Government may scrap blasphemy laws

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The Government will consider scrapping the blasphemy laws after consultation with the Church of England, Downing Street said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said ministers may table amendments to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill in the House of Lords.

MPs are due to debate the measure in the Commons on Wednesday and Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris has tabled his own amendment to scrap the ancient law designed to protect Christianity and the Church of England from attack.

Mr Brown's spokesman said: "We do believe it is necessary to consult with the churches, particularly the Anglican church, before coming to a final decision, and that's what we are doing.

"Subject to that, we will consider moving amendments in the House of Lords."

The move comes after leading figures, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, wrote to The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, urging that the blasphemy law should be repealed.

The letter argued that the law is discriminatory in that it only covers attacks on Christianity and Church of England tenets.

They said the law "serves no useful purpose" and offers Christian activists a means to intimidate broadcasters, publishers and performers.

The campaign follows the diplomatic row over the jailing of British teacher Gillian Gibbons for blasphemy in Sudan over naming a teddy bear Mohammed.

She was later pardoned after diplomatic protests from Britain.

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Original piece is http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5isAJ-ZPPPQuKIOGTYf3kFo7UBPkA

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If the existing laws stay in place, Muslims will be the first group to seek an extension to all religions. Then, any offence to Muslims will be brought before a British court. The court will be bound by Islamic rulings (from al-Azhar, probably) since only they can determine what constitutes 'blasphemy' in Islamic terms (the answer being, very broad). This we would end up punishing a Salman Rushdie or someone like myself for seeming 'offence'. It would make the British legal system open to an interpretation introduced by a country like Egypt or Saudi Arabia or (in the case of a Shi'i matter) Iran. Moreover, academics could suffer from such a new law, all but shutting down all non-Muslim work on Islam and setting back the study of Islam for both Muslims and non-Muslims by centuries.

Posted by Denis MacEoin on 2008-01-10 15:08:13 GMT

I'm nor clear at all what excectly does it mean in practice. The friends I discussed it with are not clear either. Can someone enlighten me in simple language.

Posted by Rachel M on 2008-01-10 06:31:38 GMT

In reasoned debate if one has something to say it probably can be said in proper English. To lower ones point of view to slang is usually not needed, even more so for blasphemy. In other words, if your argument cann't be made with appropriate language, maybe you really don't have a real argument.

Posted by Gary on 2008-01-10 05:32:17 GMT

How long since anyone has been convicted of blasphemy against Christianity? I think it could be a good thing,Christians can't be sued for speaking the truth about Islam. (Unless they get you with 'hate speech'.

Posted by Helen on 2008-01-10 03:52:46 GMT

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Government may scrap blasphemy laws

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