Mr. Thomas Hammarberg, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe is stating in his article in New Europe, July 17, 2007, that “Criminalizing blasphemy would be wrong”. Myself, I agree with him very much that outlawing blasphemy could not express a border line in cases of hate speech.
Yet, I am tempted to make a huge distinction between blasphemy as a state o mind of someone that hates a certain divinity or considers that the divinity could be subject to hate and mocking and the blasphemy as an instrument to express the hate towards a culture, community or a certain person.
The blasphemy as a state of mind, indeed, should be considered by the Courts of Law, legislators or any kind of authority as freedom of expression and I see no alternative to it.
If the divinity, as subjet to the hate, does not react or punish the blasphemiator no human justice sould do otherwise.
But, the blasphemy as an instrument for infringing, leading, targeting the hate towards or as an instrument of labeling and sitgmatizing cultures, communities or persons has definitely to be considered by legislators, either as violence facilitation or public offence with all circumstances downloading from the situation. Or, why not as instrument-weapon for generating and inciting a criminal environment similar to or assimilated with fascist doctrines. In fact, blasphemy is already an intrument in the neo-fascist and anarchist speeches in Europe and the Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg knows it very well.
When blasphemy becomes and is acting as a mean or a platform for expressing a hate speech or is indeed an instrument of it, that should be definitely criminalized.
Yet, I am tempted to make a huge distinction between blasphemy as a state o mind of someone that hates a certain divinity or considers that the divinity could be subject to hate and mocking and the blasphemy as an instrument to express the hate towards a culture, community or a certain person.
The blasphemy as a state of mind, indeed, should be considered by the Courts of Law, legislators or any kind of authority as freedom of expression and I see no alternative to it.
If the divinity, as subjet to the hate, does not react or punish the blasphemiator no human justice sould do otherwise.
But, the blasphemy as an instrument for infringing, leading, targeting the hate towards or as an instrument of labeling and sitgmatizing cultures, communities or persons has definitely to be considered by legislators, either as violence facilitation or public offence with all circumstances downloading from the situation. Or, why not as instrument-weapon for generating and inciting a criminal environment similar to or assimilated with fascist doctrines. In fact, blasphemy is already an intrument in the neo-fascist and anarchist speeches in Europe and the Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg knows it very well.
When blasphemy becomes and is acting as a mean or a platform for expressing a hate speech or is indeed an instrument of it, that should be definitely criminalized.
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