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This article describes the blasphemy law in the United Kingdom.

England & Wales

Before the common law era

The offence of blasphemy was originally part of canon law. In the 17th century, blasphemy was declared a common law offence by the Court of King's Bench, punishable by the common law courts. For the black metal band, see Blasphemy (band). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Canon law is the term used for... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... One of the ancient courts of England, the Kings Bench (or Queens Bench when the monarch is female) is now a division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. ...

Common law treatment

From the 16th century to the mid-19th century, blasphemy against Christianity was held as an offence against common law. Blasphemy was also used as a legal instrument to persecute atheists, Unitarians, and others. Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ... Historic Unitarianism believed in the oneness of God as opposed to traditional Christian belief in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). ...

All blasphemies against God, including denying His being or providence, all contumelious reproaches of Jesus Christ, all profane scoffing at the Holy Scriptures, and exposing any part thereof to contempt or ridicule, were punishable by the temporal courts with fine, imprisonment, and corporal punishment. In 1656, the Quaker James Naylor suffered flogging, branding and the piercing of his tongue by a red-hot poker. This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain intended to change a persons behavior or to punish them. ... The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ... James Nayler (or Naylor) (1618–1660) was an English Quaker leader. ...

An Act of Edward VI (the Sacrament Act 1547) set a punishment of imprisonment for reviling the sacrament of the Last Supper. It was repealed by the First Statute of Repeal in 1553 and revived again in 1558. Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) became King of England, King of France (in practice only the town and surrounding district of Calais) and Edward I of Ireland on 28 January 1547, and crowned on 20 February, at just nine years of age. ... For the painting by Leonardo da Vinci, see The Last Supper (Leonardo). ... The First Statute of Repeal is an Act of the Parliament of England (1 Mary, st. ... // Events June 26 - Christs Hospital in London gets a Royal Charter July 6 - Edward VI of England dies July 10 - Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen of England - for the next nine days July 18 - Lord Mayor of London proclaims Queen Mary as the rightful Queen - Lady Jane Grey... January 7 - French troops led by Francis, Duke of Guise take Calais, the last continental possession of the Kingdom of England July 13 - Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines. ...

In the 1676 case of Rex v Taylor, the Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale stated that "Such kinds of blasphemous words were not only an offence to God and religion, but a crime against the laws, State and Government, and therefore punishable in that Court.... Christianity is parcel of the laws of England and therefore to reproach the Christian religion is to speak in subversion of the law." Events January 29 - Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia First measurement of the speed of light, by Ole Rømer Bacons Rebellion Russo-Turkish Wars commence. ... The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, and the presiding judge of Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, and of the Queens Bench Division of the High Court. ... Sir Matthew Hale (1609—1676), Lord Chief Justice of England, was born on the 1st of November 1609 at Alderley in Gloucestershire, where his father, a retired barrister, had a small estate. ...

Those denying the Trinity were deprived of the benefit of the Act of Toleration 1688. The Blasphemy Act 1697 enacted that if any person, educated in or having made profession of the Christian religion, should by writing, preaching, teaching or advised speaking, deny that the members of the Holy Trinity were God, or should assert that there is more than one god, or deny the Christian religion to be true, or the Holy Scriptures to be of divine authority, he should, upon the first offence, be rendered incapable of holding any office or place of trust, and for the second incapable of bringing any action, of being guardian or executor, or of taking a legacy or deed of gift, and should suffer three years imprisonment without bail. This article is about the Christian Trinity. ... This article concerns the holy Trinity of Christianity. ...

In the 1729 case of Rex v. Woolston, the court declared that they would not suffer it to be debated whether to write against Christianity in general was not an offence punishable in the temporal courts at common law, but they did not intend to include disputes between learned men on particular controverted points. Woolston was imprisoned until his death in 1733. Thomas Woolston (1669 - January 21, 1731), English deist, born at Northampton in 1669, the son of a reputable tradesman, entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1685, studied theology, took orders and was made a fellow of his college. ...

It has been held that a person offending under the statute is also indictable at common law (Rex v. Carlile, 1819, where Mr Justice Best remarks, "In the age of toleration, when that statute passed, neither churchmen nor sectarians wished to protect in their infidelity those who disbelieved the Holy Scriptures"). An act of 1812-1813 excepts from these enactments persons denying as therein mentioned respecting the Holy Trinity, but otherwise the common and the statute law on the subject remain as stated. Richard Carlile (9 December 1790 – 10 February 1843) was an important agitator for the establishment of universal suffrage and freedom of the press in the United Kingdom. ...

