In 2015, comedian Stephen Fry was interviewed on Ireland’s RTE Television on his well-known views on God. Asked what he would say to God if he was proved to be wrong and met God at the end of his life, Mr. Fry’s response was immediate. “Bone cancer in children, what’s that about? How dare you create a world with such misery that is not our fault... it’s not right, it’s utterly utterly evil.” He continued: “Why should I respect a capricious mean-minded stupid God who creates a world so full of injustice and pain?” The interview went viral — with over 7.8 million views today, but two years after it was aired, it emerged that police in Dublin were investigating a complaint of blasphemy against Mr. Fry, under Ireland’s anti-defamation law. The anonymous person who filed the complaint said they believed his remarks to be incompatible with Ireland’s anti-blasphemy legislation.
The controversial legislation was brought in nine years ago, under the 2009 Defamation Act, which makes blasphemy an offence punishable by a fine of up to € 25,000, drawing on a reference in the 1937 Constitution that had never till then been enforceable.
The last known prosecution for blasphemy was in 1855 over the burning of a Bible, though a reference to it was included in the 1937 Constitution, which failed to specify what blasphemy entailed. While in neighbouring Britain the 1998 Criminal Justice Act abolished the common law offence of blasphemy and blasphemous libel, Ireland introduced the new crime, insisting it was required by the Constitution. For the first time, the legislation elaborated what blasphemy entails — the publication or utterance of matter that is “grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion” or the intention to cause such outrage. The legislation has continued to be deeply unpopular and divisive, and earlier this year, the government of Leo Varadkar (in picture) announced that it would be holding a referendum on October 26. Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan noted that in a world where in some countries blasphemy was an offence punishable by death, blasphemy laws could not be treated as an anachronism but as a real threat to lives and Ireland needed to send a “strong message” to the world that such laws did not reflect its values. The referendum follows other efforts to liberalise Ireland. In May, over 66% of the public voted to overturn a ban on abortion. Two years earlier, the public also voted overwhelmingly to legalise gay marriage.
Obsolete reference
This week, international human right activists and campaigners added their voice to the calls for change within Ireland, arguing that the existence of blasphemy laws in European democracies like Ireland “gave cover” to the laws they were prosecuted under. “At the same time, it lends false legitimacy to the extremists who claim blasphemy is a sin that warrants intimidation and murder,” they wrote in the Irish edition of the Times .
There seem to be few who are willing to challenge this perspective. Over the summer, the Irish Catholic Bishop’s Conference concluded that the current reference to blasphemy in the Constitution was “largely obsolete” and could give “rise to concern because of the way such measures have been used to justify violence and oppression against minorities in other parts of the world.” Yet again, Ireland appears set to take another step forward in its liberalisation.
Vidya Ram works for The Hindu and is based in London.
