Published by Atheist Ireland on 1 January 2010
1. Jesus Christ, when asked if he was the son of God, in Matthew 26:64: “Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” According to the Christian Bible, the Jewish chief priests and elders and council deemed this statement by Jesus to be blasphemous, and they sentenced Jesus to death for saying it.
2. Jesus Christ, talking to Jews about their God, in John 8:44: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” This is one of several chapters in the Christian Bible that can give a scriptural foundation to Christian anti-Semitism. The first part of John 8, the story of “whoever is without sin cast the first stone”, was not in the original version, but was added centuries later. The original John 8 is a debate between Jesus and some Jews. In brief, Jesus calls the Jews who disbelieve him sons of the Devil, the Jews try to stone him, and Jesus runs away and hides.
3. Muhammad, quoted in Hadith of Bukhari, Vol 1 Book 8 Hadith 427: “May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they built the places of worship at the graves of their prophets.” This quote is attributed to Muhammad on his death-bed as a warning to Muslims not to copy this practice of the Jews and Christians. It is one of several passages in the Koran and in Hadith that can give a scriptural foundation to Islamic anti-Semitism, including the assertion in Sura 5:60 that Allah cursed Jews and turned some of them into apes and swine.
4. Mark Twain, describing the Christian Bible in Letters from the Earth, 1909: “Also it has another name – The Word of God. For the Christian thinks every word of it was dictated by God. It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies… But you notice that when the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, adored Father of Man, goes to war, there is no limit. He is totally without mercy — he, who is called the Fountain of Mercy. He slays, slays, slays! All the men, all the beasts, all the boys, all the babies; also all the women and all the girls, except those that have not been deflowered. He makes no distinction between innocent and guilty… What the insane Father required was blood and misery; he was indifferent as to who furnished it.” Twain’s book was published posthumously in 1939. His daughter, Clara Clemens, at first objected to it being published, but later changed her mind in 1960 when she believed that public opinion had grown more tolerant of the expression of such ideas. That was half a century before Fianna Fail and the Green Party imposed a new blasphemy law on the people of Ireland.
5. Tom Lehrer, The Vatican Rag, 1963: “Get in line in that processional, step into that small confessional. There, the guy who’s got religion’ll tell you if your sin’s original. If it is, try playing it safer, drink the wine and chew the wafer. Two, four, six, eight, time to transubstantiate!”
6. Randy Newman, God’s Song, 1972: “And the Lord said: I burn down your cities – how blind you must be. I take from you your children, and you say how blessed are we. You all must be crazy to put your faith in me. That’s why I love mankind.”
7. James Kirkup, The Love That Dares to Speak its Name, 1976: “While they prepared the tomb I kept guard over him. His mother and the Magdalen had gone to fetch clean linen to shroud his nakedness. I was alone with him… I laid my lips around the tip of that great cock, the instrument of our salvation, our eternal joy. The shaft, still throbbed, anointed with death’s final ejaculation.” This extract is from a poem that led to the last successful blasphemy prosecution in Britain, when Denis Lemon was given a suspended prison sentence after he published it in the now-defunct magazine Gay News. In 2002, a public reading of the poem, on the steps of St. Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square, failed to lead to any prosecution. In 2008, the British Parliament abolished the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel.
8. Matthias, son of Deuteronomy of Gath, in Monty Python’s Life of Brian, 1979: “Look, I had a lovely supper, and all I said to my wife was that piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah.”
9. Rev Ian Paisley MEP to the Pope in the European Parliament, 1988: “I denounce you as the Antichrist.” Paisley’s website describes the Antichrist as being “a liar, the true son of the father of lies, the original liar from the beginning… he will imitate Christ, a diabolical imitation, Satan transformed into an angel of light, which will deceive the world.”
10. Conor Cruise O’Brien, 1989: “In the last century the Arab thinker Jamal al-Afghani wrote: ‘Every Muslim is sick and his only remedy is in the Koran.’ Unfortunately the sickness gets worse the more the remedy is taken.”
11. Frank Zappa, 1989: “If you want to get together in any exclusive situation and have people love you, fine – but to hang all this desperate sociology on the idea of The Cloud-Guy who has The Big Book, who knows if you’ve been bad or good – and cares about any of it – to hang it all on that, folks, is the chimpanzee part of the brain working.”
12. Salman Rushdie, 1990: “The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas – uncertainty, progress, change – into crimes.” In 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie because of blasphemous passages in Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses.