In 1841 Edward Moxon was found guilty of the publication of a blasphemous libel (Percy Bysshe Shelley's Queen Mab), the prosecution having been instituted by Henry Hetherington, who had previously been condemned to four months imprisonment for a similar offence, and wished to test the law under which he was punished. In the case of Cowan v. Milbourn (1867) the defendant had broken his contract to let a lecture-room to the plaintiff, on discovering that the intended lectures were to maintain that the character of Christ is defective, and his teaching misleading, and that the Bible is no more inspired than any other book, and the court of exchequer held that the publication of such doctrine was blasphemy, and the contract therefore illegal. On that occasion the court reaffirmed the dictum of Chief Justice Hale, that Christianity is part of the laws of England. Edward Moxon (1801 - June 3, 1858) was a British poet and publisher. ... Blasphemous libel is a common law criminal offence in the United Kingdom. ... Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822; pronounced ) was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among the finest lyric poets of the English language. ... Queen Mab is the title of the first large poetic work written by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), the famous English Romantic poet. ...

The commissioners on criminal law (sixth report) remarked that although the law forbade all denial of the being and providence of God or the Christian religion, it is only when irreligion assumes the form of an insult to God and man that the interference of the criminal law took place. In England the last prominent 19th century prosecution for blasphemy was the case of R. v. Ramsey & Foote, 1883, 48 L.T. 739, when the editor, publisher and printer of The Freethinker were sentenced to imprisonment. For other uses of The Freethinker, see The Freethinker (disambiguation). ...

Profane cursing and swearing was made punishable by the Profane Oaths Act 1745, which directs the offender to be brought before a justice of the peace, and fined an amount that depended on his social rank. It was repealed by section 13 of the Criminal Law Act 1967. The Profane Oaths Act 1745 (19 Geo. ... The Criminal Law Act 1967 (c. ...

20th and 21st centuries

• Police court proceedings were taken in 1908 against Harry Boulter, a Hyde Park orator with links to the Rationalist movement. In June 1909 he was jailed for repeating the offence.
• The last person in Britain to be sent to prison for blasphemy was John William Gott on 9 December 1921. He had three previous convictions for blasphemy when he was prosecuted for publishing two pamphlets entitled Rib Ticklers, or Questions for Parsons and God and Gott. In these pamphlets Gott satirised the biblical story of Jesus entering Jerusalem (Matthew 21:2-7) comparing Jesus to a circus clown. He was sentenced to nine months' hard labour despite suffering from an incurable illness, and died shortly after he was released. The case became the subject of public outrage.^{[citation needed]}
• In February 1925, the Glasgow-based radical Guy Aldred was arrested in Hyde Park and charged with blasphemy and sedition.
• In a 1949 speech Lord Denning placed the blasphemy laws in the past, saying that "...it was thought that a denial of Christianity was liable to shake the fabric of society, which was itself founded upon Christian religion. There is no such danger to society now and the offence of blasphemy is a dead letter".
• However in 1977 the case Whitehouse v. Lemon demonstrated that the offence of Blasphemous libel, long thought to be dormant, was still in force.^[1] During the House of Lords appeal Lord Scarman said that "I do not subscribe to the view that the common law offence of blasphemous libel serves no useful purpose in modern law. (...) The offence belongs to a group of criminal offences designed to safeguard the internal tranquillity of the kingdom."
• Following that case, the Law Commission published a 1985 report on Criminal Law: Offences against Religious and Public Worship. A minority report sought to create a replacement offence such that citizens should not purportedly "insult or outrage the religious feelings of others".
• The passage of the Human Rights Act 1998 requires the courts to interpret the law in a way that is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. The offence of blasphemous libel is believed by some to be contrary to the freedom of speech provisions in the ECHR. However, just before the introduction of the HRA, a claim that the blasphemy law is inconsistent with article 10 of the ECHR (providing for freedom of expression) was rejected in the case of Wingrove v UK (1997).
• British author Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses was seen by many Muslims to blaspheme against Islam, and Iranian clerical leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989 calling for Rushdie's death (although strictly this was in response to Rushdie's claimed apostasy, not the novel's supposed blasphemy). Some British Muslims called for Rushdie to be tried under English law for blasphemy, but no charges were laid, as the English legal system recognises blasphemy only against the Christian faith. A UK House of Lords select committee stated that the law is narrower in scope and only protects the Christian beliefs as held by the Church of England.^[2] The Rushdie case stimulated debate on this topic, with some arguing the same protection should be extended to all religions, while others claimed the UK's ancient blasphemy laws were an anachronism and should be abolished. Despite much discussion surrounding the controversy, the law was not amended.
• In 2002, a deliberate and well-publicised public, repeat reading of the poem The Love that Dares to Speak its Name by James Kirkup took place on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square and failed to lead to any prosecution by the Director of Public Prosecutions. It suggested Jesus was gay. An earlier reading in 1977 had led to prosecution. Outraged Christians tried to drown out the 2002 reading. “We have won an important victory for free speech and the right to protest”, declared human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. “No one was arrested. The police didn’t even take our names and addresses. The blasphemy law is now a dead letter. If the authorities are not prepared to enforce the law, they should abolish it”. A trial would have involved all those who read and published the poem, including several of Britain’s leading writers, academics and MPs. “The blasphemy law gives the Christian religion privileged protection against criticism and dissent. No other institution enjoys such sweeping powers to suppress the expression of opinions and ideas”, said Tatchell.
• On 15 May 2002 the House of Lords appointed a Select Committee “to consider and report on the law relating to religious offences”. The Committee's first report was published in April 2003; it summarised the state of the law in this area, and found that the present law on blasphemy was unlikely to result in successful prosecution. The Committee found no consensus on whether a new law against blasphemy was required, but concluded that if there was a law it should apply to all faiths.^[3] Home Secretary David Blunkett responded with plans to criminalise incitement to religious hatred, which became the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, and he suggested the blasphemy law might be repealed once the new law was in force.^[4]
• When the BBC decided to broadcast Jerry Springer: The Opera in January 2005, they received over 63,000 complaints by offended Christian viewers who objected to the show's portrayal of Christian icons (including one scene depicting Jesus, dressed as a baby, professing to be "a bit gay"). The fundamentalist group Christian Voice sought a private blasphemy prosecution against the BBC, but the charges were rejected by City of Westminster magistrates court. Christian Voice applied to have this ruling overturned by the High Court, but the application was rejected, the court finding that the common law blasphemy offences were specifically disapplied to stage productions (s. 2(4) of the Theatres Act 1968) and broadcasts (s. 6 of the Broadcasting Act 1990)^[5]

