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posted by cmn32480 on Saturday July 04 2015, @12:21PM   Printer-friendly
from the jesus-h-roosevelt-christ dept.

Iceland has legalized blasphemy, which had been criminalized under a 75-year-old law, despite some opposition from the country's churches:

A bill was put forward by the minority Pirate Party, which campaigns for internet and data freedom. It came after the deadly attack the same month against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris... As three members of the Pirate Party stood before parliament on Thursday, each said: "Je Suis Charlie", an expression used globally to express solidarity with the Charlie Hebdo victims. After the ruling, the party wrote on its blog (in Icelandic): "Iceland's parliament has now established the important message that freedom will not give in to bloody attacks." The blasphemy law had been in place since 1940, and anyone found guilty could have been sentenced to a fine or three months in prison.

The Catholic Church wrote in comments submitted after the bill was proposed: "Should freedom of expression go so far as to mean that the identity of a person of faith can be freely insulted, then personal freedom - as individuals or groups - is undermined." The Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association said that the new law included provisions to ensure that people could still be prosecuted for hate speech. [...] In the 2013 election, [Iceland's Pirate Party] gained three MPs for the first time, and polls now say it is the most popular party in Iceland, with the support of 32.4% of the country. In 2013, its members drafted a law calling for whistleblower Edward Snowden to be granted Icelandic citizenship.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by seeprime on Saturday July 04 2015, @01:19PM

    by seeprime (5580) on Saturday July 04 2015, @01:19PM (#205006)

    In the US the name Pirate Party would be derided so much by the media that it would have no chance of success. Should a "Pirate Party" label itself the "Freedom Party" then it would get plenty of media attention if it had charismatic and intelligent candidates.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by TheReaperD on Saturday July 04 2015, @07:34PM

    by TheReaperD (5556) on Saturday July 04 2015, @07:34PM (#205095)

    There is a "Peace and Freedom" party in the US. No one cares.

    --
    Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit
  • (Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday July 05 2015, @02:19AM

    by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Sunday July 05 2015, @02:19AM (#205176)

    Should a "Pirate Party" label itself the "Freedom Party" then it would get plenty of media attention if it had charismatic and intelligent candidates.

    I don't know about this. It seems to me only the charismatic part is necessary.