Blasphemy in Viborg
Denmark has decided it believes in something called “blasphemy,” and that people should be prosecuted and punished for it.
Denmark is reactivating its ‘blasphemy’ law, for the first time in 46 years, charging a man for posting a video of himself burning a copy of the Quran.
The accused (aged 42) posted the video clip entitled “Consider your neighbour: it stinks when it burns” to a Facebook group called “YES TO FREEDOM – NO TO ISLAM” (“JA TIL FRIHED – NEJ TIL ISLAM“) in December 2015.
A spokesperson from the public prosecutor’s office in Viborg said: “It is the prosecution’s view that circumstances involving the burning of holy books such as the Bible and the Quran can in some cases be a violation of the blasphemy clause, which covers public scorn or mockery of religion.” The case will now be heard in court at Aalborg, and if found guilty the accused could face a prison sentence, though prosecutors say they will probably ask for a fine.
Really. So it’s a crime to publicly scorn or mock religion?
Religion is a big doody-head.
There; I guess I’m a criminal in Denmark.
The Danish Humanist Society, Humanistisk Samfund, said the use of the ‘blasphemy’ law was “scandalous” and that “Legislation should protect the individual freedom of speech and individuals against hate-speech and hate-crimes. Hateful and critical utterances directed at ideas, religions and ideologies should be fought with words and debate.” Lone Ree Milkær, chairperson of the Danish Humanist Society, said:
“Denmark should abolish the blasphemy law. We have freedom of religion and belief and it makes no sense to have a special protection of religions or worship. Imagine that we protected ideologies in the same way. In a secular democracy we should be able to tolerate utterances (and actions with no victims) that we dislike or disagree with and we should argue against them instead of punishing by law.”
Notice that even Milo Yiannopoulos is not being punished by law. He’s being ostracized, which is itself not something people should do for trivial reasons, but he’s not being charged with a crime.
Lone Ree Milkær spoke at the United Nations in Geneva last year, on behalf of the Danish Humanist Society and IHEU, as a guest of the IHEU delegation. She urged Denmark to abolish the ‘blasphemy’ law, citing Denmark’s “international responsibility to be at the forefront in promoting and protecting the right to freedom of expression”. She also noted that ‘hate speech’ as such was already covered in the penal code, and that that ‘blasphemy’ laws around the world are used to persecute minorities.
IHEU and the Danish Humanist Society are among the partners in the End Blasphemy Laws campaign.
Blasphemers of the world unite.
FFRF are currently calling for the repeal of a blasphemy law in Oklahoma, in the town where I grew up. Who knew? I was a criminal for 35 years! I mocked religion frequently during the time I lived in that town, and didn’t even realize I was a desperate criminal.
Blasphemy should not be a crime. If a church has a penalty against something, let them enforce it by excommunication or Hail Marys. The secular arm of the state has no business protecting one religion or all religions from having other people mock them.
Considering that the biggest threat to any religion is people believing in a different one, if this prosecution goes ahead then the next time the law is invoked it should be because the Jewish religion has been blasphemed by someone saying ‘Happy Easter’.
And, if not, then it shows that the law is being invoked in this case in a purely bigoted manner.
Or God could just get off the stick and start punishing people for blasphemy Himself.
There *may* be something to be said for prohibiting hate-speech against minorities (though I don’t think burning a Koran should be sufficient to get one prosecuted), but trying to accomplish that goal through blasphemy laws is all kinds of wrong.
Canada still has a crime of “blasphemous libel”, which hasn’t seen a prosecution since “Life of Brian”, hasn’t seen a successful one since before WWII, and would certainly be struck down on a Charter challenge today. But really, the thing should just be taken off the books.
The Koran claims the Jesus wasn’t crucified or resurrected. This is blasphemy in the eyes of any Christian who takes THEIR ‘holy book’ seriously. The Koran also states that the Tanakh and New Testament are ‘corrupted’ and full of forgeries, since Mohammed had carelessly claimed that they both prophesied his arrival, and of course they don’t.
‘Fake Scripture…Sad!’
“imagine if we protected ideologies in the same way”
1 Religions are ideologies, they are invented and propagated by human beings. Islam and Christianity are no different from Marxism or neoliberalism.
2 It’s a myth that liberal democracies support religious freedom, they don’t because so many religions are morally repugnant and intrinsically anti-democratic.