Perspective: It defies belief that people are still being jailed – or killed – for blasphemy | Tony Meacham

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In February, a man in Denmark was charged with blasphemy for burning a copy of the Koran, a charge not made there for 46 years.

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | UK desk
Source/Credit: The Conversation
By Tony Meacham | June 26, 2017

According to reports in the BBC recently, Stephen Fry has been investigated in Ireland on charges of blasphemy. While the investigation stalled almost as quickly as it began, it was by no means the only occasion or high-profile matter of this type in recent weeks.

Discussing blasphemy feels anachronistic – something out of the middle ages. But it has recently been an issue as far away as Indonesia and as close as Ireland. W H Auden once observed that “one can only blaspheme if one believes”, but accusations of blasphemy have mainly been levelled against people who don’t share the same faith as the accusers.

Blasphemy charges are often used to express genuine religious outrage – but unproven allegations are also used for political or personal ends to persecute minorities or settle vendettas.
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Complements: The Times of Ahmad

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