13. Bjork, 1995: “I do not believe in religion, but if I had to choose one it would be Buddhism. It seems more livable, closer to men… I’ve been reading about reincarnation, and the Buddhists say we come back as animals and they refer to them as lesser beings. Well, animals aren’t lesser beings, they’re just like us. So I say fuck the Buddhists.”
14. Amanda Donohoe on her role in the Ken Russell movie Lair of the White Worm, 1995: “Spitting on Christ was a great deal of fun. I can’t embrace a male god who has persecuted female sexuality throughout the ages, and that persecution still goes on today all over the world.”
15. George Carlin, 1999: “Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He’s all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can’t handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!”
16. Paul Woodfull as Ding Dong Denny O’Reilly, The Ballad of Jaysus Christ, 2000: “He said me ma’s a virgin and sure no one disagreed, Cause they knew a lad who walks on water’s handy with his feet… Jaysus oh Jaysus, as cool as bleedin’ ice, With all the scrubbers in Israel he could not be enticed, Jaysus oh Jaysus, it’s funny you never rode, Cause it’s you I do be shoutin’ for each time I shoot me load.”
17. Jesus Christ, in Jerry Springer The Opera, 2003: “Actually, I’m a bit gay.” In 2005, the Christian Institute tried to bring a prosecution against the BBC for screening Jerry Springer the Opera, but the UK courts refused to issue a summons.
18. Tim Minchin, Ten-foot Cock and a Few Hundred Virgins, 2005: “So you’re gonna live in paradise, With a ten-foot cock and a few hundred virgins, So you’re gonna sacrifice your life, For a shot at the greener grass, And when the Lord comes down with his shiny rod of judgment, He’s gonna kick my heathen ass.”
19. Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion, 2006: “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” In 2007 Turkish publisher Erol Karaaslan was charged with the crime of insulting believers for publishing a Turkish translation of The God Delusion. He was acquitted in 2008, but another charge was brought in 2009. Karaaslan told the court that “it is a right to criticise religions and beliefs as part of the freedom of thought and expression.”
20. Pope Benedict XVI quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor, 2006: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” This statement has already led to both outrage and condemnation of the outrage. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the world’s largest Muslim body, said it was a “character assassination of the prophet Muhammad”. The Malaysian Prime Minister said that “the Pope must not take lightly the spread of outrage that has been created.” Pakistan’s foreign Ministry spokesperson said that “anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence”. The European Commission said that “reactions which are disproportionate and which are tantamount to rejecting freedom of speech are unacceptable.”
21. Christopher Hitchens in God is not Great, 2007: “There is some question as to whether Islam is a separate religion at all… Islam when examined is not much more than a rather obvious and ill-arranged set of plagiarisms, helping itself from earlier books and traditions as occasion appeared to require… It makes immense claims for itself, invokes prostrate submission or ‘surrender’ as a maxim to its adherents, and demands deference and respect from nonbelievers into the bargain. There is nothing—absolutely nothing—in its teachings that can even begin to justify such arrogance and presumption.”
22. PZ Myers, on his desecration of a Roman Catholic communion host, 2008: “You would not believe how many people are writing to me, insisting that these horrible little crackers (they look like flattened bits of styrofoam) are literally pieces of their god, and that this omnipotent being who created the universe can actually be seriously harmed by some third-rate liberal intellectual at a third-rate university… However, inspired by an old woodcut of Jews stabbing the host, I thought of a simple, quick thing to do: I pierced it with a rusty nail (I hope Jesus’s tetanus shots are up to date). And then I simply threw it in the trash, followed by the classic, decorative items of trash cans everywhere, old coffeegrounds and a banana peel.”
23. Ian O’Doherty, 2009: “(If defamation of religion was illegal) it would be a crime for me to say that the notion of transubstantiation is so ridiculous that even a small child should be able to see the insanity and utter physical impossibility of a piece of bread and some wine somehow taking on corporeal form. It would be a crime for me to say that Islam is a backward desert superstition that has no place in modern, enlightened Europe and it would be a crime to point out that Jewish settlers in Israel who believe they have a God given right to take the land are, frankly, mad. All the above assertions will, no doubt, offend someone or other.”
24. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, 2009: “Whether a person is atheist or any other, there is in fact in my view something not totally human if they leave out the transcendent… we call it God… I think that if you leave that out you are not fully human.” Because atheism is not a religion, the Irish blasphemy law does not protect atheists from abusive and insulting statements about their fundamental beliefs. While atheists are not seeking such protection, we include the statement here to point out that it is discriminatory that this law does not hold all citizens equal.
25. Dermot Ahern, Irish Minister for Justice, introducing his blasphemy law at an Oireachtas Justice Committee meeting, 2009, and referring to comments made about him personally: “They are blasphemous.” Deputy Pat Rabbitte replied: “Given the Minister’s self-image, it could very well be that we are blaspheming,” and Minister Ahern replied: “Deputy Rabbitte says that I am close to the baby Jesus, I am so pure.” So here we have an Irish Justice Minister joking about himself being blasphemed, at a parliamentary Justice Committee discussing his own blasphemy law, that could make his own jokes illegal.
Finally, as a bonus, Micheal Martin, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, opposing attempts by Islamic States to make defamation of religion a crime at UN level, 2009: “We believe that the concept of defamation of religion is not consistent with the promotion and protection of human rights. It can be used to justify arbitrary limitations on, or the denial of, freedom of expression. Indeed, Ireland considers that freedom of expression is a key and inherent element in the manifestation of freedom of thought and conscience and as such is complementary to freedom of religion or belief.” Just months after Minister Martin made this comment, his colleague Dermot Ahern introduced Ireland’s new blasphemy law.
224 Comments
Just a short note of support from Mexico.
The thing that has puzzled me is that most of the bible has been written by prophets, prophets by their very nature are either charlatans, in the business for financial gain or easy sex, or certified nutcases because they hear voices in their heads, whom would take serious a book that was compiled by the residents of the Dundrum mental hospital.
Let’s not stop here, but let’s draw attention to the laws that the IOC is pushing in the U.N. in favor of anti- blasphemy laws. Let’s draw attention to laws that wish to silence those that speak against homosexuality as promiscuity and are persecuted as well.
Those pushing these laws forget that Jesus called the Pharisees snakes and vipers whose father was the devil for they had no compassion, but cared only for their well being, using religion as a means to fleece their society(Hebrew society). Let’s not use the same strategy that Islamists use against those who criticise islam by labeling them islamophobes..and consequently name Jesus antisemitic.
People ought to be able to critcise freely and those that do not like the criticism can use their speech to counter such criticism…
As a Christian I am not afraid of those who challenge my faith in nonviolent ways. I reflect and respond. Case in point: a posting by one quoting Emma Goldman who point out that many suffered and died better than Christ did… I retort that they died, but Christ died and ressurrected for His Word is True.
We human beings must never compromise on freedom, secularism, democracy, human rights and separation between religion and state.
If we do, we are strangling ourselves to death and paving the way to suffering, death and destruction.
Religions are blasphemy against humanity. They all contradict each other proving beyond a shadow of doubt that not all can be true. Not only that but each and every religion is full of contradictions within and in relation to self evident facts. This proves beyond a shadow of doubt that all are false.
It is not only the falsehood of religions that I am concerned with but also their teachings that dehumanize the otherwise decent human beings worldwide. People do evil in the name of their religions only because they are made to think right from their childhood by way of indoctrination that they are doing good.
Yes, all should condemn laws against blasphemy anywhere and everywhere.
This is a deeply important issue coming at an important time. All Religions were and are demonstrably created and followed by human beings. The claim that they were created by some unknown invisible infallible force that cannot and must not be questioned and criticised is the same deeply dangerous ignorance that underlies every fascist authoritarian dictatorship that has also demonstrably been created by similar human beings who all want the same thing. Control and power over the thoughts and actions of their fellow human beings. Freedom and Reason and Justice and secular human values are the only protection we have over these tyrants who have sought to impose their limited narrow ways on others. I will resist them to the end. These religious zealot have had their day. It is time to move forward into the light of day and mental and emotional sanity.
It’s very hard to be tolerant of the superstitious when they are so intolerant of people who think for themselves.
It must feel pretty embarrassing to be in a country that has just handcuffed itself more securely to the Dark Ages.
Best of luck from Australia for an atheist-led enlightenment!
Sorry your government has lost it’s collective minds.
Just a show of support from the USA. Keep up the good fight Ireland! Maybe someday we can all live free of religious intolerance.
