In 2017, then–Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen proclaimed: “I’m proud and happy that we live in a country where we have abolished the blasphemy provision and where you’re allowed to be critical—even in satire and cartoons—of religious symbols.” Last week, however, Rasmussen, who is now the minister of foreign affairs, did an about-face.
The Quran burnings have become so bad, he said, that Denmark is “seen as a country that supports the insult and denigration of other countries and religions.” In response, Rasmussen announced legislation “that will allow us to put a stop to the kind of insult and denigration we are currently witnessing.”