Blasphemy law
Encyclopedia
Blasphemy law is law
relating to blasphemy
, or irreverence toward supposed holy personages, religious artifacts, customs, and beliefs.
In some countries, blasphemy is not a crime. In the United States of America, for example, a prosecution for blasphemy would violate the Constitution according to the decision in Joseph Burstyn, Inc v. Wilson
. The United Kingdom abolished its laws in England and Wales against blasphemy in 2008. In Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
has recommended that countries enact laws that protect the freedom of expression.
Other countries, especially countries which have Islam
as the state religion, regard blasphemy as a serious offence. Pakistan, for example, has legislation which makes execution a penalty for blasphemy.
In place of or in addition to prohibitions against blasphemy, some countries have laws which give redress to those who feel insulted on account of their religion. These laws forbid hate speech
, the vilification of religion, or "religious insult".
. Blasphemy may be punished by penalties up to execution by hanging.
's population is Sunni Muslim
, and the Constitution declares that Islam
is the state religion
, Algeria uses legislation rather than Sharia to combat blasphemy against Islam.
, two sections of the penal code relate to blasphemy:
, Paragraph 140 of the penal code is about blasphemy. The paragraph has not been used since 1938 when a Nazi group was convicted for antisemitic propaganda. The hate speech paragraph (266b) is used more frequently. Abolition of the blasphemy clause was proposed in 2004, but failed to gain a majority. It has been discussed since, especially after the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
.
. The majority uses the law against blasphemy with other laws to persecute members of Egypt's minorities, especially: Shia, Sufi, Christians, Bahai, and atheists.
in Strasbourg adopted on 29 June 2007 Recommendation 1805 (2007) on blasphemy, religious insults and hate speech against persons on grounds of their religion. This Recommendation set a number of guidelines for member states of the Council of Europe
in view of Articles 10 (freedom of expression) and 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights
. The Assembly held that blasphemy should not be a criminal offence.
In place of blasphemy or in addition to blasphemy in some European countries is the crime of "religious insult". A religious insult is forbidden in Andorra, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.
On 23 October 2008, the Venice Commission
, the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters, issued a report about blasphemy, religious insult, and incitement to religious hatred. The report noted that, in Europe, blasphemy is an offence only in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, and San Marino. In its conclusions, the report stated "it is neither necessary nor desirable to create an offence of religious insult" and "the offence of blasphemy should be abolished".
, section 10 of chapter 17 of the Criminal Code
relate to blasphemy. Unsuccessful attempts were made to rescind the section in 1914, 1917, 1965, 1970, and 1998.
In 1969, Harro Koskinen was prosecuted for publishing a picture of his painting called Pig Messiah, which featured a crucified pig. For violating the sensibilities of a religion, Koskinen had to pay a fine.
In 2008, the issue of religious sensibilities arose again. On 30 May 2008, Tampere District Court sentenced Seppo Lehto
to two years and four months in prison for offences which involve hate speech
and blasphemy. The court found Lehto guilty of: defamation, incitement of an ethnic group, and violating the sensibilities of a religion. The judgment said that Lehto had violated the sensibilities of Islam because he had disseminated, with insulting intentions, material which openly blasphemes and desecrates that which Muslims deem holy. Outraged by the punishment of Lehto, Jussi Halla-aho
, a Helsinki councilman, posted to the Internet in 2008 some controversial remarks about Islam and about Somalis
. Those remarks induced Helsinki District Court to order Halla-aho to trial.
, the German criminal law. If a deed is capable of disturbing the public peace, blasphemy is actionable. In 2006, Manfred van H.
(also known as "Mahavo") was prosecuted for blasphemy.
Article 199 "Blasphemy Concerning Religions" states: One who publicly and maliciously and by any means blasphemes the Greek Orthodox Church or any other religion tolerable in Greece shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years.
Article 201 provides: One who willfully removes a corpse, parts of a corpse or the ashes of the dead from those who have lawful custody thereof or one who commits an offense with respect to a corpse or acts blasphemously and improperly toward a grave, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years.
Greece has not used its laws about blasphemy to protect any religion other than the Greek Orthodox Church, which is the state church of Greece.
In December 2003, Greece prosecuted for blasphemy Gerhard Haderer
, an Austrian, along with his Greek publisher and four booksellers. Haderer is the author of an illustrated, humorous book entitled The Life of Jesus. The prosecutor contended that the book’s depiction of Jesus as a hippie
was blasphemous. On 13 April 2005, the Court of Appeal of Athens, reversed the judgment of the Court of First Instance, and acquitted Haderer.
Greece complements its laws against blasphemy with laws against "religious insult". The laws forbid the creation, display or trade in work that "insults public sentiment" or that "offends people's religious sentiments". The right to redress for a religious insult has so far been restricted to Christians.
, India's dominant religion does not have the concept of blasphemy; such laws are absent in tradition. In 1860, the British repealed blasphemy laws . Today, Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code
punishes as hate speech
insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of any citizen with deliberate and malicious intention to outrage their religious feelings. These laws are applied to all religions including Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam.
The Muslim majority uses the Criminal Code, presidential decrees, and ministerial directives to persecute religious minorities and unorthodox sects. The persecution in Indonesia makes it a place of much discrimination, harassment, and violence.
