“Ideally I’d like to see Mick stoned to death for the crime of blasphemy.”

The previously mentioned blasphemy law has cleared the committee stage in the Dáil, and the Irish Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, intends to reduce the proposed fine from €100,000 to €25,000. According to the Irish Times report – Mr Ahern said the legislation, which passed its committee stage in the Dáil yesterday, has been drafted to “make it virtually impossible to get a successful prosecution [for blasphemy] out of it”. So it’s intended to be an in-operable law.. Meanwhile Michael Nugent, of Atheist Ireland, is reportedly planning to “publish a statement blaspheming all the major religions in Ireland”. Which should be fun. He has the support of the creators of Father Ted who are quoted in The Observer.

Linehan told the Observer that the justice minister Dermot Ahern, who introduced the bill, should be challenged to define what he meant by blasphemy. “This is insanity. Please, Mr Ahern, define the things we can’t say, please! Can we say, ‘Jesus is gay’? Or can we ask, ‘Is God in a biscuit?’ Could he tell us what it means? It is just insanity. After all, there are things contained in the holy books of one religion that are blasphemy to another religion. The logic behind this comes from Alice in Wonderland.”

And

Mathews said he supported Nugent’s stance on publishing blasphemy and predicted a Life of Brian-style fate for his old friend. “Ideally I’d like to see Mick stoned to death for the crime of blasphemy. It would be tough to see him go, but I would be turning up to the stoning just for the sheer fun of it,” he said.

Heh.