经济学人292:宗教与自由言论 粗鲁的权利

 　　Religion and free speech

　　宗教与自由言论

　　The right to be rude

　　粗鲁的权利

　　An offensive preacher acquires some unlikely allies

　　一名无礼牧师获得一些意想不到的盟友

　　MICHAEL OVERD is an evangelical Christian¹ with strong views on the sinfulness of homosexuality and the wrongness of Islam (except, presumably, on the issue of homosexuality). He likes to hold forth² among the shoppers of Taunton, a quiet town in south-west England. But on March 23rd Mr Overd was found guilty of using threatening or abusive language—although a more serious charge of causing “religiously aggravated” offence was rejected. The judge, Shamim Qureshi, ordered him to pay ￡250 ($375) in compensation to a man who said he was left feeling “ashamed and belittled” by the preacher's stance on same-sex relations.

　　迈克尔·奥维德是一名福音基督徒，他认为同性恋是一种原罪，而伊斯兰教是错的（不过可能在认为同性恋有罪上或许他们是一致的），对此他持有强硬的态度。他喜欢在英格兰西南部的一个安静小镇汤顿里，向顾客作长篇大论的演讲。但在3月23号，奥维德被判使用恐吓性或侮辱性语言的罪名，尽管更严重的指控给—造成“宗教骚扰”被驳回了。法官沙米姆·库勒西令其向一名男士支付250镑（374美元）的赔偿金，这名男士表示因牧师在同性关系所持立场令他感到“羞愧和轻视”。

　　When Mr Overd objected to “paying 250 to a sodomite” the judge threatened him with 45 days in prison. The preacher then agreed to pay compensation but said he would appeal. “I find it quite incredible that a Muslim judge finds a Christian guilty and wants to protect homosexuals, whom I have no personal hatred³ against,” he declared on leaving the courtroom.

　　当奥维德拒绝“付250镑给一个同性恋者”时，法官威胁警告他将面临45天的牢狱之灾。这位牧师最终答应了支付赔偿金但表示将会上诉。在离开法庭时他声明：“我觉得一名穆斯林法官判定一名基督徒有罪还想保护同性恋是不可思议的，但我对同性恋并没有个人恩怨。”

　　宗教与自由言论.jpg

　　The evangelist has acquired some unlikely defenders⁴. The National Secular⁵ Society (NSS), which fights religious privilege of all kinds, says the case vindicates⁶ its long-running campaign to safeguard free speech from sloppy⁷ legislation. Mr Overd was prosecuted⁸ under the Public Order Act, which outlaws⁹ “threatening, insulting or abusive” language and can result in prison sentences of up to seven years if the offence is deemed to be racially or religiously motivated.

　　这位福音传道者获得了一些令人意想不到的捍卫者。英国世俗协会（NSS）反对任何形式的宗教特权，该协会表示这个案子证明了在漏洞百出的法律下争取自由言论的长期运动是正确的。奥维德在公共秩序法之下被迫害，这部法律将“威胁性、污蔑性或侮辱性”话语定为非法，如果罪行是种族或宗教问题而引发的话，可能会被判高达七年的有期徒刑。

　　Thanks to a campaign by the NSS and others, the law has been amended¹⁰ so that insulting language no longer incurs¹¹ prosecution¹² merely because the police think it has the potential to offend. It must be shown that an insult was directed at a particular person or group, and that offence was taken. But civil libertarians want the law further amended to protect insulting speech and take away the reference to religious aggravation¹³. Although Britain has abolished its ancient ban on blasphemy¹⁴, which punished insults against Christianity, the concept of religious aggravation amounts to a new sort of blasphemy law that could be used to prevent criticism of any religion, argues Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the NSS.

　　由于NSS和其他人推动，这项法律已被修订。因此警方再也不能认为公民的言语有冒犯倾向而对其提出诉讼，警方必须要证明侮辱是针对某个特定的人或群体，并且该冒犯行为已被人当真。但公民自由主义者希望法律进行进一步修订，保护侮辱性的言语并取消关于宗教骚扰的条文。尽管英国已取消亵渎神明这一禁止侮辱基督教的古老禁令，宗教骚扰这一概念意味着一种新的亵渎神明法，可以被用来阻止对任何宗教的批判，NSS的执行理事基斯·波蒂厄斯·伍德如是说。

　　One of Britain's best known gay-rights campaigners, Peter Tatchell, has offered to speak in court in favour of the preacher's right to hold forth. He thinks that Mr Overd's views are bigoted¹⁵ and would protest against them. But being spared offence is not a human right, he says: “In a free, democratic society, the criminalisation of unpleasant opinions is a step too far.”

　　皮特·塔切尔是英国最著名的同性恋权利捍卫者之一，他提出要在法庭上发言支持牧师演讲的权利。他认为奥维德的观点是僵化的并会抵制这些言行。但他说，不受冒犯不是一项人权，“在一个自由民主的社会，对不受欢迎的意见定罪未免太过了。”

　　1.object to 反对，对…反感

　　I don't object to the children going with us.

　　我不反对孩子们和我们一道去。

　　I object to being repeatedly dropped on in this manner.

　　我反对用这种方式屡次被挑中。

　　2.agree to 同意，赞成

　　You and I are going to have to agree to disagree then.

　　那你我只能各自保留不同意见了。

　　They had little choice but to agree to what he suggested.

　　他们别无选择，只好接受他的提议。

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

3 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

4 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

6 vindicates   

n.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的名词复数 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的第三人称单数 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护

参考例句：

• The success of the operation completely vindicates my faith in the doctor. 手术的成功完全证明我对这大夫的信任是正确的。 来自辞典例句
• In one sense the verdict vindicates the Bush administration. 在某种意义上，有罪宣判证明了布什当局是正确的。 来自互联网

7 sloppy   

adj.邋遢的，不整洁的

参考例句：

• If you do such sloppy work again,I promise I'll fail you.要是下次作业你再马马虎虎，我话说在头里，可要给你打不及格了。
• Mother constantly picked at him for being sloppy.母亲不断地批评他懒散。

8 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

9 outlaws   

歹徒，亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 )； 逃犯

参考例句：

• During his year in the forest, Robin met many other outlaws. 在森林里的一年，罗宾遇见其他许多绿林大盗。
• I didn't have to leave the country or fight outlaws. 我不必离开自己的国家，也不必与不法分子斗争。

10 Amended   

adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He asked to see the amended version. 他要求看修订本。
• He amended his speech by making some additions and deletions. 他对讲稿作了些增删修改。

11 incurs   

遭受，招致，引起( incur的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She falls in love and incurs the wrath of her father. 她恋爱了，这引起了父亲的愤怒。
• A judge incurs no civil liability for judicial acts, even if guilty of fraud and corruption. 法官不得因其司法行为而承担民事责任，即使犯有诈欺与贪污罪。 来自口语例句

12 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

13 aggravation   

n.烦恼，恼火

参考例句：

• She stirred in aggravation as she said this. 她说这句话，激动得过分。
• Can't stand the aggravation, all day I get aggravation. You know how it is." 我整天都碰到令人发火的事，你可想而知这是什么滋味。” 来自教父部分

14 blasphemy   

n.亵渎，渎神

参考例句：

• His writings were branded as obscene and a blasphemy against God.他的著作被定为淫秽作品，是对上帝的亵渎。
• You have just heard his blasphemy!你刚刚听到他那番亵渎上帝的话了！

15 bigoted   

adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• He is so bigoted that it is impossible to argue with him.他固执得不可理喻。
• I'll concede you are not as bigoted as some.我承认你不象有些人那么顽固。