Monday, January 11, 2010

Irish Blasphemy Law

36.—(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 €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
(b) 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.

(4) In this section “religion” does not include an organisation or
cult—
(a) the principal object of which is the making of profit, or
(b) that employs oppressive psychological manipulation—
(i) of its followers, or
(ii) for the purpose of gaining new followers.

3 comments:

Bob O'H said...

Oh good. The Irish can still be rude to Scientologists.

Anonymous said...

Indoctrinating children from an early age, instilling fear of a mind reading, invisible magical being that will punish finite transgressions with infinite punishment?

Section (4) means the Irish can be rude to most any version of the Abrahamic religions, for a start.

Catholicism, even more so.

Anonymous said...

+1

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