Blasphemy And Defamation of Religions In a Polarized World by Gubo Darara Timotewos;

Author:Gubo, Darara Timotewos;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Irish Blasphemy Law

Ireland is an interesting case study for the purpose of understanding blasphemy law. The legal basis for the criminalization of blasphemy in Ireland is article 40 (6) 1 of the Irish Constitution, which stipulates that “the publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with the law.”[2] The fact that this constitutional section is part of the article which addresses the freedom of expression is indicative of the Irish authority’s intention to make blasphemous publications or speeches an exception to the rule of freedom of expression.

Despite the constitutional provision outlawing blasphemy, there were no subsequent legislations that attempted to define its meaning. Though the Censorship of Films Act (1923) S.7 (2) and S.13 (1) of the Defamation Act of 1961 mentioned the existence of the crime, it did not define it in more detail. This means that despite its existence as criminal conduct, blasphemy was not defined under Irish law for decades.

The Irish constitutional blasphemy provision was put to the test in the case of Corway v. Independent Newspapers (Ireland).[3] This was a case that came before the Irish courts in the 1990s and illustrated a situation where the Irish judiciary was unable to apply the law on blasphemy.

In the case, a member of the Roman Catholic Church brought a charge against the editor and two proprietors of the weekly newspaper, the Sunday Independent, a newspaper with the largest readership in Ireland. On November 26, 1995, the newspaper published an article by Dr. Conor Cruise-O’Brien, which dealt with the divorce referendum held in a country with many followers of the Catholic Church. According to court record, the blasphemous allegation arose from a cartoon which accompanied the article. At the top of the cartoon were the words: “Hello progress—bye bye Father?” The cartoon itself demonstrated a caricature of a priest who was carrying a trophy on his left hand and a host in his right hand. It seemed that the priest was delivering the host to three figures representing three well-known politicians: Prionsias de Rossa, Ruari Quinn and John Bruton.

The applicant alleged that the cartoon offended him and that he believed its caption was “calculated to insult the feelings and religious convictions of readers generally by treating the sacrament of the Eucharist and its administration as objects of scorn and derision.”[4]

He had relied on Section 13.1 of the Defamation Act, 1961, which stipulates that:

Every person who composes, prints or publishes any blasphemous . . . libel shall, on conviction thereof on indictment, be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both such fine and imprisonment or to penal servitude for a term not exceeding seven years.[5]

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