Blasphemy Laws

Islam recognises Jesus as a prophet.

No other religious representatives are making this kind of sinister demand.

This MP should have been shouted down for even thinking that kind of medieval fascism has any place at all in the UK in 2024.

I have lived in the sort of society he seeks to recreate in this country. It’s terrifying. Blasphemy means whatever a fanatic with power thinks it does.

I am feeling sick with fear tonight that this ideology is allowed to flourish under the skirts of tolerance.

We all need to be very careful and very watchful. Labour are in thrall to this cohort for votes. I dread to think what else Rayner promised when she was begging in that room with those men and her hair covered.

He didn’t ask for it for all Abrahamic faiths though, He said all Abrahamic prophets. This would either exclude the New Testament or bow down to the Islamic concept of reducing Jesus to a prophet rather than being the son of God. Either way he was Blaspheming by denying Jesus as the son of God and one with God. - how would he be charged under his desired laws
for this religious crime? Or would the definitions be Islamic ones?

This. This is what needs to be legislated for. Islam is just another religion, man made designed to control.

i was heartened by the Tories coking out do forcefully today and saying there needs to be much more integration and it’s not about protecting the cultures of those. Coming into the UK it is about those coming into the UK integrating into a strong British culture.

We might need to put up with these clowns for another 4.5 years hopefully they won’t go too much damage but whoever is in next will reverse whatever crackpot shit Labour do.

I still can’t get my head around why, when we know exactly how our universe came about, we still believe in nonsense created from when we would stare into the sky looking for answers to why we are here.

I’ll sit patiently waiting for a knock on the door from the thought police. It’s ridiculous. We are regressing backwards

Interesting that it was framed entirely from an Islamic perspective. “Abrahamic prophets” The New Testament is about God and the Son of God not an “abrahamic prophet” - they are to be found in the Old Testament. Most Jewish people wouldn’t recognise Jesus as a Prophet. It is only Muslims who would see the New Testament being about a prophet.

This is Britain if I want to draw a picture of Mohammed I can, if I want to tear up the Bible and feed my fire with it I can. If someone wants to point out Mohamed was a war monger and devised a religion to land grab, why can’t I tell this historically accurate account.

If I want to point out the Jewish scriptures are basically nicked - why shouldn’t I? Does mr Ali want to protect the writings of the original Mesopotamian account of Noah? Or is that not worthy of protection in his eyes?

why just Abrahamic religions? I have plenty of books from lots of religions and spiritual philosophies are they fair game? Why does this chap think no other religions should be protected. Is my copy of the Satanic bible covered. Can I place a copy of that in a mosque or church or Jewish temple and demand it’s treated with reverence?

Starmer is a dangerous cunt whoever the fuck voted for him needs to reflect on this. He’s useless - he should just have come out and said - we will never introduce blasphemy laws. Unless of course he plans to.

The only laws we need to have are you can’t discriminate against someone because of their religion or philosophy-we have those already. We have already had death threats against people who damage a book or draw a picture (and indeed people in other European countries have been killed) it is this kind of thinking, that someone’s personal choice of religion should matter to anyone else that needs wiping out, rather than vilifying someone because they draw something or throw a book across a playground.

if you want that kind of crap move to the many countries who already have those types of laws - they have no place in Britain.

Great, more people they can lock up for telling the truth causing offence.

I read the article you linked us to but it doesn’t say anything at all about Islam, just about free and hate speech in general.

I don’t believe Labour plans to introduce special blasphemy laws to protect Islam. Just because one Muslim MP asked for it for all Abrahamic faiths it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. It’s politically risky and difficult to enforce especially in an era where the anti woke agenda is being pushed.

While people should have the right to practice their personal faith, it is incredibly important for a society to be able to point out hypocrisy, lies, and myth. No idea is above criticism and examination. If it is valid, it can withstand scrutiny.

Spot on. Couldn’t agree more with all of this.

Respect the person, don't have to respect the belief.

Unfortunately Labour don't understand this in many ways (natural Leftie here) and choose to make conversations about hate crime and discrimination about having the hold the same beliefs as others, or at least pretend you do, rather than not discriminating/harassing/injuring others based on a protected class.

It's a dangerous game. We should all be able to say what we like about beliefs.

I would not be in the least bit surprised if this went through at some stage..nothing this utter shower of shite Government does lately makes any logical sense. This is a very dangerous road to go down in my view.

I’d like to hope this will get nowhere, as it’s utterly incompatible with UK culture.

