Danish law banning public burning of Quran sparks outcry

Burning a symbol to upset people is a shitty thing to do, but it should not be illegal.

Assaulting people, whether they burned a symbol you like or not, is a shitty thing to do that should remain illegal.

And yes, some people in my country have burned symbols that represent people like me recently. Nobody from my community assaulted the people who did it in response. Just the way it should be.

Yeah, no, sorry. The Arabic world with the monstrous societal issues they're suffering, has no right to dictate how our western world laws should look like. We have no obligation to bow to them, especially concidering there is nothing more anti Muslim than neighboring muslim countries. We had our borders open while the rich Arabic world shut theirs. This is just those rich countries grasping for more power. Fuck off or no more assistance programs, we'll spend our tax payers money on our own country instead of giving it to some ungrateful Arabic leaders new Ferrari.

Fuck this. The right to free expression is at the very core of a free society. Religious assholes need to deal with it or get the fuck out. If they can’t live in the west without starting violent riots every time someone offends their beliefs then they have no place in a pluralist and democratic society.

Blasphemy laws in 2023...

Don't you dare incite the religion of peace into violence!! We all know burning ink and paper are grounds for terror!! 🤡...

Stupid question, does the law include beef (as cows are sacred for Hindus), and am I allowed to make any object sacred to my own homegrown religion, or does it only apply to fragile religions whose followers respond to stupid provocations by burning embassies?

They shouldn't have put religion into this bill. In France, filming Quran burnings would be illegal in regards so the "incite hate law". I hope so at least! It's better to word it this way, so you can condemn provocation like holy book burnings, but keep caricature out of it.

This Saturday is international blasphemy day (30 Sept):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_Day

educates individuals and groups about blasphemy laws and defends freedom of expression, especially the open criticism of religion which is criminalized in many countries.

"We're not seeking to offend, but if in the course of dialogue and debate, people become offended, that's not an issue for us. There is no human right not to be offended."

If you came for the comments, turn back now 😂

Europeans believe in freedom, as in freedom from harassment and hate speech, for everyone, for the good of everyone

Americans believe they personally should have freedom to do or say anything, even if it's hateful and incites violence, as long as they personally are "free", even if it is bad for society as a whole

These are incompatible views and no good can come of this thread

To me, this falls under the Paradox of Tolerance. Acts of hate should be strongly discouraged.

This is a clear violation of peoples right to free expression. religious nutjobs have no place determining what we can and can't do in society

If I am not wrong Sweden tried something similarly stupid, luckily some court ruled against it in the end!

Why did they do this? A book only burns at fahrenheit 451 anyway

As I think this is closely related, but no one mentions it, what do you think about those laws: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_desecration

When the intent is to cause violence, even if it's not you doing the violence, there is a legitimate societal interest in telling you to cut that shit out.

We're told to pretend the golden rule always applies... but I'm pretty okay with supremacist bigots being treated worse, no matter which side they're on. If someone's motivations amount to terrorism and genocide then the exact nature of their actions is kinda secondary.

Tricky subject with no easy answer. What I will say, is that I think the governments should not grant allowance to burn religious scripture, or destruction of important symbols outside of embassies. That I think is 100% taking it too far. You are now purposefully, intending to incite a group of people. And there is no doubt that, that is your intent.

Personally I've been back and forth on my stance as I've reflected on the proposal, various arguments for and against, and my thoughts. I'm leaning towards it shouldnt be banned in public in general. But it should not be allowed directly outside of embassies as the only intention to wanting to do that is to incite others.

All this because of Turkey. FFS.

Tbh, I kind of think it should be. Not de facto illegal, like if you accidentally burn it somehow, but if you intentionally do it to piss people off then that intention isn't exactly right itself. If you're putting on a public display purely to incite and antagonise people by destroying things they hold dear, then you're not merely exercising your freedoms but actively seeking to harm others.

It's all very grey area though, and any punishment should reflect that the harm is not physical and relatively low. This law almost definitely goes too far.

No books should be burnt just because you don't like them or are "controversial".

Burning Mein Kampf because it's controversial, is the same as burning To Kill A Mockingbird.

This is in defence of Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights. Do not forget: this includes EVERYONE.

Good.

Good to see they finally made a law to prevent the systematic abuse of free speech by racists, neo-nazis and other Islamophobic hate mongers.