Why is the teacher from Batley still in hiding if we do not have a problem with Islamic extremism in this country.

[RespectAndTolerance]

As another poster noted on the recent thread on ‘Islamophobia’, we have a democratic society where no one is exempt from criticism, yet some militant groups are riling up intolerance which is incompatible with British values.

These values and our culture have inspired many people of all religions to chose Britain as their home. AIBU to think we should be protecting these?

This article by Kenan Malik explains it much more eloquently. amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/31/batley-school-what-teacher-in-hiding-can-tell-us-about-our-failure-to-tackle-intolerance

Yep, the famous(ly bad) poem by James Kirkup. That was a private prospecution though. You wouldn't get police enforcing blasphemy laws and they wouldn't have done for centuries. That is very different from the situation in theocracies such as Iran for example.

Of course people don't have the right not to be offended. But that isn't the same thing as showing or speaking material that you know is going to offend people very deeply, at a level that strikes at their cultural and spiritual self.

being confronted with things that strike at your cultural and spiritual self is a given if you live in a pluralistic society, which modern Britain is.

I think different areas of the country have their own experiences and challenges, and it's very hard and perhaps dangerous to generalise, as with every topic.

Without acknowledging the warranted variation, it will always be a topic of divisiveness and concern, and indeed damaging to the British community as a whole, no matter what colour, religion etc

My point was that we did have blasphemy laws and they were enforced (albeit as I said by private prosecution) as recently as 1977, contrary to the claim made by the other poster. I wasn't making any claim about "theocracies such as Iran for example" so that's not relevant.

At least Mary Whitehouse and her pals didn't threaten to kill people they thought were being blasphemous.

The response to being offended should never be to threaten to kill someone (or carry it out, obviously).
We certainly have executed people for blasphemy in the past, but thankfully have moved beyond this. Vigilantes imposing their own form of justice is never ok.