The Danish parliament has passed legislation that criminalizes the public desecration of religious texts like the Quran, Bible, and Torah, following a series of burnings of Islam's holy book that led to uproar around the Arab world.
“The Danish Parliament adopted legislation Thursday making it illegal to burn the Holy Quran and other sacred religious books in public spaces.
The move comes in the wake of an upward trend of incidents involving the burning of religious texts, and in particular, the Holy Quran, which is the religious text central to the Islamic faith, in Denmark. The Danish government previously announced its intention to explore legal means of intervening to put an end to the Quran burning and issued a statement condemning the burning of the Holy Quran in July of this year. Under the new law, it will be illegal to publicly burn, defile, or otherwise insult any religious texts. Any offender found to be guilty of such crime(s) may be punished with a two-year term of imprisonment.
The bill passed with 94 votes in favor in the Danish Parliament, or Folketinget. There were 77 votes cast against the proposed legislation, with the opposition arguing that the law infringes upon freedom of expression and sets a dangerous precedent that could pave the way for further restrictions on dissenting viewpoints. ‘History will judge us harshly for this, and with good reason…’ said Inger Støjberg, leader of the anti-immigration Denmark Democrats party, in opposition of the law. ‘What it all comes down to is whether a restriction on freedom of speech is determined by us, or whether it is dictated from the outside’.
Criticism of the new law was shared across the political aisle, with several left-wing lawmakers voicing their dissent. Karina Lorentzen, of the Socialist People’s Party said, ‘Does Iran change its legislation because Denmark feels offended by something an Iranian would do? Does Pakistan? Does Saudi Arabia?… the answer is no’.
Before the bill is promulgated into law, it must first be signed by the Danish monarch, Her Majesty, Queen Margrethe. Following this Royal Assent, the law will be published in the legislative gazette and enter into law the following day”. -Nova Kruijning, Jurist
Despite having repealed a 334-year-old legal statute that forbade public insults of a religion in 2017, the Danish government, in its attempt to further distance itself from the recent holy book desecrations, has already been compelled to reintroduce the very blasphemy clause it had previously done away with, and abandon the failed libertine precepts of free expression as well as the theories and practices associated with the Voltairianism or anything that came out of the Enlightenment.