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
Pakistan puts pressure on Facebook to help punish 'blasphemers'
Posted: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 13:26
The Pakistani government is punishing people for social media posts which it considers blasphemous, and placing pressure on social media companies to help it do so.
On 7 July Pakistan's interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, met Facebook's vice-president of public policy Joel Kaplan. The government asked Facebook to remove content it considered blasphemous, and warned that it could be blocked in the country if it refused.
And on Monday Facebook said it had rejected a demand from the Pakistani government to link new accounts to a mobile phone number. This would make it easier for the authorities to identify account holders. Mobile phone users in Pakistan must provide fingerprints to a national database.
At least one man has been sentenced to death as a result of the crackdown. Taimoor Raza, a 30-year-old Shia Muslim, was condemned by an anti-terrorist court in June for allegedly insulting Muhammad on Facebook. He had engaged with an online debate with an undercover counter-terrorism agent. His death sentence was the first to result from a post on social media.
The advent of social media was initially viewed as a chance to open religious debate in Pakistan. New platforms allowed people in conservative, rural areas to debate new subjects. But the government's stance has hardened recently.
In March a Pakistani official in Washington approached Facebook and Twitter in an attempt to identify Pakistanis who had shared material deemed offensive to Islam. One prominent academic and activist, Pervez Hoodbhoy, says "Pakistan is fast becoming a Saudi-style fascist religious state."
Ahmad Waqas Goraya, an activist and blogger, said the threshold for blasphemy had been lowered in recent years: "What they now call blasphemy was everywhere before".
And the Pakistani government is making a rapidly increasing number of requests for data from Facebook. In 2013 it requested data on 210 users.
Facebook complied with around two-thirds of these requests. It has not said how many of them related to blasphemy allegations.
In 2015 Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, suggested the company would comply with government requests for censorship if it helped to "give the most voice to the most people".
"Some people say we should ignore government orders requiring us to restrict people's voice, even if that means the whole service would be blocked in those countries," Zuckerberg wrote. "I don't think that's right."
Pakistan's government is not alone in cracking down on alleged blasphemy. In April university student Mashal Khan was accused of offending Islam and lynched.
The National Secular Society has campaigned against blasphemy restrictions throughout its history. The NSS was instrumental in abolishing Britain's blasphemy law in 2008. The society continues to lobby for protections of free expression at home and internationally.
Ex-Muslims accused of 'inciting hatred' after criticising Islamic homophobia at Pride
Posted: Mon, 17 Jul 2017 15:37
A prominent group of ex-Muslims are facing calls to be banned from future Pride marches in London after a mosque complained about their criticisms of Islam.
Activists affiliated to the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) took part in the march on Saturday 8 July. Their signs bore slogans such as "Allah is gay," "Throw ISIS off the roof" and "Islamophobia is an oxymoron".
Some listed the 13 countries – all under Islamic rule – where homosexuality is punishable by death. One sign said "Fuck Islamic homophobia," with "Fuck Islam" in a different colour to the rest of the letters.
One banner specifically accused East London Mosque of inciting the murder of LGBT people. The mosque responded by complaining to the event's organisers, who are now considering banning CEMB from future marches.
"We've raised a complaint with the co-chairs of the event that the group was inciting hatred against Muslims," said Salman Farsi, a spokesman for the mosque. He added that the banners had attacked "our good name, based on absolutely groundless reasons".
He said the mosque had publicly condemned attacks on LGBT people and "gay-hate" stickers which were seen in Tower Hamlets several years ago.
But CEMB said the mosque's "supposed track record for challenging homophobia only seems to extend to white gay men in East London and never to Muslim and ex-Muslim LGBT or LGBT persecuted outside of Britain in countries under sharia".
East London Mosque has hosted preachers who have called for homosexuals to be put to death. Other speakers have compared homosexuality to paedophilia, attacked schools for teaching about it and said gay people make them "nauseous".
This weekend human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said he had asked the mosque to meet LGBT Muslims 11 times since 2015 – and all his invitations had been rejected.
Pride has referred the complaint to its community advisory board. In a letter to the mosque, it said the board would determine "whether CEMB will be allowed to march again in the years ahead".
A spokesman from the event said: "If anyone taking part in our parade makes someone feel ostracised, discriminated against or humiliated, then they are undermining and breaking the very principles on which we exist.
"Pride celebrates diversity and will not tolerate discrimination of any kind. While our parade has always been a home to protest, which often means conflicting points of view, Pride must always be a movement of acceptance, diversity and unity. We will not tolerate Islamophobia."
Maryam Namazie, the ex-Muslim group's spokesperson, said criticism of Islam and Islamism was being "erroneously conflated with an attack on Muslims".
"The very reason CEMB was at Pride was to combat hate. There were some Muslims who were offended by our presence and others who supported us, as there were some Christians who were offended by placards poking fun at Christianity and others who found them funny. This is what real diversity looks like.
"Offence has become the catchphrase to impose de facto blasphemy and apostasy laws here in Britain. The politics of offence rewards bullies and blames victims."
She added that the police had confronted the group over the banners at the march.
The National Secular Society expressed its support for CEMB's right to free expression.
Stephen Evans, NSS campaigns director, said: "The accusation that the group was inciting hatred against Muslims is baseless nonsense. East London Mosque seems to have begun a brazen attempt to deflect criticism of its poor record on gay rights and the repression of LGBT people in much of the Islamic world.
"CEMB has raised awareness of these vitally important issues. We urge Pride's organisers not to place religious ideas beyond criticism, which would be a highly regressive step and contrary to its own spirit of openness and inclusion."
The NSS has campaigned for free speech on religious issues throughout its history. In 2008 the blasphemy laws were officially repealed after a 140-year NSS campaign. In 2013 the Public Order Act was amended so that "insulting words or behaviour" were no longer outlawed.
The society is currently taking a leading role in defending the UN Human Rights Charter against Islamic nations which have called for greater restrictions on speech concerning religion.
Picture credit: © Maryam Namazie, via Twitter
