I was going to write up something about our Minister for Justice’s Dermot Ahern’s daft idea to get a blasphemy law onto the Irish statute books. Something that goes against international trends, the recommendations of the law reform commission, and just plain sense. My rant would talk about the absurdity of an offence where the crime is dictated by the level of offense a religious adherent takes, rather than any objective standard grounded in law/reality. They would probably have been a few words examining how the law would tie itself in knots as it tried to prohibit freedom of expression where different religions get offended by contradictory things. And there is the special treatment complaint about a plan to ban speech where:

the material be grossly abusive or insulting in matters held sacred by a religion; that it must actually cause outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion; and, crucially, that there be an intent to cause such outrage

To see how daft this idea is, take the word “religion” out of that phrase and put in “sport” or “political party”. No one would suggest that politicians or football teams got such protection. And if you were just generally making comments that “caused outrage amongst a substantial number” of the public it would be okay. Why give one section of society a right to ban the speech of the rest on grounds of offence?

But now, if me and the other Pastafarian adherents of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (bless his noodly appendage) decide that your picture of spaghetti meatballs with a tomato sauce offends and outrages because of its blasphemous depiction of our deity we can get it banned, your house raided by the Guards and maybe even get you a €100,000 fine.

Fortunately I don’t have to get steamed up by all of this. Because it looks like everyone else is doing it for me. I haven’t seen a single letter or comment that thinks the minister is productively spending his time here. Even John Waters (defender of faith, and criticiser of RTE for the Cowen underwear pictures) is ag’in the man.

My advice to the minister is to drop this one. Why exactly did you decide that it needed to be dealt with just right now anyway, 10 years after the last failed Blasphemy prosecution? Yeah the constitution might need tidying up. But throw this provision on the scrap heap at the next referendum vote (I think we have a few others scheduled – children’s rights, Lisbon 2). Don’t keep padding the Irish statute book with bad laws made to enfranchise religion rather than the people. That sort of thing belong in theology colleges not the Dáil.