances attributed to Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Reverend Ian Paisley, Pope Benedict XVI and even the Irish Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern.
Among the quotes used by Nugent is the singer Björk saying: “I say fuck the Buddhists”; Ian Paisley, former DUP leader, denouncing the Pope as “the Antichrist”; and Jesus Christ telling Jews that their God is “the devil” and “a murderer”. Also posted is a recent comment by the Pope that Muhammad had brought only “things evil and inhuman” to the world. Among the most irreverent was a quote by famous American musician, Frank Zappa saying that believing in God is “the chimpanzee part of the brain working”.
The organisation also quotes an exchange between Pat Rabbitte, Labour Party TD and Ahern when discussing the blasphemy law at an Oireachtas Justice Committee meeting in July 2009. Mr Ahern stated that; “Deputy Rabbitte says that I am close to the baby Jesus, I am so pure.”
Atheist Ireland said this was a case of “an Irish Justice Minister joking about himself being blasphemed, at a parliamentary justice committee discussing his own blasphemy law, [which] could make his own jokes illegal”.
The law has also attracted attention on the social networking site Facebook, with an Irish Anti-Blasphemy law group attracting over 7,000 social networkers.
Ahern, who proposed the law last year said that he could not and would not “wilfully ignore the Constitution.”
The Constitution imposes an obligation to implement the constitutional offence of blasphemy. It states that the “publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law”.
Ahern has promised that, “No innocent conduct will be captured”, but his assurance has not soothed anxiety on the issue.
The law has also raised concern at an international level. It is believed that the new law may spark religious outrage, and set a dangerous global precedent. These fears have been sparked namely because Islamic States led by Pakistan are already using the wording of this Irish law to promote new blasphemy laws at UN level.
Professor Richard Dawins, scientist and critic of religion, has leant his support to Atheist Ireland. He stated that; “One of the world’s most beautiful and best-loved countries, Ireland, has recently become one of the most respected as well: dynamic, go-ahead, modern, civilised – a green and pleasant silicon valley. This preposterous blasphemy law puts all that respect at risk.”
Other supporters for the campaign include the creators of Father Ted, Arthur Matthews and Graham Linehan, and the European Humanist Federation (EHF). The Federation, which represents forty-two organisations in nineteen countries, said it was “appalled” at the new law and considered it “a seriously retrograde step”.
Senator Ivana Bacik has also voiced her opposition to such a law in Ireland today.
At present, it is not known whether the Government will carry out a prosecution to this immediate challenge of the new law.