“Hyde Park” redirects here. ... This article is not about continental rationalism. ... John William Gott was the last person in Britain to be sent to prison for blasphemy. ... is the 343rd day of the year (344th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... Guy Aldred (November 5, 1886-October 17, 1963) was an English anarchist communist and a prominent member of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF). ... Alfred Thompson Denning, Baron Denning (23 January 1899–6 March 1999) was a British barrister from Hampshire who became Master of the Rolls (the senior civil judge in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales) and was generally well liked, both within the legal profession and outside it. ... A dead letter is used when a man, most likely a soldier, is not sure of his survival with important documents or information. ... Whitehouse v. ... Leslie George Scarman, Baron Scarman, PC (29 July 1911 – 8 December 2004) was a Law Lord (retired) and a cross bench member of the British House of Lords. ... The Law Commission is an independent body set up by Parliament in 1965 to keep the law of England and Wales under review and recommend necessary reforms. ... The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on November 9, 1998, and mostly came into force on October 2, 2000. ... “ECHR” redirects here. ... Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (Devanagari : अहमद सलमान रश्दी Nastaliq:; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-British novelist and essayist. ... The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdies fourth novel, first published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of Muhammad. ... Ayatollah Khomeini founded the first modern Islamic republic Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini (آیت‌الله روح‌الله خمینی in Persian) (May 17, 1900 – June 3, 1989) was an Iranian Shia cleric and the political... A fatwā (Arabic: ; plural fatāwā Arabic: ), is a considered opinion in Islam made by a mufti, a scholar capable of issuing judgments on Sharia (Islamic law). ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Apostasy (from Greek αποστασία, meaning a defection or revolt, from απο, apo, away, apart, στασις, stasis, standing) is a term generally employed to describe the formal renunciation of ones religion, especially if the motive is deemed unworthy. ... English law is a formal term of art that describes the law for the time being in force in England and Wales. ... The Church of England logo since 1996. ... The Love that Dares to Speak its Name is an extremely controversial poem by James Kirkup. ... James Kirkup (b. ... St Martin-in-the-Fields, London Interior of St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields and Charing Cross, circa 1562 The ceiling of the café in the crypt St. ... Trafalgar Square viewed from the northeast corner. ... The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. ... LGBT rights Around the world By country History · Groups · Activists Declaration of Montreal Same-sex relationships Marriage · Adoption Opposition · Discrimination Violence This box:      Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is an Australian-British human rights activist, who is best known internationally for his attempts to perform a citizens... is the 135th day of the year (136th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ... The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the whole United Kingdom (including Scotland and Northern Ireland). ... David Blunkett (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician and has been Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside since 1987. ... The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (citation 2006 c. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Formerly known as Repent UK, is an organisation based in the United Kingdom which claims to be striving, through prayer and public campaigning, for national repentance. Christian Voice claims to follow the Word of God and the teachings of the Bible. ... The City of Westminster is a borough of London, England with city status. ... High Court usually refers to the superior court of a country or state. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... The Theatres Act (1968) abolished censorship of the stage in the United Kingdom. ... The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential example of Thatcherism. ...