Here are a few more off the top of my head. Jesus Christ was the son of a whore who was so scared to admit that she’d been knocked up that she told everyone she was raped by a messenger from God. The prophet Moses was a murderous lecher. The Prophet Muhammad, may he rot in hell, was a charlatan and a bigot.
well done ireland!! if stupid athiests don’t like it , then don’t stay in a RELIGIOUS COUNTRY NOW FECK OFF!!!
m.u.f.c
Keep up with your good work! We can’t let religious mythologies and dogmas take over our institutions. Those who have read history know well how these mythologies were spread from the Middle East to the rest of the world (“holy wars”/”Jihad”). We all know that those holy wars killed hundreds of millions of innocent people in the name of “god”!. We all know that once imposed in Europe the same church practiced the Inquisition for 5.5 centuries killing millions of “witches!”. Then after that they engaged in 4 centuries of slavery in the name of “god” – BTW, Sainte D’Youville used to trade slaves in Montreal on behalf of the Catholic church and she is toady a Saint!!!!!! and American Indians and Black catholics consider her their saint – what a joke!!
For the past century child molestation has become their trademark. Again in the name of “god”…. I strongly believe that that “god” may be crazy – what do you think?
Anyway, if the Irish government sue you, just yelp and we in North America will help you as best as we can. There is no way we can tolerate such a garbage in a secular nation because we are all Irish, French, Americans, Chinese etc…….. There is only ONE human race and you should forget about the weird beliefs peddled in our societies about humanity.
Best of luck with your endeavour. I have to admit my jaw hit the floor when I read what’s going on in Ireland. The US really isn’t that far behind unfortunately. Plenty of people here that would gladly undo any appearance of separation of church and state and blend them. That would mean that religious institutions regain what was painfully pried from their hands: power. That’s all religion is after all. A power play. Control the masses. Make the ‘sheep’ do your bidding. Devlishly smart, really. Pun intended.
Is it blasphemous for Irish priests and nuns to rape and molest children, and for the scum of the church to protect the aggressors?
So we’ve just been through another celebration of the birth of a geezer who was born 2010 years ago but dies on a different day each year.
Here in Hong Kong there’s absolutely nothing about christ in christmas, just the naked worship of mammon without the pretense. But I’ve worked out the true story of Jesus’ conception and put it on YouTube:
(Some people said it’s blasphemous so I must have done something right …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSxeDkLbyts
I hope they realize that it works both ways and it means no Muslim bashing – or any other nutcase ‘religion’ that comes down the pike and competes with Catholicism.
One thing i like to say often is “God is like Santa Claus, but for adults”.
It is very unsettling this wave of non-democratic legislation that came about during the 00s in the western world.
- From Canada
Wish you success with your action. I feel sorry for you having this government, and for having to share your country with your compatriots who elected these politicians.
FYI, the Dutch news agency (http://nos.nl/artikel/126508-ierse-actie-tegen-godslasteringwet.html) reported on your website. Following each story they list ‘related items’, and the next one is ‘Ierse bisschop treedt af na seksschandaal’ (Irish bishop resigns after sex scandal). Fortunately the second related item is more positive: ‘Ierland wint belangrijk rugbytoernooi’ (Ireland wins important rugby tournament). So not all is lost in Ireland it appears.
Christianity is on the decline. Just look at the figures all around the world. I guess the leaders of the Church feel duty bound to do something.
Islam is probably on the decline too, but for the fact that any person born in an Islamic country is automatically a member of the faith… But in terms of belief I would be surprised if the trend of disbelief was not repeated in these countries also.
Three cheers for freedom of speech.
Intellectual honesty can give assent to a redemptive paradigm. Unfortunately its the emotional integrity that gets in the way. Until then individuals will continue to spend much time and effort (and many of you sport such a keen intellect) trying to prove the nonexistence of something (someOne) you don’t blieve in.
Remember you can’t support a universal negative unless you have universal knowledge.
May you have a memorable New Year,
Mike
“Jesus is as mythical a character as Hercules”
- Acharya S
http://tinyurl.com/y94wp5e
I think Eric Mettenich is forgetting that while Islam does not believe in converting people TO Islam by the sword, it does believe in preventing people from converting FROM Islam by the sword. The Koran orders Muslims to kill apostates. That’s why there’s so many.
In the US we have a double problem with blasphemy, because free speech is under constant attack from both the Right and the Left, though mostly the latter. Was that really the Green Party that supported this law? Oh, My Browser!
Several students were suspended from Tufts University in Boston for offending Islam in their student magazine. They offended Islam by quoting the Koran!
