Archbishop, higher punishment for Catholic vilification is 'privilege of country's predominant religion'

A spokesperson for the Curia was answering questions from MaltaToday sent to Archbishop Paul Cremona, and it’s the first statement of its kind on the issue of Malta's discriminatory application of punishment for blasphemy.

Maltese law reserves a higher punishment for the public vilification of the Catholic religion, up to six months’ imprisonment, while committing such an act against “any cult tolerated by law” makes one liable to imprisonment only up to three months.

This discriminatory application of criminal punishment captured the attention of the self-styled ‘US Hindu statesman’ Rajan Zed and rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, who petitioned the Pope, the European Ombudsman, the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, and even the Archbishop himself to call for the law to be changed.

Going by the Curia’s statement, Archbishop Cremona thinks little of their campaign: “It is a fact that the predominant religion of the country can have a privileged position in this regard, and this exists in many countries across the world,” was Cremona’s answer to whether he believed the law should mete out an equal punishment for religious vilification in general.

The statement goes on: “quite a number of people, even in our country, publicly treat God with disrespect and are not prosecuted. Thank God everybody in Malta practices his or her religion freely without persecution, which is not the case for Christians in many countries.”

Malta is a country where blasphemy and religious devotion do seem to walk hand in hand. Vilifying the name of God is considered to be a ‘normal’, if a most offensive, rhetorical expletive. It is jokingly pointed out that even Catholic devotees can find themselves resorting to this most ‘Maltese’ way of swearing.

“Apart from being an act against religion, blasphemy is an act against civil values. As such it needs to be discouraged and that is the reason behind it being a criminal offence,” the Curia told MaltaToday, underlining its position on blasphemy.

In England, the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel were abolished by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. Before that it was part of canon law, and then declared a common law offence in the 17th century.

Malta enacted the law in 1933, making it an offence to, “even though in a state of intoxication” publicly utter “any obscene or indecent words, or makes obscene acts or gestures, or in any other manner not otherwise provided for in this Code, offend against public morality, propriety or decency”.

Bu in 2009, a Council of Europe (CoE) study on freedom of expression and freedom of religion, argued that it is no longer desirable for European democracies to criminalise blasphemy, and calls for the abolishment of such laws.

Only Greece contemplates a higher term – two years’ imprisonment – for ‘malicious blasphemy’.
The debate on so-called religious insult was brought to the fore by the Board of Film and Stage Classification’s decision to ban the play Stitching, for reasons that included blasphemy. And adding to the dose of ecclesiastical umbrage, back in May 2009, seven revellers at the Nadur carnival were arraigned for dressing up as priests – much to the outrage of the bishops. Article 338 of the Criminal Code also prohibits the wearing of any military uniform or ecclesiastical habits without permission – which is again a law enacted in 1937.

BLASPHEMY IN EUROPE

While ‘public vilification’ of religion is an offence punishable by imprisonment in Malta, blasphemy is an offence in only a minority of member states (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands and San Marino). The penalty incurred is generally a term of imprisonment, mostly for six months, and up to two years in Greece for ‘malicious blasphemy’ or a fine.

‘Religious insult’ is however a criminal offence in Andorra, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway (prosecution only carried out when it is in the public interest to do so), the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

Negationism – the public denial of historical facts or racial genocide such as the Holocaust – is an offence in Austria, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Germany.