Tags: Freedom of Expression
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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. Read More »
What comes after The Silence of the Liberals?
Posted: Fri, 16 Mar 2018 by Chris Sloggett
Nick Cohen has skewered the hypocrisy of leftists who apologise for Islamic intolerance, says Chris Sloggett. To defeat it we must assert the value of free speech as the most precious right which citizens share. 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. Read More »
Only secularism can defeat the emboldened Hindu right
Posted: Fri, 01 Dec 2017 by Chris Sloggett
Violent threats look set to censor a film which was due for UK release today. It's the latest sign of rising Hindu fundamentalism. In response, Chris Sloggett says, we must make sure no religion gets special treatment. 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. Read More »
Murdered for the ‘crime’ of blasphemy
Posted: Fri, 12 May 2017 by Anonymous
There has been an onslaught against secularists, atheists, ex-Muslims and countless religious minorities for 'blasphemy'. It's important to remember the individuals, and honour their lives and heroism. Read More »
The demonisation of Louis Smith: This is how a de facto blasphemy law works
Posted: Tue, 11 Oct 2016 by Stephen Evans
The castigation of a British gymnast for 'mocking Islam' is illustrative of a troubling return of blasphemy, argues Stephen Evans.
If you've been following the hounding of British Olympic gymnast Louis Smith this week, you'd be forgiven for forgetting that... Read More »
Conflating abuse with criticism of Islam risks a return to a UK blasphemy law
Posted: Thu, 18 Aug 2016 by Benjamin Jones
The BBC and Demos have published an accidental case-study in why we should all stop using the meaningless and sinister word 'Islamophobia'. Read More »
Furore over Islamic bus adverts is nothing but disingenuous propaganda
Posted: Mon, 09 May 2016 by Stephen Evans
Christian groups are being disingenuous and divisive in claiming unfavourable treatment over the decision to allow Allah adverts on buses, argues Stephen Evans.
Christian groups have reacted with faux dismay to news that buses around England will soon be displaying... Read More »
Muddled-thinking on counter-extremism threatens free speech
Posted: Wed, 04 May 2016 by Benjamin Jones
Leaks ahead of the Government's latest counter-extremism drive show that they have failed to balance freedom of speech with the impossible objective set out to legally challenge Islamist ideas in the "pre-criminal space." Read More »
2015: A year of terror for Bangladesh’s secularist writers
Posted: Tue, 05 Jan 2016 by Arif Rahman
Arif Rahman, a Bangladeshi blogger, reflects on the targeted attacks on secularist bloggers that took place in Bangladesh throughout 2015, claiming many lives, and considers the road ahead for secularism in the face of terror and state-sanctioned persecution. Read More »
A timid defence of free speech is no match for Islamism. We must do better.
Posted: Wed, 18 Nov 2015 by Benjamin Jones
Society needs a much more vigorous defence of free speech than the one we are getting, with the 'elite' of society in academia, religion and politics offering a feeble and timorous defence, writes Benjamin Jones.
Speaking at a debate on "freedom of speech... Read More »
Some good news for free speech on campuses
Posted: Wed, 21 Oct 2015 by Benjamin Jones
With too many instances of campus censorship to list, it's easy to be pessimistic about freedom of expression on campus, but there are a few promising signs of progress, led by students, writes Benjamin Jones.
I've spoken on two university campuses in the past... Read More »
Warwick Student Union have now done the right thing – but universities themselves must step up to defend free speech
Posted: Mon, 28 Sep 2015 by Benjamin Jones
After taking relentless criticism on Twitter and Facebook, Warwick Student Union has reversed its decision to block Maryam Namazie from speaking on campus. Though the right decision has been made in the end, universities themselves must step up to defend free... Read More »
Academics call for greater sensitivity about religion in universities, but students suggest it’s not an issue
Posted: Fri, 19 Jun 2015 by National Secular Society
Some academics are giving undue prominence to religion and religious students- when the evidence shows they are exaggerating the scale of the 'problem' they describe. Read More »
Preacher James McConnell faces prosecution for calling Islam “Satanic"- the state again tramples over free expression
Posted: Thu, 18 Jun 2015 by Benjamin Jones
Free speech for all is threatened once more by the senseless prosecution of another Christian preacher. His religious freedom is the same liberty that defends secularists, atheists, people of all religions and none. Read More »
Academic claims university atheists are “militant”
Posted: Thu, 18 Jun 2015 by Benjamin Jones
A paper published by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education has claimed that atheists can be "militant" on university campuses, while describing religion as a "public good" and the exclusion of religion from the public sphere as "repressive." Read More »
Anti-Muslim bigotry and the problem, with ‘Islamophobia’
Posted: Thu, 11 Jun 2015 by Benjamin Jones
Islamists are again using the victims of anti-Muslim bigotry to advance their agenda. Once again, a British university has aided this project in a conference on 'Islamophobia' which undermined and demonised ex-Muslims as "McCarthyites".
Many, many Muslims are... Read More »
‘Spiritual influence’, democracy and free expression
Posted: Tue, 19 May 2015 by Alastair Lichten
Religious voting blocs and sectarian and divisive politics harm society and can undermine democracy. But are laws that potentially restrict free expression the answer? Alastair Lichten considers the charge of 'undue spiritual influence'.
Many student unions... Read More »
You can never kill ideas: an anonymous blogger on the deaths of secularists in Bangladesh
Posted: Thu, 14 May 2015 by Anonymous
Following the recent wave of assassinations targeting atheist and secular writers in Bangladesh, we publish the thoughts of a British secularist of Bangladeshi origin – and his message to their murderers. 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 »
Why we should stop saying ‘Islamophobia’
Posted: Thu, 02 Apr 2015 by Benjamin Jones
The bigoted views of Islamists and anti-Muslim demagogues must be challenged, but the term 'Islamophobia' only serves to confuse the issues and shut down debate, argues Benjamin Jones. Read More »
Je suis Michael Overd: this obnoxious street preacher is a canary in the coal mine for free speech
Posted: Fri, 20 Mar 2015 by Benjamin Jones
A street preacher has been charged for giving a "religiously aggravated" sermon, and was told by a police officer that he wasn't allowed to offend anyone. Benjamin Jones warns of the danger posed to civil liberties if the state continues to police free expression. Read More »
Charlie Hebdo: a perspective one month on
Posted: Wed, 18 Feb 2015 by Sadikur Rahman
25 years after the Rushdie Affair, one month after the atrocities in Paris and days after the attack on a free speech seminar in Copenhagen, Sadikur Rahman looks at what lessons free expression activists and opponents have taken.
Another European city, this... Read More »
A duty to mock
Posted: Mon, 16 Feb 2015 by Manfredi La Manna
Manfredi La Manna argues that the response to the Charlie Hebdo murders has exposed unpalatable truths in both the conservative and progressive camps. Read More »
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