Blasphemy laws almost out the window!

[Janus]

It has turned out today that a comfortable parliamentary majority in my (western European) country is now in favor of nixing blasphemy laws (that forbid 'insulting' gods and religious organisations = churches). Blasphemy laws that were extremely rarely applied in the past half century anyway, but re-emerged in the last decade when fundie Muslims started invoking them, causing all manner of civic unrest, up to and including the very public murder of a vocal Islamism critic (a 'native' westerner) by a Muslim fundie who didn't even try to use those blasphemy laws but took the (Sharia) 'law' into his own hands to mete out 'Allah's punishment'.

Imo the laws against insulting e.g. a head of state, politicians, or judges, etc., should now obviously, logically, also be struck. If not those 'categories' would be better protected by the law than God Himself! That's totally unacceptable of course. Who the fuck do they think they are?

[DLJ]

Are you Dutch?

Was that native Westerner a film-maker?

[Free Thought]

Blasphemy laws; Anti-Defamation laws for imaginary friends and dictators.

[Humakt]

(28-11-2012 05:41 AM)Janus Wrote:  It has turned out today that a comfortable parliamentary majority in my (western European) country is now in favor of nixing blasphemy laws (that forbid 'insulting' gods and religious organisations = churches). Blasphemy laws that were extremely rarely applied in the past half century anyway, but re-emerged in the last decade when fundie Muslims started invoking them, causing all manner of civic unrest, up to and including the very public murder of a vocal Islamism critic (a 'native' westerner) by a Muslim fundie who didn't even try to use those blasphemy laws but took the (Sharia) 'law' into his own hands to mete out 'Allah's punishment'.

Imo the laws against insulting e.g. a head of state, politicians, or judges, etc., should now obviously, logically, also be struck. If not those 'categories' would be better protected by the law than God Himself! That's totally unacceptable of course. Who the fuck do they think they are?

At least in Britain, the legislation on hate speech which are extremely ambiguous in nature, could and almost certainly will be used to include blasphemy, as blasphemy could easily be seen as derogatory and could hurt peoples feelings.