• Latest
  • All
Kissing the Blarney Stone goodbye: Ireland’s “massive attack” on freedom of speech and religion

Kissing the Blarney Stone goodbye: Ireland’s “massive attack” on freedom of speech and religion

May 4, 2023
Former Louisville University professor wins $1.6 million over dismissal for criticism of transgender treatments for children

Former Louisville University professor wins $1.6 million over dismissal for criticism of transgender treatments for children

April 26, 2025
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Alfredo Borba

Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88

April 21, 2025
Author: Tom Morris

U.K. Supreme Court defines woman based on biological sex

April 16, 2025
New Colorado bill punishes moms and dads for rejecting trans ideology

New Colorado bill punishes moms and dads for rejecting trans ideology

April 5, 2025
Female fencer Stephanie Turner faces penalties for refusal to compete against transgender opponent

Female fencer Stephanie Turner faces penalties for refusal to compete against transgender opponent

April 3, 2025
Georgia Governor to sign Riley Gaines Act of 2025, safeguarding women’s sports from transgender ideology

Georgia Governor to sign Riley Gaines Act of 2025, safeguarding women’s sports from transgender ideology

April 2, 2025
Humanity’s indispensable but unsung heroes

Humanity’s indispensable but unsung heroes

March 18, 2025
AfD politician slams leftist abortion agenda in staunchly pro-life speech

AfD politician slams leftist abortion agenda in staunchly pro-life speech

March 12, 2025
Maine locals rally against Governor Mills’ stance on transgender participation in sports

Maine locals rally against Governor Mills’ stance on transgender participation in sports

March 1, 2025
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

J.D. Vance criticizes Europe’s disregard for pro-life advocates and religious freedom at Munich Security Conference

February 20, 2025
  • About iFamNews
  • Contact

Navigation Button Subscribe

  • Subscribe
May 9, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
  • English
    • Italiano
    • Español
    • Français
    • Deutsch
    • Polski
    • српски
    • Русский
    • Hrvatski

Navigation Button Donate

  • Donate
International Family News Network (IFN)
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • Life
  • Family
  • Culture
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Science
  • Shows
  • Petitions
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
International Family News Network (IFN)
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • Life
  • Family
  • Culture
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Science
  • Shows
  • Petitions
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
No Result
View All Result
International Family News Network (IFN)
No Result
View All Result

Kissing the Blarney Stone goodbye: Ireland’s “massive attack” on freedom of speech and religion

We must not let cancel culture become law, in Ireland or anywhere.

E. Douglas Clark by E. Douglas Clark
May 4, 2023
in Breaking News, Family, Foreground
300
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Kissing the Blarney Stone goodbye: Ireland’s “massive attack” on freedom of speech and religion

Source: Wikipedia

Share on FacebookShare on WhatsAppShare on TelegramShare on TwitterShare on WeChat

Tradition holds that kissing the Blarney Stone—that world-famous limestone block built into the battlements of Blarney Castle near Cork, Ireland—loosens the tongue and brings the gift of eloquence. If so, the Irish may soon be forced to kiss their beloved Blarney Stone goodbye, for the island nation is rushing to enact a bill described by Elon Musk (in an April 30 tweet that surely would have been removed had he not bought the company) as a “massive attack on freedom of speech.” Free Speech Ireland calls it “thought crime legislation,” and issues this warning to Ireland and the rest of the world: “Don’t let cancel culture become law.”

Having passed the lower house of the Irish Parliament by a vote of 110-14 on April 26, the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 goes on to the Senate for debate. The legislation targets content deemed hateful to any individual or group with certain “protected characteristics,” among which is religion—a nod to Ireland’s tragic history of violence between Catholics and Protestants.

But two of the protected characteristics stand out as a blatantly woke attempt to muzzle free speech and suppress legitimate debate: “sexual orientation” and “gender,” the latter defined as “the gender of a person or the gender which a person expresses as the person’s preferred gender or with which the person identifies and includes transgender and a gender other than those of male and female.”

To achieve its end, the bill tramples on fundamental fairness. Not only do “you have a dangerous reversal of the burden of proof,” protested Irish representative Paul Murphy, but also “the possibility of someone being criminalized purely for having material which is hateful, without that material being communicated to the public.” It amounts to nothing less, he insisted, than “the creation of a ‘thought crime.’”

Proponents of the bill have demonstrated they will brook no dilution of its draconian provisions. A proposed amendment would have exempted the mere possession of prohibited material as an offense, and another would have incorporated free-speech safeguards from the UN Convention on Human Rights. Both amendments were defeated. Conviction under the bill would be punishable by fines or up to a year in prison, or both.

No wonder, reports the Daily Mail, “critics fear it could lead to the… censoring [of] politically incorrect views including legitimate discussion over trans rights and the more socially-conservative teachings of the Catholic Church.” Dubhaltach Reachtnin of the Catholic Herald has similarly cautioned that the proposed law could be used to prosecute priests and laity who dare to declare Catholic precepts. And Peadar Toibin, head of Ireland’s leading conservative political party, has characterized it as “the censorship culture… on steroids.”

But perhaps the best commentary on the bill is what Thomas Paine wrote nearly a decade after the American Revolutionary War.

Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.

Freedom is still being hunted around the globe, now by a cancel culture seeking to suppress civil dialogue that would allow truth to appear. The threat is as critical now as it was for the American Founders, for whom freedom of speech and religion was no peripheral matter. “The establishment of civil and religious liberty,” declared General George Washington at the close of the War, “was the motive which induced me to the field.” He later presided over the convention that created the Constitution, whose First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and religion.

The cancel culture’s attack on these foundational freedoms is something we all must resist, wherever we live, lest we revert to what Paine described as that “slavery of fear [that] made men afraid to think.”  

Tags: freedom of religionfreedom of speechgender ideologyhate speechIreland;LGBT+Religious Freedom
E. Douglas Clark

E. Douglas Clark

E. Douglas Clark is an attorney and Director of UN and International Policy at the International Organization for the Family. For two decades Doug has been on the forefront of defending the family at the United Nations as a lobbyist and strategist, leading teams and consulting with policymakers in New York and around the world. His writings include the World Family Declaration and articles in The Natural Family: An International Journal of Research and Policy and Ave Maria International Law Journal. After earning MBA and JD degrees from Brigham Young University, he practiced banking law and served as director of content of the original Law.com.

Discussion about this post

Popular News

  • Former Louisville University professor wins $1.6 million over dismissal for criticism of transgender treatments for children

    Former Louisville University professor wins $1.6 million over dismissal for criticism of transgender treatments for children

    0 shares 25 VIEWS
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Two Spanish ministers denounced for embezzlement in contracts awarded to Tragsa

    0 shares 7 VIEWS
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Christian Lawyers request to the City Council of Callosa (Alicante) the replacement of the cross after confirming that the re-signified crosses do not violate the Law of Historical Memory.

    0 shares 3 VIEWS
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • A judge in Tortosa (Catalonia) investigates the procession of the “Santa Baldana” that brought out the virgin surrounded by black pudding.

    0 shares 2 VIEWS
    Share 0 Tweet 0

IFN – International Family News Network

© 2022 IFN – International Family News - All Rights Reserved.

Quick Links

  • About iFamNews
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Subscribe

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • Life
  • Family
  • Culture
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Science
  • Shows
  • Petitions
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

  • en English
  • it Italiano
  • es Español
  • fr Français
  • de Deutsch
  • pl Polski
  • sr српски
  • ru Русский
  • hr Hrvatski
  • Login
  • Sign Up

© 2022 IFN – International Family News - All Rights Reserved.