Irish police drop Stephen Fry blasphemy probe

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Irish police drop Stephen Fry blasphemy probe

9 May 2017 Europe

Police in the Republic of Ireland are no longer investigating a claim that British comedian Stephen Fry uttered blasphemous remarks on a TV show.

Irish media say the Garda dropped the case as there was no injured party.

A viewer had complained about comments made by Fry on a TV show in 2015.

Fry had asked why he should "respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world.... full of injustice". He later said he was not "offensive towards any particular religion".

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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39857543

[PJMcK]

1. Of course they dropped it

It's a stupid law. If Mr. Fry had made derogatory comments about specific individuals, or even possibly a specific church, perhaps there would be a case. Even then, I seem to remember a Jewish carpenter's advice to turn the other cheek.

Thanks for the update, Eugene.

[Skinner]

2. A western liberal democracy still has laws against blasphemy?

[Eugene]

3. The blasphemy law was passed in 2009 according to the article.

[rug]

6. Why surprised?

Blasphemous libel is a crime in Canada under section 296 of the Criminal Code R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46.

Subsection (1) reads:

"Every one who publishes a blasphemous libel is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years".

Subsection (3) reads:

"No person shall be convicted of an offence under this section for expressing in good faith and in decent language, or attempting to establish by argument used in good faith and conveyed in decent language, an opinion on a religious subject".

Over the summer of 2016, a petition to parliament asking that the blasphemous libel law be repealed was circulated by several Canadian humanist groups. The petition was presented to the Government in December 2016. It responded in January 2017, stating that "blasphemous libel, along with numerous other provisions of the Criminal Code, are presently under review by the Minister (of Justice) and her officials".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_law

[trotsky]

4. It was only dropped because they couldn't find enough people who were offended.

The law remains.

Someone could still be charged and prosecuted. For the crime of blasphemy. In the 21st fucking century.

[CanonRay]

5. The Irish government should be ashamed and embarrassed by this.

and seek immediate repeal of this 11th century law. They are better than this.