Next in Irish Voters' Cross Hairs? A Law Banning Blasphemy

DUBLIN — For eight decades, the blasphemous of Ireland have risked the wrath not just of their maker and of the Roman Catholic Church, but of the government itself.

“The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law,” says Article 40 of the Irish Constitution.

But the government may soon step out of the religious enforcement business. In October, Irish citizens will vote in a referendum on whether the blasphemy clause should be stripped from the Constitution.

Government officials are also leaning toward giving voters a chance to jettison another artifact of old Ireland: a provision of the 1937 Constitution suggesting that a woman’s place is in the home.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/next-in-irish-voters’-cross-hairs-a-law-banning-blasphemy/ar-AAyBbld?ocid=spartanntp