. The law against blasphemy complements laws against criticizing the Islamic regime, insulting Islam, and publishing materials that deviate from Islamic standards.
, blasphemy is covered by Articles 170 and 173 of the penal code.
The law is traced back to the British High Commission "The Abuse and Vilification (religious invective) Order No. 43 of 1929", enacted in efforts to suppress the 1929 Palestine riots
. The order contained the language: "Any person who utters a word or sound in public or within earshot of any other person that may be or is intended to offend his religious sensitivities or faith can expect to be found guilty and eligible for a one-year jail sentence."
, under the article 724 of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure, blasphemy now is considered as an "administrative offense" and punished with a fine.
First introduced in 1930, the blasphemy has been decriminalized with the law N°205 of 25 June 1999. Unequivocally, the law punish only the blasphemy against divinities.
with legislation rather than by applying Sharia. Accusations of blasphemy in Kuwait usually target the Shia, academics, and journalists.
has laws against the vilification of religion, and against immorality
. Enacted in 1933, Article 163 of Malta's Criminal Code prohibits vilification of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion, which is Malta's religion. Vilification of Malta's religion makes the vilifier liable to imprisonment for a term from one to six months. By Article 164, vilification of any cult "tolerated by law" makes the vilifier liable to imprisonment for a term from one to three months. Article 338(bb) imposes liability upon anyone who, "even though in a state of intoxication, publicly utters any obscene or indecent words, or makes obscene acts or gestures, or in any other manner not otherwise provided for in this Code, offends against public morality, propriety or decency". Article 342 provides:
In 2008, criminal procedures were initiated against 621 people for blaspheming in public.
. The law against blasphemy complements laws against racial discrimination and incitement to violence.
In 1966, the Public Prosecution Service prosecuted Gerard Reve
under Article 147. In his novel Nader tot U (Nearer to Thee), Reve describes the narrator's sexual intercourse with God, who is incarnated in a donkey. The court of first instance convicted Reve. He appealed. In April 1968, an appeal court quashed the conviction.
In November 2008, Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin expressed the country’s coalition government's intent to repeal Article 147. He said the government would strengthen the legislation against discrimination to prohibit any insult to any group of people. In May 2009, the government decided to leave the law as it is. The decision followed a high court ruling in which a man who had put up a poster that read "stop the tumour that is Islam" was found not guilty of insulting a group of people on the grounds of their religion.
, Section 123 of the Crimes Act 1961
allows for imprisonment up to one year for anyone who publishes any "blasphemous libel". To date the only prosecution for blasphemous libel in New Zealand has been the case of John Glover, publisher of The Maoriland Worker (a newspaper), in 1922. Glover was acquitted.
was tried in 1933, after giving a speech named Kristendommen - den tiende landeplage ("Christianity - the tenth plague"), but was acquitted. The last person sentenced for blasphemy in Norway was Arnfred Olsen in 1912, and he had to pay a fine of 10 NOK
.
has the strictest anti-blasphemy laws. § 295-A of Pakistan's Penal Code forbids outraging religious feelings. § 295-B punishes defilement of the Quran with life imprisonment. § 295-C prescribes the death penalty or the death penalty with a fine for the "use of derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet." § 298-B and § 298-C prohibit the Ahmadiyya
from proselytizing or from behaving in any manner as Muslims.
The usual victims are minorities like the Ahmadiyya
and Christian
s but it seems that they are also increasingly Muslims. Persons accused of blasphemy as well as police, lawyers, and judges are often subject to harassment, threats, attacks and murders when blasphemy is the issue.
In November 2008, Pakistan's government appointed Shahbaz Bhatti
as Federal Minister for Minorities, and gave him cabinet rank. Bhatti had promised that the Asif Ali Zardari
government would review Pakistan's blasphemy laws. Pakistan has been an active supporter of the campaign by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
to create global laws against blasphemy.
Bhatti was shot dead on 2 March 2011, by Taliban militants in Islamabad.
's penal code makes no reference to any sort of blasphemy law, it states that "Whoever offends religious feelings of other people by publicly insulting an object of religious cult or a place for public holding of religious ceremonies, is subject to a fine, restriction of liberty or loss of liberty for up to 2 years". The article has been used by pro-Church politicians and activists on numerous occasions, whenever they felt their religious feelings had been offended in some way. Opponents of the article maintain that it seriously limits the freedom of speech and effectively prevents any kind of debate on the Church's widespread influence on social and political life of Poland.
. The country's monarchy follows Sunni Islam.
The country's laws are an amalgam of rules from Sharia, royal edicts, and fatawa
from the Council of Senior Religious Scholars. Those laws prescribe penalties up to the death penalty for blasphemy.
Section 125 of the Sudanese Criminal Act prohibits "insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs." The section includes as penalties: imprisonment, a fine, and a maximum of forty lashes. In November 2007, the section gave rise to the Sudanese teddy bear blasphemy case
. In December 2007, the section was used against two Egyptian booksellers. They were sentenced to six months in prison because they sold a book that the court deemed an insult to Aisha, one of Prophet Mohammed's wives.
