# Stupid religious idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 15, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-religious-idea-of-the-day/709928 "2015-01-15T20:39:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-religious-idea-of-the-day/709928/141 "2016-03-12T00:18:54Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [“Prophet” bitten by a lion when God neglected to protect him.](https://www.informationng.com/2016/03/prophet-loses-his-buttocks-to-hungry-lion-while-trying-to-play-daniel-in-lions-den.html) Sometimes, an over-reliance on faith will bite you in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2017, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-religious-idea-of-the-day/709928/142 "2017-05-06T23:43:47Z")
Ok, this is really stupid. Stephen Fry (voice of the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) was on an Irish TV show, _The Meaning of Life_, where the host asked him, if it did turn out to be true, and he were face to face with god, what would he say. Mr. Fry was not at all reserved, and basically called the deity a monster. Ireland has a blasphemy law (broadly written, to cover all religions), under which [a complaint was filed](http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/05/06/police-launch-blasphemy-probe-against-stephen-fry-for-calling-god-monstrous/), potentially carrying a €25K fine. Which is all well and good (not), but, > [@](#): > > The man who pledged the complaint also reported RTE for publishing the clip, he insisted that he was not offended by Fry’s remarks but felt they qualified as blasphemy under the law. How dickish can you get? (The story says that the video has been watched seven million times, which evokes an image of Fr. Ted Crilliagh holding the sign “Down With This Sort of Thing!”, as townspeople stream into the theatre.) ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-religious-idea-of-the-day/709928/143 "2017-05-07T01:55:57Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Ireland has a blasphemy law (broadly written, to cover all religions), under which [a complaint was filed](http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/05/06/police-launch-blasphemy-probe-against-stephen-fry-for-calling-god-monstrous/), potentially carrying a €25K fine. Which is all well and good (not), but, > > > [@](#): > > > > The man who pledged the complaint also reported RTE for publishing the clip, he insisted that he was not offended by Fry’s remarks but felt they qualified as blasphemy under the law. > > How dickish can you get? Is it possible that he filed the complaint in an effort to build sentiment against the law? An unwinnable case against an international celebrity might be enough to embarrass lawmakers into taking it off the books, hopefully before it gets used against someone less able to defend themselves. (I’ll grant that it’s more likely that he’s being a jerk, but one can hope.) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-religious-idea-of-the-day/709928/144 "2017-05-07T03:54:30Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Is it possible that he filed the complaint in an effort to build sentiment against the law? An unwinnable case against an international celebrity might be enough to embarrass lawmakers into taking it off the books, hopefully before it gets used against someone less able to defend themselves. > > (I’ll grant that it’s more likely that he’s being a jerk, but one can hope.) Wow. An actual legitimate raising of a zombie. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-religious-idea-of-the-day/709928/145 "2017-05-07T04:38:49Z")
The thread existed. I knew of it, because it was lying around in my thingy, so I used it, rather than start a new one. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-religious-idea-of-the-day/709928/146 "2017-05-07T05:24:50Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [“Prophet” bitten by a lion when God neglected to protect him.](https://www.informationng.com/2016/03/prophet-loses-his-buttocks-to-hungry-lion-while-trying-to-play-daniel-in-lions-den.html) > [@running\_coach](#): > > Sometimes, an over-reliance on faith will bite you in the ass. _(BEAT . . . Lasting 14 months)_ And sometimes a lion will… ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-religious-idea-of-the-day/709928/147 "2017-05-08T20:15:44Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > No, he doesn’t. He just wants them not to expect special rights and privileges on an airplane (and elsewhere in public) based on their religion. I agree with him in that. There is hyperbole in his post, but it is not the real point. > > If a hyper-religious man has a problem sitting next to a woman on an airplane, that is his problem, not the woman’s problem and not the airline’s problem. It is exactly the same if a hyper-religious man has a problem seeing a woman’s face in public - that is his problem, not hers. Unless, of course, the society and culture and government are controlled by similarly-minded hyper-religious men. Such control doesn’t make their opinions correct or their behavior right, it simply gives them the power to enforce the completely unreasonable. Fortunately, this is not (yet) the case in this country. Mostly. He can fucking WALK. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-religious-idea-of-the-day/709928/148 "2017-05-09T00:38:55Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Is it possible that he filed the complaint in an effort to build sentiment against the law? An unwinnable case against an international celebrity might be enough to embarrass lawmakers into taking it off the books, hopefully before it gets used against someone less able to defend themselves. This is apparently the case - the complainant has done this several times. In this case, the Gardai have declined to prosecute, as they apparently were unable to find enough evidence that anyone in Ireland was actually offended by Fry’s comments. I rather suspect that any attempt to interview witnesses to the event got a response of _fek off_", after which the constable went back to the station. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-religious-idea-of-the-day/709928/149 "2017-05-09T21:59:40Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > In Soviet Russia, church preys to you. [Victor Krasno faces a year in the slammer for insulting the faithful](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/03/russian-atheist-faces-year-in-jail-for-denying-existence-of-god-during-webchat?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1). > > So, in a country where the state religion used to be atheism and believers were “persecuted”, now the culture has done a one-eighty. And the result is the same… oppression. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-religious-idea-of-the-day/709928.md?page=7)