Blasphemy Laws

[User37482]

Tahir Ali (Labour) got up in parliament and asked Starmer

'to prohibit the desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions'.

Just the Abrahamic religions of course no mention of the Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Taoism etc etc

AIBU to think most people absolutely do not want want blasphemy laws in the UK and would like to retain the right to say what they would like about any religion.

I don’t even know what a desecration of a prophet is? i’m going to assume it’s taking the piss out of one.

He can ask.

It will not happen.

Labour are planning to introduce legislation around Islamaphobia, I’m worried that it will creep into what can be said or not said about Islam vs a straightforward and reasonable don’t pick on muslim people. They have quietly walked back from a definition that would have definitely been a problem for free speech but I don’t trust them not to do something utterly stupid.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/jul/26/labour-halts-tory-law-freedom-of-speech-universities-education

I’m concerned about this as it is.

The offence of blasphemy still exists in Northern Ireland. It was only abolished in Scotland in April this year, and in England and Wales in 2006.

Great, lets not go backwards! And I hope NI can get rid of it too!

Blasphemy laws surely belong in medieval times?

As does the Monarchy. But we still have it, don’t we?

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.

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

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.

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

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

Yeah what happened to that poor autistic boy really bothered (and baffled me) me. It was utter capitulation to threats of violence and intimidation. Neither the boy or the mum should have been out in that position, they must have been terrified. It was like a court. It’s revolting, we don’t live in afghanistan.

We really need to have laws about harassing people with your religious beliefs instead. That would be more useful. Maybe we could get rid of the muppets outside abortion clinics is we did that.

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.

Well said @HotSlippergirl

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

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.

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.

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.

Cheap publicity job by an otherwise unknown backbencher.

Who cares.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.