asthmatic camel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2019 10:11 pm
Abdul Alhazred wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2019 10:07 pm
But which religion gets to call the cops when you blaspheme?
That is the real test of an official religion.
Blasphemy is not an offence in England and Wales, the laws were abolished in 2008. They remain in Scotland and Northern Ireland but are very rarely used.
Linky
There are cases like:
“Two men have been released on bail after their arrest for allegedly making offensive comments on Twitter about the murder of a British soldier in Woolwich.
Detective Inspector Ed Yaxley of Avon and Somerset police said: "On Wednesday evening, we were contacted by people concerned about comments made on social media accounts.
"We began inquiries into the comments and at around 3.20am two men, aged 23 and 22, were detained at two addresses in Bristol.“
And I couldn’t see anywhere what they had said... so how do we know if the authorities are being reasonable?
Not to mention when there is a case like:
“A man from Leeds in West Yorkshire has been released on bail after allegedly posting on social media a video that ends with him burning a copy of the Qu'ran.
The law about burning a holy text such as the Qu'ran isn't clear cut in the UK. In the US it is entirely legal. Accorss the pond, it's a punishable offence under Britain's Racial and Religious Hatred act 2006. There remains an issue of freedom of speech and ownership of material, but ultimately people could be prosecuted when there is a demonstrable advocacy of hate crime laws.
In 2011, Business Insider wrote about British National Party candidate Sion Owens, who filmed himself burning a copy of the Qu'ran. The clip was leaked to the Guardian and the man was subsequently arrested.
Then, the Home Office stated:
"The government absolutely condemns the burning of the Qur'an. It is fundamentally offensive to the values of our pluralist and tolerant society. “
There are de facto blasphemy laws in the UK and it is a disgrace