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© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Denmark adopts law making it illegal to burn Koran or other religious texts
By JAN M. OLSEN COPENHAGEN, Denmark©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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dagon
Another incidence of religious privilege and caving in to religious intimidation.
Ban, censor burn texts about proven scientific theories or historical accounts of oppressed groups.
But those 'holy' texts are legally sacrosanct.
2020hindsights
I can see how it is offensive, but I can't see how it destroy's people's lives. This is a slippery slope to anti-blasphemy laws.
Mr Kipling
Don't give in to the religious fanatics. If it is "illegal" to burn these books then just tear out the pages and offer as free toilet paper. Or better still, how about the religious keep their religion to themselves in private and the rest of us just leave them to it and don't deliberately try to cause offense?
Jimizo
Yep. Perhaps a hint of courting prospective voters too.
You can burn any book you like as long as it’s not my copy. You may think it’s sacred but the rest of us aren’t obliged to agree with you.
Attilathehungry
One man's holy book is another man's spare toilet paper. Denmark is bending the knee out of fear, trying to avoid reaction from illiberal and nondemocratic forces in their country. Perhaps the right legal strategy is to punish the reaction, not the simple misuse of paper.
If someone is upset that their precious book is being burned, then maybe they need to live elsewhere. I am trying to remember the riots that happened when the artwork "P!ss Christ" was unveiled, the artist being hounded and threatened and chased into hiding.... oh yeah, never happened.
Jimizo
Another example was the Book of Mormon stage show which absolutely ridiculed the religion. The Mormon response was to put ads in the magazine of the theatre.
I’ve got no time for religion but that was classy.
No need for threats of violence, actual violence, murder and boycotts.
Fighto!
Absurd.
If it is YOUR property, why should a government tell you that you cannot burn your own book- be it a bible, Koran, Jewish Torah, Buddhist text, whatever. It is just a bunch of pages that is YOUR property.
This is a backwards law I'd expect from an Islamic nation/terrorist group - not Denmark.
UChosePoorly
Is an image of a burning book ok? Or a video of one on one’s phone or iPad? People are pretty clever at finding loopholes.
stormcrow
Caving in to terrorists?
That’s what it looks like.
TaiwanIsNotChina
So much for free speech.
Jimizo
The problem is the religious disagree, sometimes violently, about which book is ‘holy’.
My take is none of them are. Some wise and unwise stuff in them.
People are like that.
2020hindsights
GuruMick
Yes. This is very bad.
Also, bad.
Or as a protest?
Yes. But blasphemy shouldn't be one of them.
Jimizo
I think that’s taking it a bit far but it is a major cause of intolerance and justifying bigotry that should have been binned centuries ago.
It’s very concerning to see that Europe which has had a terrible history of religiously inspired divisions leading to butchery and hatred is seeing new religious fault lines appearing and governments bending over backwards to appease religious groups.
Not the right approach.
wallace
Sorry, no its a big step backwards.
theFu
Which laws have Muslim countries changed to appease Europe? Definitely not the equality of women. Religions are left over superstitions from the dark ages. The solution is education based on science and facts.
Teaching the scientific method is the correction for ignorance.
WA4TKG
That should save them a bunch of money in damages, every time someone does.
AgeOfAsparagas
Wrong side of history, Denmark. Go back and try again.
itsonlyrocknroll
One of the many Freedoms many fought and died for, is freedom of expression, the right to express one opinion, sometimes satirical, mocking, sometimes ridicule.
Questioning humanities sometime irrational need to worship a god regardless of denomination.
I am a firm believer, a Catholic devout.
I see this as personal choice, faith.
I except that other feel differently. A respect that point of view.
Dave Allen mocked the Catholic faith, sometimes with the ridicule it deserved. Pompous over bearing Popery.
Religious extremism, to force one belief onto another with the threat of incarceration, is a very slippery slope.
If a religious group are unwilling to intergrade into western democratic society, without the ever present threat of violent suppression then the debate must be had to forced repatriation.
TrevorPeace
I would never burn any book in my library. But I'll defend my right to do it, if I choose, and I have an incinerator chimney in my backyard, so I have no need nor perverted wish to make a public display of it. Can't stop the nutbags, though, nor the goofballs they elect.
AgeOfAsparagas
"Nobody has the right to not be offended."
GuruMick
Some US states have legislated local libraries not have some books previously seen as classics of American literature.
Australia has a grand tradition of banning books on anti offensive grounds {"Portnoy's Complaint " in the 1970's, for example }
What would be the purpose of burning the Koran except to cause religious and social unrest
Society is not a "free for all " one...lots of rules impede peoples ability to do things.
GuruMick
None of my business ...if so why do the book burnings happen in public ?
GuruMick
Let's go back to the idea that deliberately offending a group is of itself offensive.
Many "book burning advocates " would'nt express or give the same rights to others....mostly Muslims.
Oh ! I'm so brave ...I'll advocate burning a book Holy to millions...in private at least.
starpunk
Most of these instances are intended to offend and stir up trouble. In America there's been cases of hatemongers intestinally burning truckloads of Korans just to be seen in public, get the attention and to stir up hate. That's the big problem here. Those idiots never even read anything in the Koran itself.
I take it the same way as burning Bibles, Vedas, any old holy books. If you don't believe or agree with it, nobody is force-feeding it on you. These zeroes who desecrate holy books in public are just immature brats who want to have their Famous 15 Minutes causing a stench. But they look like provocative fools.
Kabukilover
It was a burning of the Koran that made the poet Heinrich Heine remark, "When people start burning books they end up buring peope.*
GuruMick
what's the "protest " in burning the Koran ?
Just asking...
USNinJapan2
GuruMick
It's none of your or anyone's business why I may choose to burn it. That's the whole point.
UChosePoorly
Not how I would do things, but their country, their rules. Don’t like it, don’t go there.
albaleo
I'd have thought burning any book in a public place would be illegal as it is a fire safety risk. I'm fairly sure if I burned an encyclopedia, novel, or newspaper on my local high street, I'd get stopped by the police.
Dr.Cajetan Coelho
Holy Books are Wisdom Banks. The Holy Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, the Torah, Granth Sahib, the Holy Koran, the Buddhavacana, the Avesta, the Agam Sutras, and several canons of the Chinese - offer guidance, meaning, motivation, courage, and stamina, for lovers of wisdom to journey through life with heads held high.
Ego Sum Lux Mundi
Good, it's about time. Should upset a few of the fedora-wearing edge lords!
GuruMick
Its an offence to burn money in Australia.
And a few Western Christian nations have anti blasphemy laws .
Denmark is adopting a practical measure akin to not kicking the hornets nest.
Thailand imprisons people who criticise or jest about it's Monarchy.
The world is not uniform.
I wouldnt go to fight for someones right to burn any books...has a bad past.
Aly Rustom
Agree with GuruMick
Aly Rustom
Thailand imprisons people who criticise or jest about it's Monarchy.
Many European countries imprison people who deny the holocaust or give the Nazi salute.