In May 2005, the authorities arrested Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed, and charged him with violating section 125. Ahmed was the editor-in-chief of a daily newspaper Al-Wifaq. The paper had published an article about a 500-year-old Islamic manuscript which says the real name of Mohammed’s father was not Abdallah but Abdel Lat, or Slave of Lat, an idol of the pre-Islamic era. A court fined Al-Wifaq eight million Sudanese pounds—the paper was shut down for three months—but acquitted Ahmed. Ahmed was found decapitated in September 2006.
sought a private prosecution
against the BBC
over its broadcasting of the show Jerry Springer: The Opera
(which includes a scene depicting Jesus, dressed as a baby, professing to be "a bit gay"). The charges were rejected by the City of Westminster
magistrates court. Christian Voice applied to have this ruling overturned by the High Court
, but the application was rejected. The court found that the common law
blasphemy offences specifically did not apply to stage productions (s. 2(4) of the Theatres Act 1968
) and broadcasts (s. 6 of the Broadcasting Act 1990
).
The last successful blasphemy prosecution (also a private prosecution) was Whitehouse v. Lemon
in 1977, when Denis Lemon, the editor of Gay News
, was found guilty. His newspaper had published James Kirkup
's poem The Love that Dares to Speak its Name
, which allegedly vilified Christ
and his life. Lemon was fined £500 and given a suspended sentence
of nine months imprisonment. It had been "touch and go", said the judge, whether he would actually send Lemon to jail. In 2002, a deliberate and well-publicised public repeat reading of the poem took place on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields
church in Trafalgar Square
, but failed to lead to any prosecution.
The last person in Britain to be imprisoned for blasphemy was John William Gott
on 9 December 1921. He had three previous convictions for blasphemy when he was prosecuted for publishing two pamphlets which satirised the biblical story of Jesus entering Jerusalem (Matthew 21:2-7), comparing Jesus to a circus clown. He was sentenced to nine months' hard labour.
The last prosecution for blasphemy in Scotland was in 1843. In 1697, a Scottish court hanged Thomas Aikenhead
for blasphemy.
On 5 March 2008, an amendment was passed to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
which abolished the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel in England and Wales. (Common law is abolished, not repealed.) The Act received royal assent on 8 May 2008, and the relevant section came into force on 8 July 2008.
provides:
Because of the First Amendment's protection of free speech and religious exercise from federal interference, and the Fourteenth Amendment's extension of those protections against state regulation, the United States and its constituent state governments may not prosecute blasphemous speech or religious insults and may not allow civil actions on those grounds. In Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New York could not enforce a censorship law against filmmakers whose films contained "sacrilegious" content. The opinion of the Court, by Justice Clark, stated that:
It should be noted, however, that the United States and some individual state jurisdictions provide for stronger criminal penalties for crimes when committed against a person because of that person's religious affiliation. For instance, Section 3A1.1 of the 2009 United States Sentencing Guidelines states that: "If the finder of fact at trial or, in the case of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere,
the court at sentencing determines beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant
intentionally selected any victim or any property as the object of the offense of
conviction because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national
origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person," the sentencing court is required to increase the standard sentencing range.
In October 2009, Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act as part of Public Law 111-84. Section 4707 of P.L. 111-84 creates an distinct felony for crimes of violence against persons because of the victim's actual or perceived race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or membership in other protected categories.
Although "hate speech" is not a crime in itself (P.L 111-84 explicitly states that nothing in the act is intended to criminalize speech against religious or other protected groups except where the speech constitutes conspiracy or solicitation), statements showing hatred against people in religious or other protected groups are admissible if relevant to show motive or intent.
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
relating to blasphemy
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
, or irreverence toward supposed holy personages, religious artifacts, customs, and beliefs.
In some countries, blasphemy is not a crime. In the United States of America, for example, a prosecution for blasphemy would violate the Constitution according to the decision in Joseph Burstyn, Inc v. Wilson
Joseph Burstyn, Inc v. Wilson
Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, 343 U.S. 495 , was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court which largely marked the decline of motion picture censorship in the United States...
. The United Kingdom abolished its laws in England and Wales against blasphemy in 2008. In Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , which held its first session in Strasbourg on 10 August 1949, can be considered the oldest international parliamentary assembly with a pluralistic composition of democratically elected members of parliament established on the basis of an...
has recommended that countries enact laws that protect the freedom of expression.
Other countries, especially countries which have Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
as the state religion, regard blasphemy as a serious offence. Pakistan, for example, has legislation which makes execution a penalty for blasphemy.
In place of or in addition to prohibitions against blasphemy, some countries have laws which give redress to those who feel insulted on account of their religion. These laws forbid hate speech
Hate speech
Hate speech is, outside the law, any communication that disparages a person or a group on the basis of some characteristic such as race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or other characteristic....
, the vilification of religion, or "religious insult".
Afghanistan
An Islamic state, Afghanistan prohibits blasphemy as an offence under ShariaSharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. Blasphemy may be punished by penalties up to execution by hanging.
Algeria
Although ninety-nine percent of AlgeriaAlgeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
's population is Sunni Muslim
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
, and the Constitution declares that Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
is the state religion
State religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
, Algeria uses legislation rather than Sharia to combat blasphemy against Islam.
