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Blasphemy law is repealed in Ireland, enforced in Pakistan – and a problem in many Christian and Muslim countries
The citizens of Ireland voted recently, in a nationwide referendum, to remove a clause from their constitution that had made blasphemy a criminal offense.
- Steve Pinkerton
- The Conversation
Ireland’s now-defunct Defamation Act of 2009 prohibited the “publication or utterance of blasphemous matter.”
Just last year, in fact, Irish police opened a brief investigation into whether comedian Stephen Fry had broken the law when he described God as “capricious, mean-minded, stupid” and “an utter maniac” during a televised interview.
The case was closed, however, as the…