Blasphemy

Blasphemy, generally, in the United Kingdom, offence of denying the truth of Christian doctrine in a way that is likely to shock the sensibilities of ordinary Christians. The offence of blasphemy in English law is both uncertain and controversial; no requirement of breach of the peace is required, but the exact particulars constituting the offence are unclear.

Historically, the offence of blasphemy was essentially concerned with the protection of state interests at a time when there was a strong link between the Christian religion and state authority.

The controversial nature of blasphemy in modern British multicultural society was clearly evidenced in the decision of R vs. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, ex parte Choudhary (1991). This case concerned the issue of whether the publication of the book The Satanic Verses (1988) by Salman Rushdie could be considered blasphemous of the religion of Islam. The Divisional Court held that blasphemy in English law was limited to protection of the Christian religion. There is little doubt, therefore, following this ruling, that English law discriminates in favour of one particular religion. The Divisional Court in Choudhary was concerned with the present position in English law, but considered that the matter was one for legislative reform.

The Law Commission has recently recommended that the offence be abolished, but there was no agreement as to what offence, if any, need replace it. One view is that there should be no offence of offending religious feelings at all. Another view is that the offence should be extended to all religions. The difficulty with the extension of the existing offence is that it allows for criminalization of expression on the basis that it offends religious feelings. It has been suggested that the real harm is not offensiveness in itself but the harmfulness of expression that is used to incite hatred against a particular religious group and promote intolerance in society. On this view, English law, which already has an offence under the Public Order Act 1986 of incitement to racial hatred, could be extended to incitement to hatred of a religious group. Although such a reform would appear to meet the concerns of religious minorities, an extension of this sort would still amount to censorship and might not be the best means of curbing such attacks on ethnic groups.