Chance of the blasphemy law being withdrawn. . .

JuneBug29

I just read this article and it raised my hopes -

"Dermot Ahern, the justice minister, is proposing that a vote to remove the criminal offence of blasphemy be held as part of a planned series of referendums this autumn, writes Stephen O’Brien.

Ahern, who was criticised for increasing the fine for blasphemy to €25,000 last year, said he never regarded the provision in the new Defamation Bill as anything more than a short-term solution.

“There was a lot of nonsense about that blasphemy issue and people making me out to be a complete right-winger at the time,” he said. “There was an incredibly sophisticated campaign [against me], mainly on the internet. I was only doing my duty in relation to it, because clearly it is in the constitution. The attorney general said ‘there is this absolute, mandatory thing… it is an offence, punishable by law.”

A final decision on a blasphemy referendum rests with the cabinet, but if Ahern remains justice minister after this month’s reshuffle, he is likely to propose that it be added to the autumn list. The government is already committed to referendums on children’s rights and establishing a permanent court of civil appeal.

The plebiscites are expected to take place in October, on the same day as the a vote for a new directly elected mayor of Dublin, and three Dail by-elections in Donegal South-West, Dublin South and Waterford.

“I said [last year] that I didn’t want a wasteful standalone referendum on blasphemy in the middle of an economic crisis,” said Ahern. “My preference was to reform [the blasphemy provision] in the short term and to have a referendum in the medium term when it could be bundled with a number of others.”

A defamation bill was already in preparation when Ahern became justice minister in May 2008.

Ahern then said he had three options: to abandon the bill; to hold a single-issue referendum to remove the constitutional reference to blasphemy; or to update the references in the 1961 Defamation Act.

Opting for reform, he said he had removed the seven-year jail sentence from the old legislation."

Link is http://blasphemy.ie/2010/03/14/ahern-proposes-autumn-referendum-on-blasphemy/#more-804

So what would you vote? Also please give your reasons for your choice.



There is an anti blasphemy petition here if anyone wants to sign it -
http://www.petitiononline.com/CAMP4BLA/petition.html


Also for anyone who voted don't care can they elaborate. It's not just an opinion. This law is directly against freedom of speech.

Biggins

What would I vote?

To take bloody religion out of politics, the constitution and civil law, where and if applicable, completely.

Daemos

Jesus H. Christ

Fago!

You'd like to know what I'd vote wouldn't ya!!!!!???

I'm on to you!

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/152295/111496.jpg

sron

Am I the only one that doesn't care? The law's been neutered so that no one could ever be prosecuted under it. It's as relevant as those silly laws in the US forbidding you to sleep on your fridge.

DazMarz

Organised religion has no place in modern society...

New Secular Order...

starbelgrade

"There was a lot of nonsense about that blasphemy issue and people making me out to be a complete right-winger at the time"

So said the Fianna Failer who opposes the right to free speech & who in 1993, During the debate on decriminalisation of Homosexuality in the Dáil, agreed with a statement by Fine Gael TD, Brendan McGahon which reads: "Homosexuality is a departure from normality and while homosexuals deserve our compassion they do not deserve our tolerance" and who described homosexuals as being "like lefthand drivers driving on the right-hand side of the road."

Ahern himself added: "Will we eventually see the day in this country when, as has happened in the USA, homosexuals will seek the right to adopt children? We should think seriously about this possibility".

So - let me see... supports Fianna Fail, is anti-gay & wants to fine people who "blaspheme" - even those who have no belief in any god or gods.

No - not right wing. Not right wing in the slightest.

OxfordComma

I'm so glad there's a vote being held on this. Having a blasphemy law at all is absolutely outrageous.

Nodin

Biggins wrote: »

What would I vote?

To take bloody religion out of politics, the constitution and civil law, where and if applicable, completely.

I think removing bloody Aherns from politics completely would also be a good idea.

Pygmalion

I would vote for removing this.

I did not vote in this poll as "I am against it and i don't think it should have ever been brought in" doesn't reflect my opinion.
The requirement for a law against blasphemy is in the constitution and will be until the referendum is held, so yes, it needed to be brought in, I'd rather temporarily be inconvenienced than set a precedent for simply ignoring the constitution without a referendum when it suits.

IvySlayer

Fairytales have no place in the law.

rainbow kirby

The blasphemy law makes us a laughing stock and has no place in a modern secular society. Get rid of it.