Today freedom of speech in Denmark suffered a major blow.
Since 2017, religions have had no special protections against freedom of speech, after an old law against blasphemy was repealed.
This was a huge relief for theater actors, sculptors, painters — all types of artists who in their works criticized religion on occasion.
However, one extremist craving for attention started burning a Quaran every week, filmed it and put it on Facebook. And as that got the attention of The Middle East, …
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… our foreign minister Løkke along with our prime minister wanted to make desecration of religious books illegal.
So from now on, if an actor steps on a bible or a Quran in theater play, that can potentially lead to 2 years in prison.
I think that is completely out of proportions. I feel no need to desecrate religious works myself, but I understand why, an Iranian woman who lives in Denmark, decided to shred the Quran near the Iranian embassy as a protest.
Her voice has now been silenced.
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For the political nerds, here is the the new law (in Danish):
https://www.ft.dk/ripdf/samling/20231/lovforslag/l65/20231_l65_som_vedtaget.pdf
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@pieist Generally, that would not be punishable by law, because the crime is defined as desecrating religious texts with the intention of showing the dececration to a wider audience.