Would you be bothered if someone desecrated some graves?
Blasphemy is about what is said, or written about a deity or a religion. It is currently perfectly legal to criticise religions or Gods.
In most instances it already is, for example statues, graves, memorials, etc.
Like the clergy in the House of Lords?
A suitable article posted by someone who describes anyone criticising the actions of Israel as antiSemitic or Jew-hater.
Why is a Labour MP calling for a blasphemy law?
Today at Prime Minister’s Questions, the Labour MP Tahir Ali asked: ‘Will the Prime Minister commit to introducing measures to prohibit the desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions?’ Does Mr Ali think this is the most important issue currently facing the UK...www.spectator.co.uk
Today at Prime Minister’s Questions, the Labour MP Tariq Ali asked: ‘Will the Prime Minister commit to introducing measures to prohibit the desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions?’
Does Mr Ali think this is the most important issue currently facing the UK? Or, even more disturbingly, is this something that his constituents are calling for?
The fact that we have an MP from the governing party calling for blasphemy laws to be reinstated is part of a terrifying development in politics. It comes alongside a rise in sectarian voting, which has seen minority groups pitted against each other and a splintering of modern society.
Why, for example, did Mr Ali choose only to cite the Abrahamic religions? Would I still be free to say awful things about Ganesh or Vishnu in Mr Ali’s dream society as long as I didn’t criticise the Quran? If I were a British Hindu listening, I would start to feel increasingly concerned about Ali’s intentions.
Perhaps most concerning of all was the Prime Minister’s response to Ali’s question. Keir Starmer uttered a bland, robotic reply that, ‘Desecration is awful, and we are committed to tackling all forms of hatred and division, including Islamophobia.’
Desecration is, of course, a powerful emotion. It is a deeply engrained transgression that is a common feature of multiple times and cultures. Indeed, such is the visceral reaction to desecration that for many centuries there were laws on the British statute book banning people from denying the truth of Christianity.
Over time though, the idea that the criminal law should punish those who desecrate religion was swept away. Gradually the value of freedom of speech was recognised and then embraced as vital to all other freedoms.
Western societies came to accept the idea that while we should endeavour to be polite and genial where possible, we should also be free to offend and be offensive in an open society. This development – leading all the way up to the repeal of the UK’s blasphemy laws – has been crucial for scientific endeavour as well as political debate.
We shouldn’t take these ideas for granted. In the West recently there has been the attempt to create modern blasphemy codes, by attacking anyone who does not adhere to progressive dogmas.
And in many countries around the world, desecration is still punishable by death.
Pakistan, that oasis of good governance, has more prisoners on death row or in life imprisonment for blasphemy than anywhere else on Earth. A new law was passed there just last year further broadening these laws to include criticism of the Prophet Muhammad’s family, his wives and companions.
Extra-judicial enthusiasm for punishing blasphemers is rife in Pakistan: in February, dozens of men stormed a police station in Punjab to kidnap and lynch a man accused of desecrating the Quran. In August, a mob of hundreds attacked the Christian community of Jaranwala, after two Christians were accused of blasphemy.
Britain, unfortunately, has not been immune to blasphemy extremism. There is still a school teacher in hiding and fearing from his life from a baying mob and death threats because he showed an image of the prophet Mohammad in a class. Last year, a 14-year-old autistic boy received death threats after reportedly dropping a Quran in a corridor. This was followed by a Labour councillor stoking tensions by claiming that the book had been desecrated. But at least we do not yet have laws forbidding us from criticising religion – something that would undoubtedly change if Tariq Ali had his way.
Fifteen years ago, before his untimely death, Christopher Hitchens warned us about this. ‘Resist it while you still can,’ he said: ‘and before the right to complain is taken away from you which will be the next thing you will be told you can’t complain because you’re Islamophobic.’
Hitchens was right. Resist it while you can.
Written by
James Price
James Price was previously chief of staff to the chancellor of the exchequer.
Similarly describing criticism of Israeli action is not antiSemitic, nor Jew-hating.
He's an Islamist now?
They silenced the IRA, and refused to broadcast their speeches.