Finally, this page shows how hard it is to do blasphemy without being trite. A few pieces were pretty good, but this is not exactly Buñuel.
If the abuse of minor boys by Irisch priests for several decades does not lead to any punishment, why should an opinion do?
I think it is beyond comprehension that the government in Ireland have nothing better to do! The church, in fact all religion in the state has had it good enough for long enough! Where does this fit in with ECOHR? If I wish to express my anti god beliefs, should I not be entitled to do so and entitled to protection frkm the state whilst doing so? The biggots and sectarians are free and encouraged to bang on about the idea they have of a god, but nobody is permitted to question this. Utter utter madness.
There is no god but God, and my dog’s ass is His Messenger.
Thank you for bringing attention to this very important issue, please keep up the good work!
All should condemn laws against blasphemy anywhere and everywhere.
Freedom of Words, whatever!
All the best from Holland. Chaim
A desperate attempt to preserve the centuries old power of superstition, fear and guilt peddled by all the so called ” great religions” The sooner the disease of religion is purged from modern society the sooner we can get about the pressing tasks facing the world.
There is no after-life you idiots, this is our one shot at preserving the world for ourselves and future generations. The pope, cardinals,bishops, mullahs,clerics,rabbis etc are full of shit with their fable about their special friend and need to get out of humanity’s way and let the people join together to make a better world.
Oh and for my piece of blasphemy …
The bronze age sky god that some worship in its various forms is at best petty, malevolent and dysfunctional….at worst murderously psychotic.
Wake up, god is a Fucking myth.
What always astonishes me is that one of the main tenements of all religions is the rule that “man shalt not kill” and yet we have priests. mullahs, popes and monks blessing the soldiers for battle and calling on their god to protect them as they break their own commandments
So I say F*ck all religions for killing in the name of
Truth needs no laws to protect it.
I’m an atheist too, but I’m chagrined by the ignorant spelling and bad grammar in so many of these comments. It reflects poorly on atheism when so many of its proponents are so evidently so pig-ignorant.
Damn, i am so lucky living in Holland.
Here we are doing a reversal of the law just submitted in Ireland.
if you demand respect from a person that does not believe in your god… you as well need to respect the way of thinking of the other person. How hypcrite can you get when you only listen to your own way of thinking.
Just came back from a casino and I can tell ya guys that this Irish bluff (unless Jan. 1st was actually supposed to be April 1st) sucks to da bone. Could you guys publish a list with the terrorists that voted “the new Irish blasphemy law”? There are laws in US forbidding terrorists to land here (hey, not that they really work …). But I’ll gladly forward that list to the US authorities to keep the Irish monsters (I’m obviously talking ONLY about the retarded/corrupted politicians that just made a joke out of Ireland) outta this land.
I’m a US citizen and I don’t want that garbage threatening me, my loved ones and my/our values.
CRUSH them, Irish Atheists! NO MERCI!
Good luck!
Dan
Las Vegas, NV
It seems the Ireland is still the sad, pathetic place that Frank McCourt described in “Angela’s Ashes”, where even Jesus wouldn’t want to visit. Of course, McCourt’s writing about the Roman Catholic Church were also blasphemous.
Has your government established some kind of christian “sharia”? Your country does not have a good reputation regarding religious matters: sexual abusement by catolic clergy. Now all your folks are getting mentally abused by this “law”. May 2010 bring you Enlightenment!
Good luck!
A freethinker from Belgium
From Holland,
Great website. Go on with the good work.
Well done guys, they will NOT take our freedom of speech away from us just to appease the muslims. If they feel offended, they are free to leave for their deserts.
Typical: is this the response of the government to the rapes by priests?
It is sad you can be prosecuted by criticizing something so debatable and questionable as religion. Even stronger, it should be criticized for some inhumane elements and its fear-based dogma that keeps people from living a good life.
You got my support. Good luck from Holland!
Hark! Regard these 10 questions, submitted by James M. Kauffman, Professor Emeritus, University of Virginia, to “Dr Laura”, seeking scriptural guidance:
1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord — Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness — Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
4. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?
5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. The passage clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination – Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this? Are there “degrees” of abomination?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? — Lev.24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.
Well done,
This is all about Islam, and pacifist governments caring more about social cohesion that individual liberties.
I hope you guys fight this to the highest court in your country. The United Sates, Canada, and Mexico were against UN Recommendations for Anti-Blasphemy Laws…. and I am confident our governments will support you.