Scotland

By the law of Scotland, as it originally stood, the punishment of blasphemy was death, a penalty last imposed on Thomas Aikenhead in Edinburgh in 1697. By an Act of 1825, amended in 1837, blasphemy was made punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. The last prosecution for blasphemy in Scotland was in 1843 when bookseller Thomas Paterson was sentenced at Edinburgh High Court to fifteen months in prison for selling blasphemous books. Thomas Aikenhead (c. ...

According to the 18th-19th century legal writer David Hume (newphew of the philosopher), Scots law distinguished between blasphemy, which was uttered in passion generally in the heat of the moment, and other offences which involved the propagation of ideas contrary to religion. It is blasphemy, Hume wrote

when it is done in a scoffing and railing manner; out of a reproachful disposition in the speaker, and, as it were, with passion against the Almighty, rather than with any purpose of propagating the irreverent opinion. The like sentiments uttered dispassionately or conveyed in any calm or advised form, are rather a heresy or an apostasy than a proper blasphemy. — Commonwealth v. Kneeland

The Human Rights Act 1998 applies in Scotland as well as England and Wales, and therefore poses similar challenges to the existing Scottish blasphemy laws as those described above. Additionally, some legal commentators believe that, owing to the long time since successful prosecution, blasphemy in Scotland is no longer a crime,^{[citation needed]} although blasphemous conduct might still be tried as a breach of the peace.^[6] The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on November 9, 1998, and mostly came into force on October 2, 2000. ... Breach of the peace is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries, and in a wider public order sense in Britain. ...

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service considered a complaint under the blasphemy law regarding the BBC transmission of Jerry Springer: The Opera but did not proceed with charges.^[7] The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is a government department in Scotland that is responsible for the public prosecution of alleged criminals. ...

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the eleventh edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

Northern Ireland

Bibliography

• Marsh, Joss (1998). Word crimes: blasphemy, culture, and literature in nineteenth-century England. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-50691-6
• Walter, Nicolas (1990). Blasphemy Ancient and Modern. London: Rationalist Press Association. ISBN 0-301-90001-9

For other uses, see University of Chicago (disambiguation). ... Nicolas Hardy Walter (November 22, 1934–March 7, 2000) was a British anarchist and atheist writer, speaker and activist. ... The Rationalist Press Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom, founded on 26 May 1899 to promote freedom of thought and inquiry and the principles of rationalism, defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at establishing a system of philosophy and ethics...

References

1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/11/newsid_2499000/2499721.stm
2. ^ http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld200203/ldselect/ldrelof/95/9515.htm
3. ^ http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/lords_religious_offences.cfm
4. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3752232.stm
5. ^ "Springer opera court fight fails", BBC News, 2007-12-05. Retrieved on 2007-12-05. 
6. ^ http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lrc.nsf/pages/DP24CHP3
7. ^ http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=929&id=56322005

BBC News is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporations news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 339th day of the year (340th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 339th day of the year (340th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Religion in the United Kingdom
• Status of religious freedom in the United Kingdom

St Pauls Cathedral The United Kingdom is traditionally a Christian state, though of the four constituent countries, only England still has a state faith in the form of an established church. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

External links

• http://www.swarb.co.uk/c/hl/1979Whitehouse-GayNews.html
• Religious Offences in England and Wales - First Report
  • Appendix 3 - Blasphemy
• New South Wales Law Reform Commission report on blasphemy, contains a good discussion of the English law up to 1828 when NSW law split off from English law.
• A Brief History of Blasphemy: text of 1990 book by Richard Webster.
• Prisoner for Blasphemy, available at Project Gutenberg.. An account by George William Foote of his experiences in the 1880s.