Australia
The states, the territories, and the Commonwealth of Australia are not uniform in their treatment of blasphemy. Blasphemy is an offence in some jurisdictions but is not in others. The last attempted prosecution for blasphemy by the Crown occurred in the state of Victoria in 1919.Austria
In AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, two sections of the penal code relate to blasphemy:
- § 188 : Vilification of Religious Teachings
- § 189 : Disturbance of Religious Practice
Bangladesh
Bangladesh discourages blasphemy by a provision in its penal code that prohibits "hurting religious sentiments," and by other laws and policies that suppress freedom of speech.Brazil
Art. 208 of the penal code states that "publicly vilifying an act or object of religious worship" is a crime punishable with 1 month to a year of incarceration, or fine.Denmark
In DenmarkDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Paragraph 140 of the penal code is about blasphemy. The paragraph has not been used since 1938 when a Nazi group was convicted for antisemitic propaganda. The hate speech paragraph (266b) is used more frequently. Abolition of the blasphemy clause was proposed in 2004, but failed to gain a majority. It has been discussed since, especially after the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
.
Egypt
The vast majority of Egyptians are SunniSunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
. The majority uses the law against blasphemy with other laws to persecute members of Egypt's minorities, especially: Shia, Sufi, Christians, Bahai, and atheists.
European initiatives
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of EuropeParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , which held its first session in Strasbourg on 10 August 1949, can be considered the oldest international parliamentary assembly with a pluralistic composition of democratically elected members of parliament established on the basis of an...
in Strasbourg adopted on 29 June 2007 Recommendation 1805 (2007) on blasphemy, religious insults and hate speech against persons on grounds of their religion. This Recommendation set a number of guidelines for member states of the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
in view of Articles 10 (freedom of expression) and 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
. The Assembly held that blasphemy should not be a criminal offence.
In place of blasphemy or in addition to blasphemy in some European countries is the crime of "religious insult". A religious insult is forbidden in Andorra, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.
On 23 October 2008, the Venice Commission
Venice Commission
The Venice Commission is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. It was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin wall, at a time of urgent need for constitutional assistance in Central and Eastern Europe...
, the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters, issued a report about blasphemy, religious insult, and incitement to religious hatred. The report noted that, in Europe, blasphemy is an offence only in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, and San Marino. In its conclusions, the report stated "it is neither necessary nor desirable to create an offence of religious insult" and "the offence of blasphemy should be abolished".
Finland
In FinlandFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, section 10 of chapter 17 of the Criminal Code
Criminal Code of Finland
The Criminal Code of Finland is the codification of the central legal source concerning criminal law in Finland.-References:*Note: English not being official language in Finland, the English translations of Finnish legislation at finlex.fi are unofficial, though used by the Finnish Ministry of...
relate to blasphemy. Unsuccessful attempts were made to rescind the section in 1914, 1917, 1965, 1970, and 1998.
In 1969, Harro Koskinen was prosecuted for publishing a picture of his painting called Pig Messiah, which featured a crucified pig. For violating the sensibilities of a religion, Koskinen had to pay a fine.
In 2008, the issue of religious sensibilities arose again. On 30 May 2008, Tampere District Court sentenced Seppo Lehto
Seppo Lehto
Seppo Olavi Lehto is a Finnish far right activist currently living in Tampere. The main theme of his activism is the return of Finnish territories ceded to the Soviet Union in World War II...
to two years and four months in prison for offences which involve hate speech
Hate speech
Hate speech is, outside the law, any communication that disparages a person or a group on the basis of some characteristic such as race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or other characteristic....
and blasphemy. The court found Lehto guilty of: defamation, incitement of an ethnic group, and violating the sensibilities of a religion. The judgment said that Lehto had violated the sensibilities of Islam because he had disseminated, with insulting intentions, material which openly blasphemes and desecrates that which Muslims deem holy. Outraged by the punishment of Lehto, Jussi Halla-aho
Jussi Halla-aho
Jussi Kristian Halla-aho is a Finnish Slavic linguist, blogger and a politician for the True Finns party who has become well known for his essays criticising the humanitarian immigration and multiculturalism policies adopted in Finland.According to the newspaper Aamulehti, he is the best-known...
, a Helsinki councilman, posted to the Internet in 2008 some controversial remarks about Islam and about Somalis
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
. Those remarks induced Helsinki District Court to order Halla-aho to trial.
Germany
In Germany, blasphemy is covered by Article 166 of the StrafgesetzbuchStrafgesetzbuch
Strafgesetzbuch is the German name for Penal Code and is abbreviated to StGB.- History :In Germany the Strafgesetzbuch goes back to the Penal Code of the German Empire passed in the year 1871 which was largely identical to the Penal Code of the North German Confederation.This Reichsstrafgesetzbuch ...
, the German criminal law. If a deed is capable of disturbing the public peace, blasphemy is actionable. In 2006, Manfred van H.
Manfred van H.
Manfred van H. a.k.a. Mahavo is a German pensioner and political activist from Senden, Germany. On February 23, 2006, he was convicted in a court in Lüdinghausen of defamation of religious convictions in a manner suitable to disturb the public peace...
(also known as "Mahavo") was prosecuted for blasphemy.
Greece
Articles 198, 199, and 201 of the Greek Penal Code create offences which involve blasphemy. Article 198 "Malicious Blasphemy" provides:- 1. One who publicly and maliciously and by any means blasphemes God shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years.
- 2. Except for cases under paragraph 1, one who by blasphemy publicly manifests a lack of respect for the divinity shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than three months.