You are doing a good fight, thank you. Signed, a non-religeous who has to live between believers all his life.
A word of unbelieve from the Netherlands about this undesirable new Irish law.
More and more it turns out that being religious gives you more rights then others.
With so many different religions and so many people claiming there religion to be the ‘only true religion’, is is unbelievable that there is not a firmer seperation of church and state in Europe. France is one of the few countries which is serious about this.
I fully support your action and hope you get a lot of positive feedback!
Thanks for doing this. It’s a clever way of drawing attention to this law.
My only issue is with Blasphemous Quotation No 3. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “Semite” as “(member) of any of the races supposed to be descended from Shem, son of Noah, including esp. the Jews, Phoenicians, Arabs and Assyrians.”
So, using “Semitic” just to mean “Jewish” is wrong.
I strongly believe that in an educated society there is enough room for both believers and non-believers without offending each other. There is no need to criticise or mock either. As for the Church administration it should abide by the State laws like any other administration.
I believe the bible is written by the devil himself, as is stated more or less on the first page … where Eva is introduced to the fruit of wisdom … and who is the person that doesn’t want you to have knowledge … I wouldn’t say a loving god. … And to continue with placing a guard with a flaming sword to guard the gate to paradise … I am convinced the bible is written by small-minded tyrannical satan worshipers, inspired by fear.
Getting beyond the first page means to me that reading and understanding is for different kinds of people. The kind that reads and never gets a clue, and the kind that moves on to a nicer perspective and just tosses badly written nonsense in the bin -the place where outdated materials normally end up.
And now I have got a job to do … Bye!
Liam g caldwell m.u.f.c (below) seems to believe that a country (ie. an area of land) can have religious beliefs, and that those who don’t share its beliefs have no right to live in it even if they were born there. He seems to believe that people are stupid if they don’t believe in ancient Hebrew fairy tales featuring talking snakes, magic fruit, etc. He seems to think that posting the words “FECK OFF” on a website might be a useful and mature thing to do. He seems to be exactly the type of idiot that would support this absurd law, with primary school punctuation to match.
Remember: there is NO god. So stop worrying and enjoy your life!
http://www.hetvrijevolk.com/?pagina=7701
Remember: what only exist in certain human brains cannot be offended!
If someone among you knows the Dutch language…
http://www.hetvrijevolk.com/?pagina=5648
Pass it on!
Greetings from the Netherlands/best wishes for 2010.
This is ourageous and complete madness. With this law there’s no freedom of speech or religion. I don’t get why it’s being considered!
This brings hate and even less tolerance between people of different belief!
Again… It’s some sort of witch hunt, I’m afraid that history repeats itself…
And all this happens in Ireland… I thought you guys were civilized people.
But your government makes me doubt it! I’m really glad I don’t live there!
With hope for some common sense..
Greetings from Holland
What we are witnessing in Ireland is the prolonged death throes of a superstitious philosophy that has been rendered obsolete. As Humankind learns and grows and matures, it discards those emotional crutches for which it no longer has any use.
Perhaps if religion existed purely for spiritual and intellectual growth, it would not be suffering such universal decline, but it’s only goal is control, and because of that, people are turning away.
Unfortunately, the closer this dinosaur gets to it’s ultimate demise, the harder it struggles to survive. Islam too is an example of a religion looking for relevance in today’s modern world and coming up empty-handed.
Lack of Faith.
That’s what you all have.
What we are witnessing in Ireland is the prolonged death throes of a superstitious philosophy that has been rendered obsolete. As Humankind learns and grows and matures, it discards those emotional crutches for which it no longer has any use.
Perhaps if religion existed purely for spiritual and intellectual growth, it would not be suffering such universal decline, but it’s only goal is control, and because of that, people are turning away. Secular humanism manages to accomplish the same social goals as religion and does it more efficiently because there is no “third party” i.e. religion, taking it’s cut.
Unfortunately, the closer this dinosaur gets to it’s ultimate demise, the harder it struggles to survive. Islam too is an example of a religion looking for relevance in today’s modern world and coming up empty-handed, so its adherents become that much more desperate to validate their relevance. By blowing themselves up………….
I am not a religious fenatic but, would like to quote something I read a long time ago in a sci-fic pocket book it goes like this:
If there was no God, it would have been necassary to create one.
Merry Xmass & a very happy New Year to you all.!
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