Support for Iceland’s Pirate Party is soaring. According to a recent Gallup poll, 34.1 percent of the country said it stands behind the insurgent political movement that received just 5.1 percent of the vote in 2013.

The Pirate Party has just had its first major legislative victory — repealing a 75-year-old blasphemy law that made it a crime to “ridicule or insult” the teachings of a legally recognized religious community. Anyone found violating the blasphemy law had been subject to a fine and three months in prison. The law, established in 1940, came under fire after the Jan.7 attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

To quote a section of the repeal act, it is “essential in a free society that the public express themselves without fear of punishment.”

While the vote was underway Thursday, all three members of the Pirate Party stood before parliament, known as the Althing, and declared “Je suis Charlie”, in solidarity with the French satirical publication.

In a statement after the vote, the party praised parliament for issuing “the important message that freedom will not bow to bloody attacks.”

The Icelandic churches all opposed repealing the blasphemy law. The Catholic Church wrote in a statement after the successful repeal: “Should freedom of expression go so far as to mean that the identity of a person of faith can be freely insulted, then personal freedom — as individuals or groups — is undermined.”

All religions, indeed, all public organisations, should be subject to thoughtful criticism. To use ad hominem foul language and to blast off incognito is the act of an ignorant coward. But to ask such questions as, “why does religion A appear to spawn violence, or interfere with a woman’s reproductive rights etc.” should be debated without fear of bullying. Likewise, the views of those who do not believe in the teachings of religion should be also be subject to (polite) debate. It is good for everyone to have their beliefs queried and tested; it makes you think, sometimes for a change.