Icelands Pirate Party Wins Repeal Of Blasphemy Law
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: NPR
Iceland's minority Pirate Party has its first major legislative victory — repealing a 75-year-old blasphemy law that made it a crime to "ridicule or insult" the teachings of a legally recognized religious community. The law, established in 1940, came under fire after the Jan. 7 attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris that killed the newspaper's editor and 11 others after they published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The repeal, passed in Iceland's parliament, said it is "essential in a free society that the public express themselves without fear of punishment." Anyone found violating the blasphemy law had been subject to a fine and three months in prison.