What do Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Slovakia have in common? Well, they are all EU countries where it is against the law to take the piss out of religion; where the law against blasphemy is alive and kicking in the 21st century. Some of the countries on the list come as no surprise while others would appear, on the face of it, to be too progressive for such medieval nonsense. France did away with the law against blasphemy after the revolution but strangely it is still on the statute books of Alsace Moselle as the region retained it's old German law after the re-annexation by France. I would not be surprised to learn that trial by ordeal is still practised in some of the more agricultural parts of Eastern Europe.
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Phew, and I thought only Islamic objections to blasphemy would be criticised. Less than a week after the Charlie Hebdo killings comes the revelations that there are bigoted Christians who object to blasphemy. So the moslems ain't that bad after all.
After seeing the discussion on the Class War FB page which denounced a couple of Britain First bozos for not removing their shoes in a mosque I expected an attack on Christian bigots. Just to balance things.
Blasphemy laws, even when supported by anarchists and the left, are the last resort of bigots. But worse, and here the left have to be called out, are current laws against offence. Endorsed by all EU countries and though vague and indeed subjective, can be used to support any witch hunt from the left or right, and objections to giving offence is the undercurrent of leftish commentators who condemn the killings of the French satirists BUT...do not believe free speech should allow the right to offend.
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