Tags: Blasphemy
Don’t sacrifice the principle of universal human rights to religious leaders
Posted: Mon, 22 Nov 2021 by Megan Manson
A recent report on state-sanctioned killings of 'blasphemers' and 'apostates' suggests re-interpreting Islam as a solution rather than promoting universal human rights. Megan Manson argues this is the wrong approach. Read More »
Naz Shah’s argument on blasphemy should be rejected
Posted: Fri, 09 Jul 2021 by Chris Sloggett
The Labour MP has effectively called for a blasphemy law as she highlighted the "emotional harm" caused by depictions of Muhammad. Freedom of expression on religion mustn't be up for negotiation, says Chris Sloggett. Read More »
Western liberals’ weakness on blasphemy is letting down Muslim dissenters
Posted: Wed, 31 Mar 2021 by Kunwar Khuldune Shahid
The hand-wringing in the face of a vicious campaign against a teacher sends a demoralising message to those fighting for free speech on religion globally and in British Muslim communities, says Kunwar Khuldune Shahid. Read More »
Five years after the Charlie Hebdo murders, free expression on religion still needs promoting
Posted: Tue, 07 Jan 2020 by Chris Sloggett
Half a decade after the Islamist attack on cartoonists in France, Chris Sloggett says we owe it to the victims and those left behind to reject blasphemy taboos. Read More »
Why won’t the government condemn the existence of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws?
Posted: Thu, 18 Jul 2019 by Chris Sloggett
Ministers keep condemning the "misuse" of Pakistan's blasphemy laws in response to parliamentary questions. But the 'misuse' of indefensible laws isn't the issue – the existence of them is, says Chris Sloggett. Read More »
European ruling that ‘religious feelings’ trump free speech is a dangerous development
Posted: Fri, 26 Oct 2018 by Stephen Evans
Just as Irish citizens strike a blow for the right to freedom of expression, the European Court has fundamentally undermined it, argues Stephen Evans.
Irish voters decided this week to remove the 'crime' of blasphemy from its constitution. The majority of citizens,... Read More »
Pakistan’s elections will mean little for minorities and secularists
Posted: Wed, 25 Jul 2018 by Basit Mahmood
Religious hardliners have pushed both frontrunners in Pakistan's elections to the right – and neither is prepared to stand up to them, says Basit Mahmood.
Change is in the air according to those campaigning in Pakistan's elections, as Imran Khan campaigns... Read More »
It shouldn’t be normal for pubs to conform to blasphemy codes
Posted: Wed, 06 Jun 2018 by Chris Sloggett
The brewer Greene King has taken the Saudi Arabian flag down from its World Cup displays after complaints from some Muslims that an Islamic symbol shouldn't be in a place which serves alcohol. Chris Sloggett responds.
Do you find the Saudi Arabian flag offensive?... Read More »
Let’s point out that the ‘Je ne suis pas Charlie’ brigade are helping the terrorists win
Posted: Sun, 07 Jan 2018 by Chris Sloggett
Three years after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Chris Sloggett says it is a moral duty to push back against those who invent outrages to impugn the magazine's reputation.
Terrorism will never prevail. Terrorists will never change who we are. Terrorists will never... Read More »
De facto blasphemy laws are alive and well
Posted: Thu, 16 Nov 2017 by Chris Sloggett
It is now 38 years since Monty Python's Life of Brian was released in November 1979, despite protests. But Chris Sloggett says we aren't truly free to engage in blasphemy today.
It is now 38 years since Monty Python's Life of Brian was released in November... Read More »
It should be politically impossible for universities to enforce blasphemy laws
Posted: Thu, 30 Apr 2015 by Benjamin Jones
It should be politically toxic, publicly excruciating, there should be protests, and mass disruption to campuses when universities censor blasphemy. Where is the outrage?
The censors and reactionaries are at it again. The most recent case came from Bath. A... Read More »
Secularist bequest upheld in court, in 1915
Posted: Fri, 24 Apr 2015 by National Secular Society
A landmark legal cases involving secularists took place a century ago. In Bowman v. Secular Society the relatives of a testator leaving money to the Secular Society (an associated company of the NSS) sought but failed to have the bequest declared invalid on... Read More »
A strange case of blasphemy
Posted: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 by Benjamin Jones
The Sony crisis is almost identical to the Satanic Verses controversy, or the Mohammed cartoon riots. Benjamin Jones argues that Sony's capitulation to North Korea has all the hallmarks of religious blasphemy cases, and that the state religion of North Korea... Read More »
Apostasy and blasphemy laws: an affront to human rights
Posted: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 by Alastair Lichten
Iran's execution of Mohsen Amir-Aslani on apostasy charges illustrates the injustices caused by such laws in the Middle East and around the world, argues Alastair Lichten.
This week, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran... Read More »
Springtime for defamation of religion
Posted: Thu, 16 Aug 2012 by Robert C. Blitt
By Robert C. Blitt
The US Department of State and numerous human rights organizations have prematurely heralded the end of attempts to entrench an international norm prohibiting blasphemy at the UN. In 2011, Human Rights Watch (HRW) celebrated what it labelled... Read More »
Springtime for defamation of religion
Posted: Thu, 16 Aug 2012 by Robert C. Blitt
The US Department of State and numerous human rights organizations have prematurely heralded the end of attempts to entrench an international norm prohibiting blasphemy at the UN. In 2011, Human Rights Watch (HRW) celebrated what it labelled the implicit rejection... Read More »