We’re very lucky to live in a country where we’re free to practise any faith or none at all. We tolerate others and they tolerate us in return. There can be no special circumstances for some religions and not others, and nobody should be able to control the speech of others. The fact that Ali wants to do this is deeply suspect.

He should think himself lucky he lives in a country where he has religious freedom, not seek to censor others. It’s a shameful move on his part and I hope Starmer kiboshes it rapidly.

It's awful this has been suggested. No doubt Labour will implement it given who funds Stärmer

Cheap publicity job by an otherwise unknown backbencher.

Who cares.

Blasphemy laws? Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

My tolerance bone is wearing mighty thin with so many issues being taken to extremes these days

That is exactly how many people are feeling. Then backlash ensues. And round and round humanity goes.

I have to say that I'm not comfortable with blasphemy at all, against anyone's religion, because it's rude and disrespectful. I hear it all the time, and keep quiet. Because I am very proud to live in a tolerant country. That Labour MP needs to suck it up. No way can we be silenced in that way. Bad manners, bad taste and poor judgement - these are not things to legislate against.

I have a thread on here about a particular anti-abortion group. They are sneaky. They don't advertise their religious beliefs, they dress it up as "concern for women traumatised by abortion". When I confronted one of the women handing out leaflets the mask did slip, but they tend to keep their frankly "Satanic panic" underpinning under wraps. Found some interesting articles about them online though.

As for blasphemy laws, obviously they should go the way of the dodo. So much religious rhetoric is simply a cover for exercising the worst facets of human nature because "God(s)". My argument is that the Gods most believe in aren't averse to smiting the human race from the face of the planet (allegedly) when offended, so if blasphemy is such a sin we wouldn't be here to argue about it.

My tolerance bone is wearing mighty thin with so many issues being taken to extremes these days. Blasphemy is the least of our worries, and political fretting should be focused on far more pressing matters.

Well said @HotSlippergirl

Starmer doesn't have a backbone and would probably let this happen under #bekind.

This is not compatible with our societal values.

It would represent giving in to a small group who are very vocal and seeking to control others and what they say. (and then onto what they do)

We need to have much less of this than we already have, not more.

Both Labour and Conservatives need to push back on this hard, making it clear that no religion is immune from criticism or insult and that people in the UK who practice their religion do so under tolerance from others who disagree with them, and need to in turn demonstrate tolerance.

Religious leaders are scared of ridicule as it weakens their hold over people.

Seems like it might be a sneaky way to prohibit depictions of Mohammed without saying it's about prohibiting depictions of Mohammed; it's not as though other religions are that bothered about depictions of their prophets on the whole.

eg in the cartoon 'Jesus & Mo', "Jesus is portrayed as the bona fide Christian Jesus, Mo claims to be a body double, using casuistry to circumvent the Islamic restriction against pictorial depictions of Muhammad."

Jesus and Mo

I'm interested in how this would work?
What would constitute blasphemy? How are the various religions and their beliefs going to be catered for, so to speak?
What punishment is he proposing?
And why only Abrahamic religions?
We really need to oppose this. We are going backwards.

Blasphemy is an incredibly necessary tool in a society that values truth over faith.

Cowardly politicians, and police, are letting in it by the back door though, by not taking a firm stand against Muslims who harass and intimidate people who they regard as having 'insulted' their faith. The teacher who showed a picture of the Charlie Hebdo cartoon in an approved lesson is STILL in hiding. His life and career has been destroyed. Politicians, police, the LEA and the school should all have firmly come down in his favour, and come down hard on all those who were threatening him.

When the autistic boy was accused of disrespecting the Qu'ran he received death threats and was terrified. His Mum had to go to a meeting in the local mosque and apologise and beg for her son's life, effectively, to the local Imam and Muslims. The police were there and did not intervene and point out that actually, her son was the victim, he had committed no crime, and it was the Muslim perpetrators of the threats who needed to be brought to justice, and perhaps the Imam and muslim representatives might want to co-operate by giving names of people who they feel may have been making the threats. There was a brilliant Anti-social episode on R4 on this where the Muslim interviewer talked on and on about how awful it was the Qu'ran had been disrespected ( it was dropped to the floor and unverified reports it may have got a bit scuffed) but waved away the death threats with a laugh and ' boys will boys!.'

Its absolutely disgraceful that some in the Muslim communities are effectively enforcing blasphemy laws through violence and threats and the politicians and police and institutions who should be standing up for the liberal, tolerant, pluralistic values of the UK are failing to do so.