EU governments challenged over double standards on blasphemy.

From Ekklesia -13/03/06

Conservative Christians in the UK may soon have another fight on their hands, following suggestions that European Union governments should alter their blasphemy laws to protect Islam and not just Christianity.

During the recent violence following cartoons featuring caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, Muslim commentators pointed to what they saw as 'double standards' in the European Union, which gave the Christian religion special legal protections. In the UK, groups such as the Evangelical Alliance, whilst resisting the recent Racial and Religious Hatred Bill designed to protect Muslims, have simultaneously fought to maintain the blasphemy law that protects only the Christian faith whilst resisting its extension to other faiths. Although some commentators say the blasphemy law is obsolete, the pressure group Christian Voice recently threatened to use it to bring a private prosecution against Jerry Springer: The Opera. The threat has been credited with the decision by a third of regional theatres not to put on the production.

But some Christians have urged that the anomaly be addressed. The religious thinktank Ekklesia has suggested that faith communities should enjoy the same protections and rights as others in civil society – "no less, but no more". Muslim scholars recently gathered for an emergency meeting in the UK and called for changes in the law to stop images of the Prophet Muhammad being published. Now Abdullah Gul, the Turkish foreign minister, has sparked disagreement among his EU counterparts at a weekend meeting in Austria, by calling for European nations to review existing laws, to ensure they outlawed the "defamation" of all religions.

Mr Gul told a meeting of EU and Balkan foreign ministers in Salzburg that many Muslims believed that European laws amounted to a double-standard, protecting established Christian religions, and banning anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, while doing nothing to defend Muslims who felt offended. He said several European nations already maintained laws against religious defamation. "However, these restraints sometimes only apply to the established religions of the concerned countries. I would like to call on you here to start a process of re-examination of your legislations to ensure that these restraints apply to all religions equally."

[All very good points I’m sure. But there is another way. Rather than adding the innumerable other religions to blasphemy legislation – which will undoubtedly be difficult – why not simply remove the special position of Christianity in European legislation by getting rid of blasphemy laws in their entirety? That would be simple, effective and no one could point to any religion having special treatment. Sorted.]