Saturday, January 02, 2010

Blasphemy

Brr. It was -4 here last night and there is a light dusting of snow over everything. So that the birds could have a drink, I had to break the ice on the buckets in the garden this morning with heavy blows from a hammer. I couldn't be happier.

Anyway, perhaps I'm just not awake yet, but 'blasphemy' itself seems a strange, messy, sticky sort of word this morning. In any case, there is now a blasphemy law in the Republic of Ireland which means that if you utter something that causes enragement within a religious brow, you can be fined up to twenty-two thousand pounds.

So, feeling that isn't right, I've decided to post the excellent website of some people fighting against it - keep trying if it's slow - and the Guardian's story about it, reminding you of its importance by way of this other news story. (The guy who drew the newspaper cartoon of Muhammad all those years ago and raised such controversy has been pursued again - this time by an axe-wielding maniac.)

1 comment:

giles said...

I remember the pleasure of breaking ice in an old bath in the garden with a hatchet as a little boy. Blasphemy laws are great as I'm a good Christian, i.e. a moron