Article 199 "Blasphemy Concerning Religions" states: One who publicly and maliciously and by any means blasphemes the Greek Orthodox Church or any other religion tolerable in Greece shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years.
Article 201 provides: One who willfully removes a corpse, parts of a corpse or the ashes of the dead from those who have lawful custody thereof or one who commits an offense with respect to a corpse or acts blasphemously and improperly toward a grave, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years.
Greece has not used its laws about blasphemy to protect any religion other than the Greek Orthodox Church, which is the state church of Greece.
In December 2003, Greece prosecuted for blasphemy Gerhard Haderer
Gerhard Haderer
Gerhard Haderer is an Austrian cartoonist and caricaturist.-Biography:Gerhard Haderer was born in 1951 in Leonding, in upper Austria. He studied at a technical art school in Linz for four years from 1965, and then studied engraving in Stockholm. He returned to Austria in 1971 and worked as an...
, an Austrian, along with his Greek publisher and four booksellers. Haderer is the author of an illustrated, humorous book entitled The Life of Jesus. The prosecutor contended that the book’s depiction of Jesus as a hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
was blasphemous. On 13 April 2005, the Court of Appeal of Athens, reversed the judgment of the Court of First Instance, and acquitted Haderer.
Greece complements its laws against blasphemy with laws against "religious insult". The laws forbid the creation, display or trade in work that "insults public sentiment" or that "offends people's religious sentiments". The right to redress for a religious insult has so far been restricted to Christians.
India
Since HinduismHinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, India's dominant religion does not have the concept of blasphemy; such laws are absent in tradition. In 1860, the British repealed blasphemy laws . Today, Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code
Indian Penal Code
Indian Penal Code is the main criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code, intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. It was drafted in 1860 and came into force in colonial India during the British Raj in 1862...
punishes as hate speech
Hate speech laws in India
The Constitution of India and its hate speech laws aim to prevent discord among its many ethnic and religious communities. The laws allow a citizen to seek the punishment of anyone who shows the citizen disrespect "on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or...
insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of any citizen with deliberate and malicious intention to outrage their religious feelings. These laws are applied to all religions including Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam.
Indonesia
Article 156(a) of Indonesia's Criminal Code forbids anyone from deliberately, in public, expressing feelings of hostility, hatred, or contempt against religions with the purpose of preventing others from adhering to any religion, and forbids anyone from disgracing a religion. The penalty for violating Article 156(a) is a maximum of five years imprisonment.The Muslim majority uses the Criminal Code, presidential decrees, and ministerial directives to persecute religious minorities and unorthodox sects. The persecution in Indonesia makes it a place of much discrimination, harassment, and violence.
Iran
An Islamic theocracy, Iran derives its law against blasphemy from ShariaSharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. The law against blasphemy complements laws against criticizing the Islamic regime, insulting Islam, and publishing materials that deviate from Islamic standards.
Ireland
In Ireland, blasphemy is prohibited by the constitution and carries a maximum fine of €25,000. A controversial law was passed on 9 July 2009 and went into effect on 1 January 2010. However, in March 2010, it was announced that there would be a constitutional amendment referendum held about whether or not to maintain the existing prohibitionIsrael
In IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, blasphemy is covered by Articles 170 and 173 of the penal code.
- Insult to religion
- 170. If a person destroys, damages or desecrates a place of worship or any object which is held sacred by a group of persons, with the intention of reviling their religion, or in the knowledge that they are liable to deem that act an insult to their religion, then the one is liable to three years imprisonment.
- Injury to religious sentiment
- 173. If a person does any of the following, then the one is liable to one year imprisonment:
- (1) One publishes a publication that is liable to crudely offend the religious faith or sentiment of others;
- (2) One voices in a public place and in the hearing of another person any word or sound that is liable to crudely offend the religious faith or sentiment of others.
The law is traced back to the British High Commission "The Abuse and Vilification (religious invective) Order No. 43 of 1929", enacted in efforts to suppress the 1929 Palestine riots
1929 Palestine riots
The 1929 Palestine riots, also known as the Western Wall Uprising, the 1929 Massacres, , or the Buraq Uprising , refers to a series of demonstrations and riots in late August 1929 when a long-running dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem escalated into violence...
. The order contained the language: "Any person who utters a word or sound in public or within earshot of any other person that may be or is intended to offend his religious sensitivities or faith can expect to be found guilty and eligible for a one-year jail sentence."
Italy
In ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, under the article 724 of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure, blasphemy now is considered as an "administrative offense" and punished with a fine.
First introduced in 1930, the blasphemy has been decriminalized with the law N°205 of 25 June 1999. Unequivocally, the law punish only the blasphemy against divinities.
Jordan
Jordan's Penal Code prohibits anyone from blaspheming Islam, demeaning Islam or Muslim feelings, or insulting Prophet Mohammed. Violating the prohibitions makes the violator liable for imprisonment (up to three years) and a fine.Kuwait
Kuwait is an Islamic state. It suppresses any blasphemy against Sunni IslamSunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
with legislation rather than by applying Sharia. Accusations of blasphemy in Kuwait usually target the Shia, academics, and journalists.
