England and Wales. The common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel were abolished in England and Wales by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. See also Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006.
Blasphemy is not a criminal offence under Australian federal law, but the de jure situation varies at state and territory level; it is currently not enforced in any Australian jurisdiction.
But English and Welsh blasphemy laws were abolished in May 2008. The offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel were both statutory and common law offences which were contrary to the principle of free speech and probably contrary to human rights laws adopted by the UK, which protect freedom of expression.
In the UK, blasphemy laws were abolished in England and Wales in 2008. Ireland was the first country in the world to hold a referendum on ending blasphemy law, which resulted in a constitutional amendment in 2018 and repealing the offence of blasphemy with effect in 2020.
Blasphemy laws punish people who make oral or written statements that are understood to express irreverence for sacred things. Long a feature of English and colonial societies and still prominent in some theocratic regimes, laws against blasphemy have disappeared in the United States because of the First Amendment.
The last successful prosecution was in 1871 (when an elderly man was found guilty of saying the Old Testament was quite immoral and was sentenced to two years in jail).
Germany is one of the few European countries that protects religious communities with a so-called blasphemy paragraph. Anyone who publicly "reviles the religion or ideology of others in a manner suited to causing a disturbance of the public peace" can be sentenced to up to three years in prison.
On 8 January 1697, Thomas Aikenhead became the last person in the UK to be executed for the crime of blasphemy. He had been a student at Edinburgh University, and was just 20 years old when he died at the end of a rope at the Gallowlee, a site of execution between Edinburgh and Leith.
In France, it is now possible to insult a religion, its figures and symbols, but it is prohibited to insult members of a religion. Yet the difference between the two is sometimes slight, which has led to an inflation of "blasphemy" trials, without the word ever being pronounced.
Blasphemy. As of July 2020, blasphemy can be punished by death in Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria (some northern states), Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia (al-Shabaab-controlled areas).
“Baby boomers lost their religion in the 1960s and raised their millennial children to be non-religious. That's why the number ticking 'Christian' on the census has dropped as older people die out and younger people select the category of 'non religion'.”
The last known U.S. conviction for blasphemy was of atheist activist Charles Lee Smith. In 1928, he rented a storefront in Little Rock, Arkansas, and gave out free atheist literature there. The sign in the window read: "Evolution Is True. The Bible's a Lie.
The Equality Act says it's only unlawful discrimination if you're treated unfairly because of certain reasons. These reasons are called protected characteristics. Religion and belief are protected characteristics under the Equality Act. They cover people with a range of faiths and beliefs.
Section 296 of the Criminal Code said that “Blasphemous Libel” is an indictable offence and is punishable with imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.
Section 153A of Indian Penal Code.
In this section, the offence of moral turpitude is also covered. The offence is a cognizable offence, and the maximum sentence is three years in prison, a fine, or a combination of the two. This section too falls under the category of Blasphemy Laws.
Although discrimination on the basis of religious beliefs is not permitted, there may be legitimate bases for imposing requirements in the workplace which restrict the worker's freedom to practice a particular religion, such as: a religion may prohibit work on a day on which the employer usually operates.
In Italy, under article 724 of the Penal Code, blasphemy in public is considered an "administrative offense" and punished with a fine ranging from €51 to €309.
17 June 2019. Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash. Blasphemy will be abolished in Greece from 1 July 2019 under changes to the country's criminal code, in a huge step forward for the global campaign to end harsh blasphemy laws.
The law permits death as punishment for blasphemy against Islam. Courts have not sentenced individuals to death for blasphemy since 1992. Punishments for blasphemy may include lengthy prison sentences.
Ronald Ryan was the last man hanged in Australia, 50 years ago on 3 February 1967. Ryan and his accomplice Peter Walker escaped from Pentridge Prison on 19 December 1965. The escape set in motion a chain of events which would lead to Ryan's execution and, eventually, to the abolition of the death penalty in Australia.
23 February 1629 [1] John Dean ( c. 1620 - c. 23 February 1629) was an 8- or 9-year-old English boy who was hanged under the reign of Charles I. [2] He is likely the youngest person ever to be executed in England.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's blasphemy laws, which can already mean death for those deemed to have insulted Islam or the Prophet Muhammad, can now also be used to punish anyone convicted of insulting people who were connected to him.
In early June 2017, Danish lawmakers scrapped a blasphemy law that had allowed for people convicted of insulting a religion to be jailed for up to four months and fined. Marking an improvement for free speech, the law, which had been on the statute books since the 17th century, was repealed on 2nd June.
The 1937 Constitution as enacted stated "The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law" and "The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God.
Article 525 of the Spanish penal code outlaws “offending” or “derision” of religious “feelings”, “dogmas”, “beliefs” or “rituals”.