Look, I get it. Some people take offence when others joke about their beliefs. After all, religion is a very personal thing. For many it is a cornerstone of how they live their lives.

This is why it seems logical that even when it comes to swearing in a new godfather, the Mafia like to do it round a statue of the Virgin Mary (the Bishop of Locri in Calabria, immediately sent them a note to Please Stop Doing It. With a PS that sinners were always welcome to the fold).

But I still cannot understand what all this fuss about the removal of the religious vilification laws is all about.

When I say fuss, I really mean the Jeremiah wailing in the wilderness better known as Opposition Justice Spokesman Jason Azzopardi.

For the last few weeks he has been turning up on an almost weekly basis in what looks like a one-man crusade.

Now I know this is not the case, indeed I am sure that there are many who support him. And not just in Malta. A few years ago the Blair government introduced a religious vilification law. And as recent as this year a regional parliament adopted a similar law in Australia.

In a civilised society one should be able to tread on religion without fear of a legal landmine exploding in your face

Critics of the law point out that as it stood the Malta law only covered the Christian faith. Supporters argue that is simply a matter of extending the law to cover all faiths. Would that also include satanism, I wonder?

The problem is that these laws have a habit of biting one in the back. So for example in 2009 the owners of a B&B, committed Christians, ended up in court accused of offending a Muslim woman guest when a discussion cropped up over the breakfast table. The case was eventually thrown out by the judge.

Then there is the whole issue of the limits of free expression. If these laws were extended, should we be banning Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses for insulting Muslim believers? Hey what about that man with a tattoo of Buddha on his leg? In Myanmar you can find your holiday cut drastically short.

Then there is the question of how necessary is the law? We already have strong hate laws in place as pointed out recently by Andrew Sciberras, so why do we need an extra special law?

All this may now be an academic argument as the religious vilification law is now a thing of the past. Except that… well what really prompted me to write this piece is because of the reason given by Jason Azzopardi for retaining the law.

His reason was that this was the wrong time to remove such laws because it would cause ‘unnecessary risks’. This is a toned-down version of what he said in parliament. He said, and here I quote from Times of Malta's parliamentary report: “Presenting a number of Charlie Hebdo drawings as an example of vilification of religion, Dr Azzopardi said that although no one should impose his religion on others and everyone had a right to express themselves, one should not be insulting." So much for ‘Je Suis Charlie’ then.

Worse still, implied in that statement is a justification for ‘insulted’ believers to retaliate. Does this remind you of something? Yep - victim-blaming. Take that, Paris!

Seriously though, are we now to base our laws not on protecting our western liberal European values but on the basis of fundamentalist viewpoints?

Yes religion is a touchy subject. However in a civilised society one should be able to tread on religion without fear of a legal landmine exploding in your face. Or that if it did society would protect you. The alternative is that Salman Rushdie would have been jailed instead of being given police protection.

And the same would be said for a lot of playwrights, artists and comedians.

And speaking of which, did you hear the one about Mohammed, Buddha and Jesus going into a bar? I’m afraid that's all I’ve got. Feel free to finish the joke in the comments section below. No vilification please.

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