Pakistani Governor Murdered For Opposing Blasphemy Laws

Enraging news: Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) — The governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province was assassinated by his own security guard Tuesday, according to Interior Minister Rehman Malik, apparently because he spoke out against the country’s controversial blasphemy law. The security guard was arrested, Malik said. The shooting occurred at Islamabad’s Kohsar Market, which is frequented by [...]

“Mickey Mouse Jesus” Gets Art Curators Convicted Of Inciting Religious Hatred In Moscow

The LA Atheism Examiner reports: Two art curators, Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev, were convicted Monday by a Moscow court of “inciting religious hatred’ for putting on an exhibet called “Forbidden Art” in 2007. A Mickey Mouse Jesus, a Coca Cola Christ with the slogan “this is my blood” and a Christ on the cross [...]

Spanish Singer Prosecuted For Cooking A Crucifix In 1978

Here’s the offending video: And the story of the penalties to be paid for it: Musician Javier Krahe faces a fine of £159,000 after stills from the spoof cookery show, which involved baking an effigy of Christ for three days, were shown on television in 2004 during an interview with the star. Despite the length [...]

Atheist In Liverpool Sentenced To 6 Months In Jail For Blasphemy

In late 2008 Harry Taylor was arrested for putting anti-religious leaflets in a prayer room in the John Lennon airport in Liverpool.   The specific charge was an Anti-Social Behaviour Order.  Here are a few of the images for which he would be going to jail for 6 months were his sentence not suspended for [...]

Pat Condell On UN Promotion Of Blasphemy Laws

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Obama Administration Supports UN Exceptions To Free Speech Protections In Cases Of Religious Speech

Upsetting: Around the world, free speech is being sacrificed on the altar of religion. Whether defined as hate speech, discrimination or simple blasphemy, governments are declaring unlimited free speech as the enemy of freedom of religion. This growing movement has reached the United Nations, where religiously conservative countries received a boost in their campaign to [...]

Testing The Irish Blasphemy Law

In response to Ireland’s recent decision to outlaw blasphemy, a commenter at jesusandmo.net offers this suggestion for how to test the law’s fair applicability: Stonyground says: July 24, 2009 at 7:47 pm When the bill regarding a ban on promoting religious hatred was being discussed in the UK (a kind of blasphemy law in disguise) [...]

Pat Condell Excoriates The Left For Not Standing Up To Islamism

There is a lot to chew on in this latest rant from Pat Condell on the need for the tolerant to be more intolerant of intolerant religions than they are intolerant of denouncers of intolerant religions.  While Condell’s  attack on multiculturalism is too broad and at times his rhetoric is cringe-inducingly counter-productive, I do share [...]