Malaysia
Malaysia prevents insult to religion and to the religious by education, by restrictions upon the broadcasting and publishing media, and by the legal system. Some states in the Malaysian federation operate Sharia courts to protect Islam, and, when Sharia is not applicable, the Malaysian Penal Code provides penalties for offenses against religion.Malta
Instead of a law against blasphemy, MaltaMalta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
has laws against the vilification of religion, and against immorality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
. Enacted in 1933, Article 163 of Malta's Criminal Code prohibits vilification of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion, which is Malta's religion. Vilification of Malta's religion makes the vilifier liable to imprisonment for a term from one to six months. By Article 164, vilification of any cult "tolerated by law" makes the vilifier liable to imprisonment for a term from one to three months. Article 338(bb) imposes liability upon anyone who, "even though in a state of intoxication, publicly utters any obscene or indecent words, or makes obscene acts or gestures, or in any other manner not otherwise provided for in this Code, offends against public morality, propriety or decency". Article 342 provides:
- In respect of the contravention under article 338(bb), where the act consists in uttering blasphemous words or expressions, the minimum punishment to be awarded shall in no case be less than a fine (ammenda) of eleven euro and sixty-five cents (11.65) and the maximum punishment may be imprisonment for a term of three months . . . .
In 2008, criminal procedures were initiated against 621 people for blaspheming in public.
Netherlands
The Kingdom of the Netherlands prohibits blasphemy by a provision in its penal code. Article 147 punishes (by up to three months in jail or a fine of the second category (i.e. up to €3,800)) anyone who publicly, orally or in writing or depiction, offends religious feelings by scornful blasphemy. Furthermore, article 429bis prohibits displaying blasphemous material at places visible from the public road. The law came into being in the 1930s after the Communist Party called for Christmas to be dropped from the list of state holidays. The last successful conviction under Article 147 took place in the early 1960s when a student newspaper was fined 100 guilders for satirizing the New TestamentNew Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
. The law against blasphemy complements laws against racial discrimination and incitement to violence.
In 1966, the Public Prosecution Service prosecuted Gerard Reve
Gerard Reve
Gerard Kornelis van het Reve was a Dutch writer. He adopted a shortened version of his name, Gerard Reve in 1973, and that is how he is known today. Together with Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch, he is considered one of the "Great Three" of Dutch post-war literature...
under Article 147. In his novel Nader tot U (Nearer to Thee), Reve describes the narrator's sexual intercourse with God, who is incarnated in a donkey. The court of first instance convicted Reve. He appealed. In April 1968, an appeal court quashed the conviction.
In November 2008, Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin expressed the country’s coalition government's intent to repeal Article 147. He said the government would strengthen the legislation against discrimination to prohibit any insult to any group of people. In May 2009, the government decided to leave the law as it is. The decision followed a high court ruling in which a man who had put up a poster that read "stop the tumour that is Islam" was found not guilty of insulting a group of people on the grounds of their religion.
New Zealand
In New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Section 123 of the Crimes Act 1961
Crimes Act 1961
The Crimes Act 1961 is an Act of the Parliament of New Zealand administered by the Ministry of Justice.-Amendments:The Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 amended the Crimes Act, allowing for consensual homosexual relationships between men....
allows for imprisonment up to one year for anyone who publishes any "blasphemous libel". To date the only prosecution for blasphemous libel in New Zealand has been the case of John Glover, publisher of The Maoriland Worker (a newspaper), in 1922. Glover was acquitted.
Nigeria
Nigeria prohibits blasphemy by section 204 of its Criminal Code and by permitting Sharia courts to operate in some states. Vigilantism frequently usurps the jurisdiction of the courts.Norway
There is a law against blasphemy in Norway, but it is not in use. The famous writer and social activist Arnulf ØverlandArnulf Øverland
Ole Peter Arnulf Øverland was a Norwegian author born in Kristiansund and raised in Bergen. His works include Berget det blå and Hustavler .-Life:...
was tried in 1933, after giving a speech named Kristendommen - den tiende landeplage ("Christianity - the tenth plague"), but was acquitted. The last person sentenced for blasphemy in Norway was Arnfred Olsen in 1912, and he had to pay a fine of 10 NOK
Norwegian krone
The krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...
.
Pakistan
Among Muslim-majority countries, PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
has the strictest anti-blasphemy laws. § 295-A of Pakistan's Penal Code forbids outraging religious feelings. § 295-B punishes defilement of the Quran with life imprisonment. § 295-C prescribes the death penalty or the death penalty with a fine for the "use of derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet." § 298-B and § 298-C prohibit the Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya is an Islamic religious revivalist movement founded in India near the end of the 19th century, originating with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , who claimed to have fulfilled the prophecies about the world reformer of the end times, who was to herald the Eschaton as...
from proselytizing or from behaving in any manner as Muslims.
The usual victims are minorities like the Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya is an Islamic religious revivalist movement founded in India near the end of the 19th century, originating with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , who claimed to have fulfilled the prophecies about the world reformer of the end times, who was to herald the Eschaton as...
and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s but it seems that they are also increasingly Muslims. Persons accused of blasphemy as well as police, lawyers, and judges are often subject to harassment, threats, attacks and murders when blasphemy is the issue.
