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International Blasphemy Day encourages individuals and groups to openly express criticism of religion and blasphemy laws. It was founded in 2009 by the Center for Inquiry. A student contacted the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York to present the idea, which CFI then supported. Ronald Lindsay, president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, said, regarding Blasphemy Day, "()e think religious beliefs should be subject to examination and criticism just as political beliefs are, but we have a taboo on religion", in an interview with CNN. Events worldwide on the first annual Blasphemy Day in 2009 included an art exhibit in Washington, D.C. and a free speech festival in Los Angeles.〔 ==Intent== According to ''USA Today''s interview with Justin Trottier, a Toronto coordinator of Blasphemy Day, "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." ==Criminal punishment for blasphemy== In some countries, blasphemy is punishable by death, such as in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. According to an analysis by the International Press Institute, as of 2015, at least fourteen member states of the European Union maintain criminal blasphemy or religious insult laws, which prohibit defamation of religions as such or their beliefs, practices and divinities. These are Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France (Alsace-Moselle region only), Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland only).〔(In EU, calls to repeal blasphemy laws grow after Paris attacks: IPI research: blasphemy, religious insult still a crime in half of member states ), International Press Institute (January 16, 2015).〕 Turkey also has similar laws.〔 In the United Kingdom, the common-law offenses of "blasphemy" and "blasphemous libel" were abolished by section 79 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.〔Tim Crook, ''Comparative Media Law and Ethics'' (Routledge, 2010), p. 392.〕 The last blasphemous libel conviction in Britain had been against ''Gay News'' and its editor in 1977. The publication had published a metaphoric poem involving Jesus and homosexual acts.〔 The editor's suspended prison sentence was quashed on appeal, but £1,500 in fines were upheld.〔 See blasphemy law in the United Kingdom. As of 2009, six U.S. states still had anti-blasphemy laws on their books: Massachusetts, Michigan, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. These laws are unenforceable, however, because the U.S. Supreme Court, in ''Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson'', 343 U.S. 495 (1952), found denying Americans the opportunity to view the short film ''The Miracle'' (deemed blasphemous by the censors) to be a denial of the freedom of religion, of speech and of the press guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.〔Phillip I. Blumberg, ''Repressive Jurisprudence in the Early American Republic: The First Amendment and the Legacy of English Law'' (Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 335.〕〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blasphemy Day」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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