There is evidence that religiosity in the US is on the decline, with fewer people seeing religion as a solely positive influence and more feeling that religious teachings are out of date, but of course the opposition makes a lot of noise and has a lot of political power. I don't know whether any of the above applies in heavily Catholic Ireland, but the anti-blasphemy law which went into effect yesterday is sure to be challenged and the high profile of some of the challengers is sure to cause considerable embarrassment to those who have to enforce it. Whether Catholics in Ireland are as likely to let go of God as they are elsewhere, those in Ireland who have and those of other traditions are going to have a field day.
The Irish constitution extends religious freedom only to Christians and that may be a surprise to many who see Europe in general as moving away from belief and from Church domination. It's worthy of curiosity to see whether the ordinary practice of other religious traditions will constitute blasphemy as well. Will it be blasphemous to say that Jesus was not the actual son of God but permissible to accuse Jews of murdering him and of eating Christian babies? I guess we'll see. Will showing Letting go of God be punishable? Will it be illegal to publish Nietzsche, or Dawkins? Michael Nugent, chairman of Atheist Ireland calls this idea
"dangerous because it incentives [sic] religious outrage, and because Islamic states led by Pakistan are already using the wording of this Irish law to promote new blasphemy laws at UN level."Dangerous indeed and so diametrically opposed to American views of religion -- at least as reflected by those who wrote the Constitution -- that an attempt to import it to the US wouldn't be surprising. I remember former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's attempt to close the Brooklyn Museum because of a painting he considered blasphemous. ( it wasn't) Many people still wish ihe could have been successful.
The US constitution certainly does not grant special rights to Christians or to any other religious groups and that fact seems to be a massive thorn in the side of the religious right; a thorn they'd love to remove and I will be amazed if some Republican doesn't attempt to introduce something similar by next Christmas. The test of the Irish law is in whether it outrages a large number of people and if we had such a law within the viewership of Fox, we can be sure that outrage would flow forth like a mighty flood of medieval values upon the land and our courts would grind to a halt whild civilization is one again snatched from the jaws of victory.
I have to admire Julia Sweeney’s honesty (and humility) in the way she shares her thoughts. While I am decidedly #2, I too try to be tolerant of #1 until I read of things like this blasphemy law, the subject of this post.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I can afford to give the benefit of the doubt to the faithful (unintentional oxymoron) when I don’t feel threatened by them, but when they insinuate themselves into our laws, demand changes in our culture, and throw their doctrines in my face, then I get uppity and resentful.
Perhaps this is the nature of the beast. After all, religion is absolutist, authoritarian, judgmental, ultimately apocalyptic, and dominated by the language of mythical good-and-evil (meaning: dominated by all-or-nothing thinking). There is no wiggle room for tolerance, respect for non-believers, and secularism.
Obviously, an anti-blasphemy law that abridges free speech, academic freedom, and freedom of conscience is a step towards oppression.
I feel the same about the rants and ravings of the religious rightwing in this country. If they succeed in changing any law that turns me, a member of my family, or my friends into outlaws, then I might as well be an outlaw myself … and come out with blazing guns aimed right at them.
I have always found Ireland to be religiously oppressive. Look how long the Catholics and the Protestants have been fighting and killing each other.
ReplyDeleteAs for this new law; it may well be the dying gasp of a tyrannical system about to lose its grip.
At least I hope that is so and that the Irish will be joining us in the 21st century.
Ah, the great questions of internationalism. Does the UN need a first amendment? Yep. The UN needs a lot of things.
ReplyDeleteThis is the century where we cannot avoid facing these issues, but it's also an argument the United States has been putting off since 1920.
I suspect these sorts of repressive laws are instituted in countries where the dominating religion sees itself losing adherents.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think of the Counter Reformation and its memorable Auto de fe.
IMHO, only an organization that fears change and loss of power will resort to criminalizing free speech.
From the article:
""We also ask all TDs and senators to support a referendum to remove references to God from the Irish constitution, including the clauses that prevent atheists from being appointed as president of Ireland or as a judge without swearing a religious oath asking God to direct them in their work."
Happily, our Constitution has no reference to gods--having established that it is "we the people" who institute our laws, not gods.
But there still is work to do in changing attitudes.
At this point in our country, there is no possibility for a nontheist to be elected POTUS--unless she hides her nontheism and falsely practices some form of a Judeo/Christian religion. Only then would the majority of US citizens find her a morally acceptable candidate for POTUS.
You're right Shaw, but I'm always and greatly amused by the strange confection of Judaism and Christianity, which in my opinion share almost nothing while Islam and Christianity share much.
ReplyDeleteTh UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights does support the right to free expression, but of course the Irish law skirts around it by banning "outrageous" speech and pinning the right to define it on public (Church) opinion. It's much like our ban on obscenity, which isn't the only UN guaranteed right we infringe upon.
The long trend has been away from mixing government and religious authority in the Western world -- IMO the root cause of all this and of Islamic fear of the way we are. Of course the Godists are not the only ones fighting against science, technology, reason and modernism. Many of us are in thrall to movie stars and self-appointed web gurus lecturing us about all kinds of things from biochemistry to particle physics while we attempt to cure AIDS with shiny stones and incantations.
You can teach an ape to wear clothes, but after all we're still apes.
You know, this is really a sign of failing states. Ireland was supposed to be the economic tiger, and like so many tigers it turned out to have short little teeth.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree but it may also be a failure of much of Western culture and a descent into fear, superstition, denialism and authoritarianism.
ReplyDelete