In November 2008, Pakistan's government appointed Shahbaz Bhatti
Shahbaz Bhatti
Clement Shahbaz Bhatti , popularly known as Shahbaz Bhatti, was a Pakistani politician and elected member of the National Assembly from 2008. He was the first Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs from November 2008 until his assassination on 2 March 2011 in Islamabad...
as Federal Minister for Minorities, and gave him cabinet rank. Bhatti had promised that the Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari is the 11th and current President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party . He is also the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who served two nonconsecutive terms as Prime Minister....
government would review Pakistan's blasphemy laws. Pakistan has been an active supporter of the campaign by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
Organisation of the Islamic Conference
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Upon the groups's renaming, some sources provided the English-language translation "Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation", but and have since indicated the preferred English translation omits the "the". is an international organisation consisting of 57...
to create global laws against blasphemy.
Bhatti was shot dead on 2 March 2011, by Taliban militants in Islamabad.
Poland
While PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
's penal code makes no reference to any sort of blasphemy law, it states that "Whoever offends religious feelings of other people by publicly insulting an object of religious cult or a place for public holding of religious ceremonies, is subject to a fine, restriction of liberty or loss of liberty for up to 2 years". The article has been used by pro-Church politicians and activists on numerous occasions, whenever they felt their religious feelings had been offended in some way. Opponents of the article maintain that it seriously limits the freedom of speech and effectively prevents any kind of debate on the Church's widespread influence on social and political life of Poland.
Saudi Arabia
Islam is Saudi Arabia's state religionState religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
. The country's monarchy follows Sunni Islam.
The country's laws are an amalgam of rules from Sharia, royal edicts, and fatawa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
from the Council of Senior Religious Scholars. Those laws prescribe penalties up to the death penalty for blasphemy.
Sudan
Sudan has Sunni Islam as its state religion. About seventy percent of the country's population is Muslim. The next largest group—about twenty-five percent of the population—is animist.Section 125 of the Sudanese Criminal Act prohibits "insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs." The section includes as penalties: imprisonment, a fine, and a maximum of forty lashes. In November 2007, the section gave rise to the Sudanese teddy bear blasphemy case
Sudanese teddy bear blasphemy case
The Sudanese teddy bear blasphemy case concerns the arrest, trial, conviction, imprisonment and subsequent release of British schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons working at Unity High School in Sudan in 2007.-Arrest:...
. In December 2007, the section was used against two Egyptian booksellers. They were sentenced to six months in prison because they sold a book that the court deemed an insult to Aisha, one of Prophet Mohammed's wives.
In May 2005, the authorities arrested Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed, and charged him with violating section 125. Ahmed was the editor-in-chief of a daily newspaper Al-Wifaq. The paper had published an article about a 500-year-old Islamic manuscript which says the real name of Mohammed’s father was not Abdallah but Abdel Lat, or Slave of Lat, an idol of the pre-Islamic era. A court fined Al-Wifaq eight million Sudanese pounds—the paper was shut down for three months—but acquitted Ahmed. Ahmed was found decapitated in September 2006.
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates discourage blasphemy by controlling what is published and distributed, by using Sharia punishments against Muslims, and by using judge-made penalties against non-Muslims.United Kingdom
Blasphemy laws in the United Kingdom were specific to blasphemy against Christianity. The last attempted prosecution under these laws was in 2007 when the fundamentalist group Christian VoiceChristian Voice (UK)
Christian Voice is a Christian pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its stated objective is "to uphold Christianity as the Faith of the United Kingdom, to be a voice for Biblical values in law and public policy, and to defend and support traditional family life." It is independent of...
sought a private prosecution
Private prosecution
A private prosecution is a criminal proceeding initiated by an individual or private organisation instead of by a public prosecutor who represents the state...
against the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
over its broadcasting of the show Jerry Springer: The Opera
Jerry Springer: The Opera
Jerry Springer: The Opera is a British musical written by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, based on the television show The Jerry Springer Show. The musical is notable for its profanity, its irreverent treatment of Judeo-Christian themes, and surreal images such as a troupe of tap-dancing Ku Klux...
(which includes a scene depicting Jesus, dressed as a baby, professing to be "a bit gay"). The charges were rejected by the City of Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
magistrates court. Christian Voice applied to have this ruling overturned by the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
, but the application was rejected. The court found that the common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
blasphemy offences specifically did not apply to stage productions (s. 2(4) of the Theatres Act 1968
Theatres Act 1968
The Theatres Act 1968 abolished censorship of the stage in the United Kingdom.Since 1737, scripts had been licensed for performance by the Lord Chamberlain's Office a measure initially introduced to protect Walpole's administration from political satire...
) and broadcasts (s. 6 of the Broadcasting Act 1990
Broadcasting Act 1990
The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential example of Thatcherism. The aim of the Act was to reform the entire structure of British broadcasting; British television, in particular, had earlier been...
).
The last successful blasphemy prosecution (also a private prosecution) was Whitehouse v. Lemon
Whitehouse v. Lemon
Whitehouse v. Lemon is a 1976 court case involving the blasphemy law in the United Kingdom.- Facts :James Kirkup's poem The Love that Dares to Speak its Name was published in the 3 June 1976 issue of Gay News...
in 1977, when Denis Lemon, the editor of Gay News
Gay News
Gay News was a pioneering fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality...
, was found guilty. His newspaper had published James Kirkup
James Kirkup
James Falconer Kirkup, FRSL was a prolific English poet, translator and travel writer. He was brought up in South Shields, and educated at South Shields Secondary School and Durham University. He wrote over 30 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays...
