RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE: Blasphemy will no longer be a crime in the Netherlands, the Dutch government announced last week. On Nov 1 Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said the country’s coalition government would repeal a 1930s blasphemy law in favor of strengthening the current anti-discrimination legislation.
Two of the three members of the centre-right government of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende --- the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Christian Union (CU) --- had balked at past demands made by junior coalition partner the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) that Netherlands scrap the Blasphemy law, but have now agreed to back Labour’s demand that religion not be given a privileged place above free speech.
The push to reform the blasphemy laws comes in response to heightened tensions with the Netherland’s Muslim minority. Criticism of Islamists and Islam by comedians, cartoonists, filmmakers and politicians has led to threats of prosecution for offending Muslim sensibilities. >>> By George Conger | November 9, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback – The Netherlands) >>>
