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.
What you can do
1. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
2. Join us
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Student secular society’s website deleted after “ominous” threat sent from Saudi Arabia
Posted: Thu, 2 Jul 2015 12:05
The Manchester Free Speech and Secular Society's website has been deleted, shortly after the group received a message warning they would "feel remorse" if they didn't stop criticising Islamic fundamentalism.
The Free Speech and Secular Society (FSS) was sent a message, from an IP address in Saudi Arabia, which warned: "Please stop mocking Muslims otherwise you will feel remorse."
A spokesperson for the Society said that on the same day the sinister message was received, "someone tried to get access to the website, as multiple accounts received password reset prompts that weren't initiated by the account holders."
Despite not thinking much of the initial apparent threat or the attempts to hack into the website, by the 27 June the Society found that their website had been deleted entirely. The hacker "deleted everything that could be deleted," according to the FSS. "No message was left on the site."
The FSS contacted their webhosting service who confirmed unambiguously that it was not their doing or the result of a technical error. The Society sent a response to the email address used to issue the warning, but has had no further reply.
"Given the timing of the ambiguous message, we inquired with the sender whether he had anything to do with it, but as of yet we have received no response," the FSS said in a statement.
They added that it was "quite shocking" that even a "small and insignificant society as ours, promoting liberal values, was targeted all the way from Saudi Arabia. This just adds to the sad reality that free speech today is very much under threat."
The FSS said that they had "some articles critical of Islamic fundamentalism" on their website, and also commentary about their Student Union's decision to ban the FSS from displaying the 'survivors' edition' of Charlie Hebdo published after the attack on their Paris office.
The Society writes that their focus is on "free speech and secularism" and that they have been "hacked and threatened for supporting free speech".
The historian Tom Holland said the society had been "menaced" by "enemies of free speech".
Ben Jones, the National Secular Society's communications officer, commented: "This appears to be a particularly sinister attempt to stop debate, criticism and commentary about and around Islam. We hope the Manchester Free Speech and Secular Society have their website restored soon and can recover from the attack quickly. We offer our solidarity and support. No-one group or individual should be left to face the danger of defending free speech alone.
"Threats to freedom of expression are coming thick and fast and from all quarters. Whether it is student unions censoring student comedy shows for 'blasphemy', or university administrators cancelling events about Islam to avoid causing 'offence' or on other spurious grounds, or the invidious prosecution of Christian preachers for criticising Islamic beliefs, the right to freedom of expression must be defended.
"There are concerted attempts to establish global blasphemy laws coming from the OIC, who still long for a global law against the 'defamation of religion'; from terrorists using violent jihad; moves by complicit student unions and universities to indirectly support these efforts in the interest of 'cohesion'; and in this case from hackers and what the FSS call 'cyber-jihadists'. No matter what form the attack comes in, free speech must be defended."
International groups highlight global persecution of non-religious and religious minorities
Posted: Thu, 25 Jun 2015 16:39
Secular human rights organisations have called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to promote "genuine respect for freedom of religion and belief and freedom of expression".
At the 29th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Roy Brown, representing the Centre for Inquiry, called for action to combat persecution, oppression and discrimination against non-believers.
Mr Brown drew specific attention to murder of bloggers in Bangladesh, the arrest and lashing of Raif Badawi and others in Saudi Arabia and the imprisonment of freethinkers in Egypt.
Mr Brown challenged Saudi Arabia, which has a seat on the Human Rights Council, over its "fear of atheism and freethought".
"Saudi Arabia has equated atheism with terrorism, but it isn't atheist jihadis who are terrorising the world", he said.
Mr Brown told the Council: "atheists and freethinkers do not advocate state atheism but government that is neutral towards religion and belief, favouring none and discriminating against none."
In a separate intervention, Kacem El Ghazzali of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), accused the Egyptian state of being party to "a war on atheism".
He called on the UNHRC to "condemn the use of hate speech and incitement against any religious or belief minority" and urged Egypt to implement the Rabat Plan of Action – which seeks to prevent incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence whilst protecting free speech.
In another IHEU intervention, Elizabeth O'Casey called on the UN to do more to protect the rights of LGBT people and challenge laws restricting their free expression.
Meanwhile, a new report into the imprisonment of people for their religion or belief was launched in the House of Lords this week at meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Freedom of Religion and Belief, attended by the National Secular Society.
The report – "In Prison for their religion or beliefs" – was published by Human Rights Without Frontiers International (HRWF) and details country by country a list prisoners who have been incarcerated for manifesting their beliefs or falling foul of so-called anti-blasphemy laws.
The report is available here.