's poem The Love that Dares to Speak its Name
The Love that Dares to Speak its Name
The Love that Dares to Speak its Name is a controversial poem by James Kirkup.It is written from the viewpoint of a Roman centurion who is graphically described having sex with Jesus after his crucifixion, and also claims that Jesus had had sex with numerous disciples, guards, and even Pontius...
, which allegedly vilified Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
and his life. Lemon was fined £500 and given a suspended sentence
Suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
of nine months imprisonment. It had been "touch and go", said the judge, whether he would actually send Lemon to jail. In 2002, a deliberate and well-publicised public repeat reading of the poem took place on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is an Anglican church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Its patron is Saint Martin of Tours.-Roman era:Excavations at the site in 2006 led to the discovery of a grave dated about 410...
church in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
, but failed to lead to any prosecution.
The last person in Britain to be imprisoned for blasphemy was John William Gott
John William Gott
John William Gott was the last person in Britain to be sent to prison for blasphemy. A trouser salesman from Bradford, he led the Freethought Socialist League.In 1911, Gott was sentenced to four months in jail for publishing attacks on Christianity...
on 9 December 1921. He had three previous convictions for blasphemy when he was prosecuted for publishing two pamphlets which satirised the biblical story of Jesus entering Jerusalem (Matthew 21:2-7), comparing Jesus to a circus clown. He was sentenced to nine months' hard labour.
The last prosecution for blasphemy in Scotland was in 1843. In 1697, a Scottish court hanged Thomas Aikenhead
Thomas Aikenhead
Thomas Aikenhead was a Scottish student from Edinburgh, who was prosecuted and executed at the age of 20 on a charge of blasphemy. He was the last person in Britain to be executed for blasphemy.-Indictment:...
for blasphemy.
On 5 March 2008, an amendment was passed to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which makes significant changes in many areas of the criminal justice system in England and Wales and, to a lesser extent, in Scotland and Northern Ireland...
which abolished the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel in England and Wales. (Common law is abolished, not repealed.) The Act received royal assent on 8 May 2008, and the relevant section came into force on 8 July 2008.
United States of America
A prosecution for blasphemy in the United States would fail as a violation of the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment to the United States ConstitutionFirst Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
provides:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press . . . ."
Because of the First Amendment's protection of free speech and religious exercise from federal interference, and the Fourteenth Amendment's extension of those protections against state regulation, the United States and its constituent state governments may not prosecute blasphemous speech or religious insults and may not allow civil actions on those grounds. In Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New York could not enforce a censorship law against filmmakers whose films contained "sacrilegious" content. The opinion of the Court, by Justice Clark, stated that:
"from the standpoint of freedom of speech and the press, it is enough to point out that the state has no legitimate interest in protecting any or all religions from views distasteful to them which is sufficient to justify prior restraints upon the expression of those views. It is not the business of government in our nation to suppress real or imagined attacks upon a particular religious doctrine, whether they appear in publications, speeches, or motion pictures."
It should be noted, however, that the United States and some individual state jurisdictions provide for stronger criminal penalties for crimes when committed against a person because of that person's religious affiliation. For instance, Section 3A1.1 of the 2009 United States Sentencing Guidelines states that: "If the finder of fact at trial or, in the case of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere,
the court at sentencing determines beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant
intentionally selected any victim or any property as the object of the offense of
conviction because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national
origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person," the sentencing court is required to increase the standard sentencing range.
In October 2009, Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act as part of Public Law 111-84. Section 4707 of P.L. 111-84 creates an distinct felony for crimes of violence against persons because of the victim's actual or perceived race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or membership in other protected categories.
Although "hate speech" is not a crime in itself (P.L 111-84 explicitly states that nothing in the act is intended to criminalize speech against religious or other protected groups except where the speech constitutes conspiracy or solicitation), statements showing hatred against people in religious or other protected groups are admissible if relevant to show motive or intent.
Yemen
Accusations of blasphemy in Yemen serve the same purpose there as elsewhere. The accusations victimize religious minorities, intellectuals and artists, reporters and human rights defenders, and opponents of the ruling clique. If vigilantism or abuse by the authorities does not kill an accused or force an accused into exile, the accused in Yemen will be subject to Islamic law (Sharia). Sharia, according to some interpretations, prescribes death as the proper punishment for blasphemy.Others
- IcelandIcelandIceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
- Spain (Article 525 of the penal code)
- SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
(Article 261 of the penal code)
See also
- Freedom of expression
- Freedom of speechFreedom of speechFreedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
- Freedom of speech versus blasphemyFreedom of speech versus blasphemyTension often exists between political freedom, particularly freedom of speech, and certain examples of art, literature, speech or other acts considered by some to be sacrilegious or blasphemous...
- Islam and blasphemyIslam and blasphemyBlasphemy in Islam is any irreverent behavior toward holy personages, religious artifacts, customs, and beliefs that Muslims revere. The Quran and the hadith do not speak about blasphemy. Jurists created the offence, and they made it part of Sharia. Where Sharia pertains, the penalties for...
External links
- Landmarks in blasphemy
- Thomas HammarbergThomas HammarbergThomas Hammarberg is a Swedish diplomat and human rights defender.He is currently the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg...
, CoE Commissioner for Human Rights: Do not criminalize critical remarks against religions, 2007