“Penalizing the act of burning Korans is to embark on an extraordinarily dangerous slope”

2023-09-03 10:00:09

This is not happening in the kingdom of Denmark in the 17th century, but today. Denmark, so progressive, the fine flower of European social democracy, will restore, while defending itself against it, the offense of blasphemy, with imprisonment as a result. In 2023.

Ironically, this medieval offense was removed from the Danish penal code just six years ago after lengthy debate, ending a three hundred and thirty-four-year ban on insulting God. According to the Minister of Justice, this volte-face would be justified by national security imperatives. We are talking about the so-called crisis of the burned Korans, umpteenth season, written by bad scriptwriters of the clash of civilizations. And since we never learn from the past, we fall into the trap, to the point of unreason. It is not the trap of a few activists that is infernal – that we can never prevent – ​​it is the lack of reflection, memory, height of vision and measure of so many leaders States and religious dignitaries.

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Let’s resume. In recent months, two Iraqis declaring themselves atheists, political refugees in Sweden, have multiplied spectacular burnings of Korans in the presence of the duly summoned press. They threaten to continue their desecrations (they have also trampled on the holy book and inserted slices of bacon into it) until the banning of the Koran, which they consider “more dangerous than nuclear weapons”. At the very least, they demand that be removed “The Verses About Murder”. But, deep down, their motivations are irrelevant.

Far-right parties in Sweden and Denmark have taken action. These two countries, whose authorities have nevertheless firmly condemned the arsonists of paper, then suffered an avalanche of threatening reprobations. They emanate from regimes whose leaders seem to consider that if the issuer of a transgressive opinion is not immediately burned (as in Pakistan), hanged (as in Iran) or beheaded (as in Saudi Arabia), it is because the country where he resides shares his opinion. Accepting this crazy logic, Denmark – and possibly soon Sweden, which has repeatedly banned Quran burnings this year – is proposing to legislate a two-year prison sentence and a fine for “inappropriate treatment of objects of significant religious significance to a religious community”. As if thought, weary of the struggle, had definitively yielded to religious pressures.

Total inconsistency

Let’s skip over the trickery of including Catholics and Jews in this story, obviously for good measure. There is no doubt that they may also feel hurt by the burning of their holy books, but we do not remember having heard some notable representatives of these religions calling for the imprisonment of the authors of such acts. The second hypocrisy consists in claiming that it would not be a question of restoring the offense of blasphemy since “verbal or written expression” would not fall under the law, it is specified. It seems to me that what was reproached to the Chevalier de La Barre was not having uncovered when a procession was passing. Blasphemy can just as well arise from a word, a writing, a drawing or a gesture. Making a distinction makes no sense.

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