Madam, – All democrats must hope that the Minister for Justice’s proposed amendment to the Defamation Bill is a belated April Fool’s prank. However, if Dermot Ahern intends to follow through with such an alteration, he might answer the following: 1. As religious belief is at least partly subjective, how can blasphemous output be objectively assessed? The Supreme Court has already expressed concerns in this regard and the proposed new wording inspires little confidence that any different outcome will be forthcoming should another case arise.
2. Both the Equal Status Act and the separation of Church and State in Ireland would require the equal protection of all religions similarly. Given that different faiths and their adherents display widely varying levels of tolerance regarding criticism of their beliefs, are we to expect convictions under the new Act to correspond with the least liberal of such followers? Yours, etc,
Madam, – I am intrigued by one aspect of the prospective legislation on publishing or uttering blasphemous matter. The law will apply where the material complained of has caused “outrage” among a substantial number of the adherents of a religion and where the person publishing the outrage intends to cause such outrage.
How is outrage to be defined? What are its salient features? Can one’s outrage be measured by a specific rise in blood pressure, heartbeat rate, amount of perspiration or redness of face? And how can it be determined that there was an intention to cause outrage? Does a person in writing an article, drawing a cartoon or telling a joke consciously decide their output will cause outrage? I suggest it would prove extremely difficult, if not impossible, to sustain a prosecution based on these grounds.
I do not think we need this legislation. Fundamentalists may and ask, “Is nothing sacred?”. I believe that freedom of expression is. I also think God, in all his manifestations, probably has a sense of humour. Yours, etc,
Madam, – I am fascinated when those who believe in an all-powerful god feel the need to defend such a being. Is not the lack of faith in such a deity’s ability to stand up for itself, well, blasphemy? – Yours, etc,