Blasphemy law is, and has always been, a disgrace to any culture that calls itself “free”.
As George Orwell once said, “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right
to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
Now we often hear that the Western World is free, and indeed, much of it is – within
the confines of decency we’re free to act as we wish, and we’re entirely free to think
and speak as we wish… that is, unless you live in Denmark, Finland, Greece, or Ireland
- then you're free to say whatever you want unless it’s something mean about the Abrahamic
god – because, you know, an all-powerful god is vulnerable to mean words…
This, is The Free World’s Blasphemy Law – Debunked.
In 2015, on RTE One’s The Meaning of Life, Stephen Fry replied to the following question
with furious eloquence: “Suppose it’s all true, and you walk up to the Pearly Gates,
and you are confronted by god – what will Stephen Fry say to Him, Her, or It?”
“I’ll say, bone cancer in children – what’s that about?
How dare you!
How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault?
It’s not right.
It’s utterly, utterly evil.
Why should I respect a capricious, mean-mined, stupid god who creates a world which is so
full injustice and pain?
That’s what I would say.”
“And you think you’re going to get in?”
“No, but I wouldn’t want to.
I wouldn’t want to get in on his terms.”
Now first and foremost, I’ve put a link in the description to the full interview,
and if you haven’t already seen it, then do… you can thank me later.
But to get back on topic, in response to Fry’s wonderful rant, many butt-hurt Christians
accused him of breaching Ireland’s Defamation Act, which includes the following clause:
“A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall
be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €25,000.”
Now the problem with this accusation is that it's true... by using his freedom to express
his opinion, Fry violated a free country's law... now if that isn't a contradiction,
then I don't know what is!
"Free speech is the bedrock of liberty and a free society; and yes, it includes the right
to blaspheme and offend.”
It’s the right that allows us to secure and defend all other rights.
It is the foundation of a free society, and so therefore, I would argue that either these
"free" countries must abolish their blasphemy laws, or we should no longer refer to them
as "free".
It’s simply unacceptable for a country to call itself free while having blasphemy laws.
It's utterly, utterly stupid.
And that ladies and gentlemen, is the primary point that I want to make with this video…
Fry’s recent situation has made me realise that much of the free world isn’t actually
free… and that’s sad…
To quote Hemant Mehta, “it really would be glorious if Fry’s brilliant quotation
ended up defeating the blasphemy law that never should have been enacted in the first
place”, and I personally think that refusing to call these countries free until they relinquish
such nonsense is a good way to add fuel to the fire.
Anyhow, with this point made, let’s now turn our attention to blasphemy in it's entirely,
by first clearly stating that blasphemy laws are a fu**ing joke... and I swear on purpose
- because likewise to swearing, blasphemy is a victimless crime.
A Christian doesn't get hurt when someone swears or says something mean about their
divine North Korean, they get offended – and funny enough, Fry's response to people getting
offended is second to none: "It's now rather common to hear people say 'I'm very offended
by that' as if it give them certain rights... it's actually nothing more... it’s simply
a whine [...] it has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected
as a phrase; 'I am offended by that' well so fu**ing what!
And this brings us to the real reason why blasphemy law exist.
It’s not to defend an all-powerful god, because such a being would be necessarily
impervious to offense… it exists to preserve religious ignorance, because deep down the
religious know that their beliefs cannot withstand rationality, and they know that the application
of criticism will dissolve their undeserved privileges – that, is why blasphemy law
exists.
The fourth point I want to make is that Fry is absolutely correct when he calls the Abrahamic
god a mean-minded maniac, because if this god exists and truly is all-powerful (as its
proponents do indeed claim), then the state of the universe proves, without a doubt, that
this god is utterly, utterly evil.
To illustrate this, I’m going to quote Epicurus, a man who lived three-hundred years before
the inception of Christianity, and who within this one quote alone entirely eviscerated
the idea of an all-powerful and all-loving god for good: “Is god willing to prevent
evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him god?”
Hence, if an all-powerful god exists then it’s necessarily not all-loving because
evil exists.
And the final point I want to make is that when Fry stated that he wouldn’t want to
get into heaven on the Abrahamic god’s terms, he demonstrated true morality and real benevolence,
because unlike the religious, who Appeal to Authority for their morality, Fry demonstrated
that he actually cares about the wellbeing of others…
It’s all too often that the religious claim to have the moral high-ground because they
know what the big boss wants, and it never really occurs to them that this isn’t actually
morality… it’s fear.
Morality is, as Fry perfectly illustrated, actually giving a f**k about fairness and
the consequences of your actions.
Anyhow, to recap, Ireland, along with Denmark, Finland and Greece, are not free countries
because; Free speech is essential to a free society, and these countries limit free speech
with blasphemy laws.
And blasphemy in its entirety is flawed because; It’s a victimless crime, and; It exists
to preserve ignorance, not to defend an all-powerful god; And an all-powerful and all-loving god
definitely doesn’t exist because; Whence cometh evil.
Anyhow, as always, thank you kindly for the view, and please consider subscribing to my
channel, because under section 36 of the Giant Spaghetti Defamation Act, “A person who
doesn’t subscribe to Rationality Rules shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable
upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €25,000.”