.png)
.jpg)
.png)
Dutch approve move to scrap blasphemy law
Majority of parties in parliament said the blasphemy law was no longer relevant in the 21st Century.
Dutch authorities have decided to approve a motion abandoning a law under which it is a crime to insult God.
A majority of parties in parliament said the blasphemy law was no longer relevant in the 21st Century.
The legislation, introduced in the 1930s, has not been invoked in the last half century.
However, it still remains illegal under Dutch law to be disrespectful to police officers or to insult Queen Beatrix, the country's monarch.
Freedom of speech is a much-cherished right in the liberal and traditionally tolerant Netherlands.
There was much debate about the issue after a Dutch court ruled that the far-right anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders should be allowed to criticise Islam, even if his outspoken opinions offended many Muslims.
In 2008, a coalition government decided against repealing the blasphemy law in order to maintain support from a conservative Christian political party.
•
Anti-blasphemy laws, like anti-blasphemy petitions and protests have never made sense. Mere mortals rising to defend an omnipotent being? There are two possibilities: Either this deity does not exist, in which case go ahead and blaspheme all you want, or else it exists, in which case it could smite blasphemers with a bolt of lightning or something if it wanted to. I suspect that supporters of blasphemy laws are reminded by the absence of any lightning bolts or other forms of divine retribution, how unlikely their deity's existence is.
•
I never could figure out how one can blaspheme against a non-existent entity.
