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In Ireland, a new law came into effect on January 1st targeting blasphemy. The law imposes a penalty of as much as $35,000 for speaking badly of anything held sacred by any religion.
The law has been greeted with bemusement and challenged by atheist groups, as NPR's Rob Gifford explains.
ROB GIFFORD: In the Irish Constitution, written in 1937, is a line saying that blasphemy is an offense punishable by law. The law that punished it was the 1961 Defamation Act. But now, that act is being repealed, so the Irish government says it had to put a new law in place to uphold the constitution.
The new statute has had people of all beliefs and none scratching their heads.
Michael Nugent is head of a group called Atheist Ireland.
Mr. MICHAEL NUGENT (Chairman, Atheist Ireland): We believe that that law is both silly and dangerous. That it's silly because it's essentially a medieval religious law, and it's dangerous because it incentivizes religious outrage.
GIFFORD: So in order to test the law, Nugent has published on the group's Web site a series of 25, what he calls, blasphemous quotes, and he's challenged the Irish government to prosecute him. The quotations include the words of Jesus, Muhammad and Pope Benedict, as well as writers such as Mark Twain and Salman Rushdie, and films such as "Monty Python's Life of Brian." Nugent says the law is simply too ambiguous.
Mr. NUGENT: It defines blasphemy as publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion. It doesn't define what a religion is, thereby causing outrage, which again isn't defined among a substantial number of adherents of that religion. And again, what's a substantial number?
If it's an actual number, it discriminates against small religions; if it's a percentage of adherents, it discriminates against large religions.
GIFFORD: So, says Nugent, the law is almost impossible to enforce. Amazingly, everyone seems to agree, even committed Catholics, of whom there are still many in Ireland.
Professor WILLIAM REVILLE (Biochemistry, University College Cork): Atheism in Ireland would be a very minority preoccupation.
GIFFORD: William Reville is an academic at University College Cork, who's campaigned for the continued influence of the church in Irish society. Even he, though, says he can't see why the law has been brought in.
Prof. REVILLE: I have no interest in it, really. After all, Jesus Christ was convicted of blasphemy and he was crucified on the charge of blasphemy, so it doesn't have the happiest history in the tradition of Catholicism.
GIFFORD: Reville says the Catholic hierarchy has not pushed for the law at all, and indeed, no senior churchmen have come out in recent days to defend it. Some observers have suggested the move is simply to bring the old law up to date with the increasingly multicultural, multifaith nature of Irish society.
Others, such as David Quinn, a former editor of The Irish Catholic newspaper, have their own theories.
Mr. DAVID QUINN (Journalist; Former Editor, The Irish Catholic): My own personal theory is that it actually had to do with the Danish cartoon controversy of about four years ago. That there was a fear that we might get a Danish cartoon-style controversy in Ireland, that some newspaper might publish something that Muslims found highly offensive, and it might have repercussions for Irish trade in the Muslim world.
GIFFORD: There's been no sign so far that the Irish government is going to prosecute the group Atheist Ireland or, indeed, anyone else. So many people say the best step forward is to hold a referendum about deleting the clause from the 1937 Constitution, and then there would be no need for a law to uphold it.
Rob Gifford, NPR News.