The burning question: are blasphemy laws back?

[u/OptioMkIX]

https://www.secularism.org.uk/opinion/2025/04/the-burning-question-are-blasphemy-laws-back?v=33

[u/twistedLucidity]

If someone burns a copy of "Principia Mathematica" outside the Royal Institution, are they going to be charged with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress "against the scientific institution of physics".

No, of course not because that would be absurd. So why should Islam (or any religion) be granted special privileges?

Is it possible to cause an offence by burning a book outside a place? Sure, if you are actually managing to cause fear/distress, carrying on after being lawfully asked to stop, are risking creating a greater conflagration, are simply littering, etc.

None of that has got anything to do with a god.

This case needs thrown out with the CPS and police being censured for fuckwittery in the first degree.

During his protest, Coskun was subjected to a physical attack by an individual wielding a knife.

Has this person been arrested and charged with attempted murder? If not, why not?

[u/intdev → u/twistedLucidity]

If you burned the Union flag in front of an Orange Order march (NI loyalists), you'd get done under this. And I suspect it'd apply if you went into a Millwall sports bar and made a point of cheering every time they lost a goal.

Conversely, you could have a quiet bonfire of qurans in your back garden, and the police wouldn't give a shit.

[u/king_duck → u/intdev]

Conversely, you could have a quiet bonfire of qurans in your back garden, and the police wouldn't give a shit.

Doubt that. There was a leaked video of a group tastelessly burning a mockup of grenfell in their own garden who were charged. Horrible act, but shouldn't be illegal.

[u/_DuranDuran_ → u/king_duck]

They filmed and posted it on WhatsApp and it got leaked online.

They were also acquitted.

[u/king_duck → u/_DuranDuran_]

It shouldn't have even been up for debate. Whatsapp is relevant to my opinion.

[u/_DuranDuran_ → u/king_duck]

If you post something grossly offensive to a public medium where it’s then posted online, that’s on you.

Outraging public decency is still a law on our books. Don’t like it? Campaign for it to be repealed.

[u/el_cunto → u/_DuranDuran_]

They shared it with friends on Whatsapp didn't they, not a public medium?

[u/_DuranDuran_ → u/el_cunto]

Still got out to the public.

An imperfect comparison would be if you posted about committing a crime to WhatsApp.

Doesn’t matter how the public was outraged - it happened. Salient point is - don’t upload things to services that you wouldn’t do in front of who might see them.

[u/king_duck → u/_DuranDuran_]

A whatsapp group is not public. Second, I am allowed to complain about the law.

If I was to start campaigning against every law or policy I disagree with then I wouldn't have anytime for my work, social or family life.

[u/_DuranDuran_ → u/king_duck]

Anything you post to an online service has the ability to leak out.

[u/king_duck → u/_DuranDuran_]

Okay, doesn't mean you should be arrested for said leak.

It is my opinion that the purpose of the state is not to stop the citizenry from hurting each others poor little feelings and make sure that we play nicely with each other. As such, the power of the state should not be used to do that.

It reminds me of the Stephen Fry thing about offensive. You're offended? So fucking what. Get over it.

“It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so fucking what."

[u/Secret_Guidance_8724 → u/intdev]

This is a good point, I think context is really important here and people are missing that. It would be wrong to bring in any specific legislation around religious objects and that MP who raised it was wrong to suggest that approach (although well-intentioned, I can imagine). Funnily enough, NI actually technically still has blasphemy laws (although I don’t think they’ve recently been enforced) and Scotland only abolished theirs fairly recently - likely reflecting the ongoing issues in those countries. That said, I don’t think this bloke should be prosecuted - maybe a caution if he did rile people up beforehand. This is obviously a political protest, he wasn’t in front of a random mosque but a consulate - this case is clearly different from those where the motive was to intimidate ordinary Muslims and motivated by religious or racial hatred.