“A powerful bloc of 57 Islamic states is again pushing for the UN to make it a criminal offense to criticise or ‘defame’ Islam,” according to Yahoo News.

Though the 57 nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a bloc which also dominates the UN’s Human Rights Council, have been lobbying for the move since 1999, the signs this time are that the resolution could well be made binding. While the resolution calls for protection against “defamation” of all religions, it only mentions Islam by name.

The resolution deems offending Islamic sensitivities a “serious affront to human dignity” which could lead to “social disharmony”, “violations of human rights” and “incitement to religious hatred in general and against Islam in particular”. If passed, the resulting binding resolution would find its way into various UN documents all of which would require that UN member states at “local, national and international levels” start restricting the free speech of citizens to prevent public criticism of religious beliefs, particularly Islamic belief.

This is something both atheists and Christians can oppose together. For atheists, it means we would be unable to speak our minds about Islam. For Christians, it would mean the inability to preach to Muslims or criticize their religion. For ex-Muslims, it would mean being unable to speak openly about past experiences — even in non-Muslim countries. If this resolution was passed, it could be a massive blow to freedom of speech and thought.

Freedom of speech is a two way street. Muslims can’t use it to preach their religion and criticize other religious beliefs, yet have their own religion closed to criticism.

If we value truth, nothing should be closed to criticism. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.”

No one should ever be silenced or jailed for questioning or criticizing ideas. We know where that leads — just look at the Middle Ages. When it comes to freedom of speech, modern Christianity and Atheism is often on the same side — we both value freedom of speech and religion (or from religion).

Yet Islam seems to be curiously unsupportive of this freedom. “In thinking about Islam,” Sam Harris said in The End of Faith, “and about the risk it now poses to the West, we should imagine what it would take to live peacefully with the Christians in the fourteenth century—Christians who were still eager to prosecute people for crimes like host desecration and witchcraft. We are in the presence of the past.”

Update: The proposal has been rejected by the UN. Score one for reason and liberty! James Randi writes:

Proposals that would have banned “defamation of religion” were formally rejected by United Nations international bodies this week…. The proposal failed to earn sufficient votes in the UN General Assembly to become a binding resolution, and it will not be on the agenda at the next conference, slated for Geneva in April. Doubtless, it will be again proposed in the future, as zealots seek to promote their discriminatory agendas….

The basic principle of freedom of speech, conscience, and expression – so far as the UN is concerned – has been once again upheld.