Bock the Robber is interesting. Here in the US, the new hate crimes bill may cover the problems of blasphemy: http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_hat1.htm
On Jan 5, 5:18 pm, frantheman <[email protected]> wrote: > On 5 Jan., 15:25, Molly <[email protected]> wrote: > Even in my beloved Ireland,> the backwards thinking and inability of men to > consider the needs of > > women, groups to consider the needs of other groups, and church (also > > state) to consider the needs of families indicates a serious lack of > > integrative function that sheds light on the blasphemy laws there. > > The country has not emerged from war mentality. It will need to do > > this before moving up the pyramid or spiral (or whatever model you > > choose) and come close to the unity consciousness needed for a > > government that provides these kinds of freedoms for groups and > > individuals. > > The Irish situation is interesting, Molly, and, as an irish > expatriate, I agree with a lot of what you say. The blasphemy > definition and penalties are part of a more general new Defamation > Act, introduced into law a few months ago. They have yet to have a > concrete trial before the courts and, should this happen, it will > certainly be something which will go all the way to the Irish Supreme > Court, where the discussion of basic constitutional issues will be > very interesting (see the comments of one of my favourite [if > stylistically somewhat extreme!] Irish > bloggers,http://bocktherobber.com/2009/04/blasphemous-libel). > > More generally, Ireland has been going through some interesting > developments - transformations - in the past quarter of a century. > When I left the country in 1984, it was going through a major > Kulturkampf, which, at the time, conservative Catholicism seemed to be > winning. The sea-change seemed to come in 1990 with the election of > Mary Robinson to the largely ceremonial post of president (http:// > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Robinson). There was an amazing awakening > of openness, self-confidence and "can-do" attitude. > > Unfortunately, this coincided with global financial deregulation and > the Celtic tiger was born and nourished on the milk of the funny-money > markets. The results were massive boom, dream growth-rates, > practically full employment, comparatively massive immigration (into > Ireland!) from Eastern Europe and a grossly inflated property bubble. > Other results were the growth of an incredible greed mentality and an > overweening hubris. The crash of 2008 has hit very hard, some > commentators noting that Ireland has only been saved from Iceland's > bankruptcy fate by virtue of its membership of the EU and the Euro- > zone. > > The gigantic economic hangover has been accompanied in the past year > by ghastly revelations of the extent of child-abuse by Catholic clergy > and the complicity of the entire Catholic Church organisation in > covering this up over decades. In the past few weeks four bishops have > resigned in disgrace. The Catholic establishment in Ireland has been > completely - possibly (hopefully?) terminally - discredited. > > Ironically, perhaps, I see these two developments as a major chance > for Ireland. The basic resource of a young, well-educated, creative > population, willing to work hard remains. The forced learning curve in > 2009 has been steep and may just (hopefully) bring my homeland to a > truer kind of maturity. > > Francis
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en.
