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
Section 5 reform to come into effect in February
Posted: Wed, 4 Dec 2013 12:31
A free speech reform backed by The National Secular Society will come into effect on 1 February next year.
From that date the word "insulting" will be removed from Section 5 of the Public Order Act – a provision that permitted the police to arrest people because someone else thought their words or behaviour "insulting". This resulted in people being arrested for preaching against homosexuality in the street and, in one case, for calling a policeman's horse "gay". Others had been arrested for calling Scientology "a cult" and for saying "woof" to a dog.
The NSS worked together with the Christian Institute and others to campaign against the "insulting" provision and after a hard-fought effort, the Government agreed to the reform.
Despite Government resistance, the House of Lords overwhelmingly supported reforming Section 5 in December last year, voting 150 to 54 in favour of an amendment to remove the word "insulting".
In January the Government gave way and agreed to the move, which will now come into place following guidance for police forces on the change.
Other supporters of Reform Section 5 campaign included comedian Rowan Atkinson and the Peter Tatchell Foundation.
Simon Calvert, the Campaign Director for Reform Section 5 (RS5), said: "We are delighted that this important change will come into force soon. We campaigned for this change because we believe that while insults are rude and we'd like to see fewer of them, the police and courts really don't need to get involved. This campaign was an unusual alliance, but we all agreed that Section 5 needed reforming for the sake of free speech."
However Mr Calvert warned that under the new Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill sweeping new powers could be a fresh challenge to free speech. Under Clause 1 of the Bill, ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders) would be replaced by Injunctions to Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance (IPNAs).
The law is so broad and the safeguards are so weak that the proposed new law could catch legitimate public protest.
One senior lawyer, Lord Macdonald QC, has warned the proposals are extremely broad and could result in "serious and unforeseeable interferences in individual rights, to the greater public detriment".
The NSS again has joined a coalition of groups to oppose this development.
Dutch lawmakers may backtrack on plans to scrap blasphemy law
Posted: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 12:16
Dutch lawmakers appear to be having second thoughts about scrapping the nation's blasphemy laws.
Despite a majority of parties in parliament agreeing in 2012 that the law should be scrapped, there now seems to be a rethink in order to placate "minority religions". The blasphemy law makes it a crime to insult God, the monarch or to be disrespectful to a policeman. The legislation was introduced in the 1930s and has not been invoked for the past fifty years.
The Dutch parliament, noted for its liberalism, originally concluded that it was a threat to the nation's much-cherished freedom of speech, but now political necessity may change all that.
The issue came back to the fore after a court ruled that MP Geert Wilders, noted for his trenchant views about Islam, had every right to criticise the religion, even if his views offended many Muslims. Wilders, who leads the Freedom Party, had described Islam as "fascist" and compared Islam's holy book, the Koran, to Adolf Hitler's autobiography and political manifesto "Mein Kampf". Amsterdam judge Marcel van Oosten said Wilders' statements were directed at Islam and not at Muslims. Van Oosten said the statements were "gross and denigrating" but still "acceptable within the context of public debate."
Wilders said at the time that the verdict was "not only an acquittal for me, but a victory for freedom of expression in the Netherlands."
Now the Nos Television channel reports that doubts are creeping in among leaders of both main political parties. In a debate on Tuesday in the upper house of parliament, or senate, Labour senator Nico Schrijver said that repealing blasphemy laws would result in minorities feeling insufficiently protected against their religious sensibilities being hurt.
VVD senator Heleen Depuis said if Christians feel threatened by blasphemy then you can reason that their freedom of religion is being compromised and that the legislation should stay.
Some suspect that the real reason the coalition Government is backtracking is because it recently agreed to work more closely with the minor religious parties ChristenUnie and SGP to ensure majority support for its economic policies. Both these religious parties strongly oppose ending the ban on blasphemy.
The senate will vote on the plan next Tuesday. The motion was passed by a large majority in the lower house of parliament.
This has happened before – in 2008, a coalition government decided against repealing the blasphemy law in order to maintain support from a conservative Christian political party.
