Interestingly as I'm sitting here reading through the threads (I'm a newbie to OLO) Tim Minchin has just come on Rage on the TV in the background…

stevenImeyer I don't share your reservations about blasphemy laws.

Properly implemented, they may just benefit all of us. A legal system where an aggrieved party can seek impartially-judged redress is an important part of most modern societies.

To simplify the application of the blasphemy law and prevent its misuse there would be one pre-requisite… The blasphemed deity has to both initiate the action and must appear in court providing a victim impact statement.

Tim Minchin's final Sydney show was live on ABC2 last evening, so it is possible that at least half a dozen more folk have been exposed to his talent.

I doubt he will be back for a while, given that his recognition-factor in the UK is a full order of magnitude greater than here. Which is interesting, given the juxtaposition of a) his material and b) the sensitivity that the Poms are supposed to have about religion-related stuff.

I suspect that they may be more receptive to religion-related humour than we have led ourselves to believe. Either that, or the "danger" we in Australia associate with it is massively exaggerated.

On balance, I'd go with the latter, given that the Sydney audience laughed in exactly the same places as the O2 Arena audience did...