Democracy cannot exist without the right to free speech.
Free speech should be robustly defended as a fundamental freedom.
The National Secular Society has defended free speech from religious threats since our founding. We played an instrumental role in abolishing "blasphemy" laws in Britain, but serious concerns remain. Blasphemy laws still exist in Northern Ireland. And throughout the UK, religious fundamentalists seek to impose their blasphemy taboos on others through violence and intimidation.
There are also increasing attempts to categorise offending religious sensibilities as 'hate speech', making criticism, mockery or perceived 'insult' of religion a criminal act akin to racial hatred or inciting violence – in other words, a 'blasphemy law by the back door'.
Without free speech no search for truth is possible; without free speech no discovery of truth is useful; without free speech progress is checked… Better a thousand fold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech.
We are further concerned by a developing 'culture of offence' in which any speech or action deemed likely to offend religious sensibilities is considered taboo. Enforced by a toxic mix of terrorism and religious deference, this is chilling free speech through self-censorship.
We also campaign against blasphemy laws around the world, where they continue to be used to target religious and political minorities. These are sometimes described by UK politicians as 'misuse' of blasphemy laws, but we contend there are never any legitimate uses for blasphemy laws.
Being offended from time to time is the price we all pay for living in a free society. Rather than trying to silence those we disagree with, we believe the answer to speech we don't like is more speech – better speech.
We therefore campaign to protect and preserve freedom of expression, including offensive, critical and shocking speech.
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Latest updates
Islamic bloc abandons plans for global blasphemy law at UN
Posted: Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:22
The Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation has revealed that it has abandoned plans to introduce a global blasphemy law through the United Nations.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said his 57-nation body would not try again for United Nations support to ban insults to religion, saying that Western opposition — particularly from the USA and Europe — made the prospect of success very remote.
"We could not convince them," said the Turkish head of the 57-member organisation which had tried from 1998 until 2011 to get a United Nations-backed ban on blasphemy. "The European countries don't vote with us, the United States doesn't vote with us."
Western countries see the publication of such images and materials regrettable but a matter of free speech.
The campaign for a worldwide ban on "religious defamation" was revived after the posting of the Innocence of Muslims video on YouTube. Twenty-five people have been killed during protests over the video.
Ihsanoglu told a conference in Istanbul at the weekend that the OIC had failed to win a ban at the United Nations and would not revive its long diplomatic campaign for one.
Asked about recent media reports that the OIC wanted to resume the campaign for a blasphemy ban, he said: "I never said this and I know this will never happen."
The OIC respects freedom of expression but sees anti-Islam videos and cartoons as an abuse of this freedom. He thinks that Western countries should introduce sanctions through their own blasphemy or hate crime laws, he said.
Responding at the United Nations last month to the Muslim protests against the U.S., President Barack Obama said: "The strongest weapon against hateful speech is not repression, it is more speech – the voices of tolerance that rally against bigotry and blasphemy."
A number of Islamic leaders have expressed their bewilderment that Western leaders do not share their concerns about blasphemy which they want to be an offence in law punishable in some cases — such as Pakistan — with death.
Meanwhile, a key proposal by Tunisia's ruling Islamist party to outlaw blasphemy in the new constitution, which stoked fears of creeping Islamisation, is to be dropped from the final text, Assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar has told reporters.
The agreement to drop the clause follows negotiations between the three parties in the ruling coalition and must still be approved by the committees drafting the constitution, which Jaafar said would be debated by parliament next month.
The move came after President Moncef Marzouki warned that radical Islamist militants pose a "great danger" to the Maghreb region, and following a wave of violent attacks — blamed on Salafists — on targets ranging from works of art to the US embassy.
"There will certainly be no criminalisation," Jaafar, the 72-year-old speaker of the National Constituent Assembly, told the AFP news agency. "That is not because we have agreed to (allow) attacks on the sacred, but because the sacred is something very, very difficult to define. Its boundaries are blurred and one could interpret it in one way or another, in an exaggerated way," he added.
The draft Constitution still ensures sharia law will be implemented.
See also: Why a constitution is a bad place for a blasphemy law
Christians in Britain aren’t oversensitive about being mocked or criticised
Posted: Wed, 10 Oct 2012 13:18
A new poll of 2,000 committed Christians shows that most of them would not be offended by jokes about Jesus – even if they were intended to be insulting.
Three quarters of those asked said that freedom of speech should not be restricted, even if it offends people's deeply held religious convictions.
Even though there was overwhelming sympathy for those Muslims who were offended by the recent film Innocence of Muslims, they were equally convinced that there should be no curb on freedom of expression – or that it should only be a last resort option.
More than eight out of 10 (84%) said they would "defend" followers of other faiths such as Islam from antireligious sentiment even if they profoundly disagreed with their beliefs. A similar proportion said that freedom of expression must accommodate all views, except for extreme opinions likely to incite hatred.
A smaller majority opposed the reinstatement of a blasphemy law in Britain.
But when asked about their own faith, six out of 10 agreed it was possible to "demean, mock or insult" God without offending Christians.
Meanwhile almost seven out of 10 said they welcomed "strong anti-Christian opinion" as providing an opportunity to "exchange ideas".
"Far from being on the defensive, it appears that most Christians welcome the opportunity to wrestle over key issues and are prepared to stand alongside believers of other faiths who are less familiar with being lampooned or more sensitive to criticism," said Rob Powys-Smith of Christian Research, the organisation that carried out the research.
