To want to burn one of each Religious text today?

[JustMakingAPoint]

Not because I hate or dislike them.

Not because I think burning books is good (I do not)

But because I should be able too. Because we have no Blasphemy laws and mean as it is, it’s not illegal and shouldn’t be.

And I want to do it to all of them to make the point it’s not about Islam, though it is provoked by today’s news.

This country is secular, blasphemy laws do not exist. And they shouldn’t.

if it takes every person burning a single religious book of their choosing to make the point - then I’m up for that.

Many years ago, when the UK and the rest of the world was caught up in the brouhaha over Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses a certain faction of young men thought they were being clever when they went to a bookshop for a copy of the book and set fire to it at a demo or similar. They handed over about £15, (we had the Net Book Agreement then) not to read the book, but to immolate it. Their silly, performative nonsense was potentially dangerous, wasteful and insulting to those who barely had £15 for food, let alone the destruction of a book. Is that really how you want to be seen?

It's worth bearing in mind the fact that although the affair of the Verses rumbled on for decades, and ultimately to the enormous detriment of the author, it did nothing to help the millions of Muslim people living with discrimination, poverty, loneliness, poor health and everything else that goes with being marginalised. If anything, it made them more vulnerable as they were equated in the minds of the ignorant and unkind with self-absorbed book-burners. Not all books are good or worth keeping around, but before we get the petrol and matches out, we should consider the human cost of book-burning. It's an ugly gesture and ultimately, a pointless one.

Baaaaa

I can't think of many poorer uses of ones time than to spend it tracking down paper copies of religious texts, setting fire to them, causing a practical nuisance and unnecessary offence. If you've a point to make, then use your brain, your communication skills and the huge platform available to you to express your thoughts. Write a compelling argument and put it out there.

Not sure what news you’re referring to today as the only book burning incident I’m aware of is the one that happened in February. Is there another one?

As far as I’m aware, the offence charged is usually something like religiously aggravated public order or harassment, which means that it could be used for the burning of any religious text.

I’m an atheist and think religious extremism of any form is downright dangerous and has a lot to answer for. However, while I reserve the right to think people with faith are deluded, I also recognise that most religious people aren’t extremists and that religion brings a lot of people a lot of comfort and in many cases does a lot of good. So I respectfully tolerate all religions. I would never dream of burning any religious text because there is no way that act is anything other than an attempt to piss people off.

I also think it’s worth considering that burning a bible is less likely to induce genuine fear for life and limb among the Christian community in the uk than burning the Koran would among the Muslim population on the UK because the UK is a Christian culture. Which doesn’t mean it’s ok of course.

Not all of the UK is fortunate enough to be free of the vile antiquated blasphemy laws
It's still both a civil and criminal offence in Northern Ireland

Link to secularism

This is what the OP is referring to. Yesterday the CPS charged him with ‘harassing the institution of Islam’ after the book burning but this site is saying the CPS have substituted this charge now after pressure.

Ffs do you live under a stone?

The burning of a Quaran would likely lead to an arrest and a charge in court ….but the burning of a Bible would pass unnoticed.

FFS a child’s mother was hauled in front of the UK’s TV cameras to apologise for her autistic son dropping and damaging a bloody Quran!

Humiliated by the police on TV.

That’s the two tier country that is modern Britain.
Women should be VERY frightened.
<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/11ey63g/quran_damaged_at_school_recorded_as_hate_incident/&sa=U&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwjDwsXYhJaNAxUEW0EAHXMTGmYQFnoECCYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1FpZZ9LzmOLdXW7UFn737a" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Quran damaged at school recorded as 'hate incident' by police : r/ukpolitics

British mother is forced to wear islamic headgear and apologize to religious extremists in her country for her son mishandling a book

That would be petty and disrespectful to people, who I presume have done nothing to offend you.

There's no need to be burning anything, though I get your point. I'm an Atheist and despise all the major religions. I reserve the right to criticise religion and privately think their followers are at best brainwashed and at worst stupid, but all burning texts would do is create discord. The way to have productive conversations around the harms of religion is not through burning texts.

I don't think book burning is a good form of demonstration. But we absolutely should not have blasphemy laws put into place as one MP suggested in Parliament a couple of months back. Society has taken long enough to break free of the Church of England to now be pandering to any other religious group(s).

So do it. Who do you think will care. God? Allah? Buddha? I think most deities are above someone who hasn’t even studied religious and sacred texts seriously ( which I don’t think you have) throwing a hissy fit. And if you don’t believe in them you don’t have to worry that they will be pointing you towards a distressing afterlife if you disrespect them.

Of course if you wanted to make a real difference to the world you could spend today in your local park litter picking.

As someone said above the CPS which seemed to be a bit pro Islam has had to change the charge as it got it wrong. https://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2025/05/charge-against-man-who-burnt-quran-incorrectly-worded-cps-admits Whether the man will be found guilty of whatever the new charge is remains to be seen. If your invented religion cannot cope with burning of a book you must have a pretty pathetic weak God and religion and need to grow thicker skins.

Hamit Coskun of Turkey burnt the book in the UK. I think he should be allowed to do so and burn the Bible too if he wants

But why is it offensive? it is just a book. With words printed on it. if I believe in the tooth fairy and someone burns a book on tooth fairies - have I got the right to be offended and have them charged with a crime?

I don’t think beliefs should be protected in society. They are simply that - beliefs. If you say beliefs should be protected than that has to go for ALL beliefs no matter how silly.

"The Church of England is the official religion"

Clue's in the name. It's official in England, not the UK (although the bishops do sit in the House of Lords).

When were the blasphemy laws repealed?

This.^

Nazis loved a good book burning. That went well. Not.

This is spades. ^

This

@ItWasTheBestOfTimesthanks for the link. That somehow seems to have escaped the BBC… The OP’s post make a lot more sense with that context.

I al vehemently against blasphemy laws. To be fair, had the CPS not changed the wording the case would have failed because of the reasons explained, so the defendant could not have been convicted, but that’s not the point. Rather alarming that a CPS lawyer either thought it was appropriate to charge that or was so out of date in terms of knowledge.

I still think that the act of burning any religious text is a deliberately offensive act though and one generally designed to stir up antipathy towards the targeted religion.

I also think that in a white majority country which is Christian in culture even if largely secular in practice, the act of burning the Koran is likely to cause widespread fear and incite hate crime against Muslims far more so than the act of burning a Bible would against Christians. Which is not to say it’s acceptable but might explain the more robust stance taken by the authorities.

Not keen on facts then

the only people i can think of who burn books are extremists of various types

you want to protest? Brilliant crack on

but burning books is done by exactly the type of people you are ‘protesting’

So ceremonially burning my old text books from uni when I finished was a no no then…

Why would you do that, they cost a fortune 😱

How odd

Out of date and I didn’t need them anymore! It was a fun night! Kept a couple for posterity but the rest had to be disposed of.