Sweden rules out sweeping changes to free speech law amid Quran burnings
Sweden rules out sweeping changes to free speech law amid Quran burnings
Sweden and Denmark have seen a string of protests in recent weeks in which copies of the Quran were burned.
Danish person here. Don't worry, free-speech absolutists. Our politicians would absolutely never vote anything through that could benefit our Muslim population.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/02/denmark-scraps-334-year-old-blasphemy-law
Apparently Denmark had a not-very-enforced blasphemy law on the books up until 5 years ago until it was removed, and it sounds like it was removed specifically because of disagreement over someone being prosecuted under it over criticism of Islam.
“Religion should not dictate what is allowed and what is forbidden to say publicly,” Bruno Jerup, an MP who proposed to repeal the law, was quoted as saying by Jyllands-Posten. “It gives religion a totally unfair priority in society.”
A Danish man who filmed himself burning the Koran before posting a video of his act on Facebook in 2015 would have faced a blasphemy trial next week, but the case was dropped after the law was revoked.
As long as ex Muslims are protesting like that I am fine with it. If white nationalists would do the same I would consider it at least extremely tasteless, maybe even a hate crime. Context matters.
Coming originally from a country where the blasphemy laws on the books are regularly used to harass even religious people who deviate from the dogma interpretation of their co-believers (and definitely used to harass irreligious people), I definitely do not want to see blasphemy remain or become a criminal matter.
We can work against the harassment of religion-defined minorities without resorting to blasphemy laws.