New blasphemy laws - Free speech is not up for discussion

JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern has defended the move to establish a crime of blasphemous libel, stating only that a definition was required by the Constitution. It is difficult not to be disturbed by the development.

Whose needs does it serve? What problem does it resolve? At the very least a more comprehensive explanation must be given for regulations that carry severe penalties – up to €100,000 – that are, like it or not, based on subjectivity.

One man’s blasphemy is another man’s comedy classic. One man’s revelatory moving statue is, according to another, the rock we all perish on. Some people, many millions, believe that the final battle between good and evil – the Very Beasts of Satan – will take place at Megiddo in Israel thereby preparing the way for Final Rapture. A substantial tourism business has developed at this ancient site, a set-the-scene battlefield tour for the Chosen Ones.