Blasphemy, heresy, and liberalism in late twentieth century Britain

Abstract

This chapter considers the concept of blasphemy in late twentieth-century Britain. Until 2008, laws prohibiting blasphemy against certain versions of the Christian religion were on the statute book in England and Wales. Secularists had long campaigned against these laws and were alarmed when in 1977, the campaigner Mary Whitehouse mounted a successful private prosecution against Gay News, for publishing a homo-erotic poem by James Kirkup about Christ on the cross. Moreover, in 1989, there was widespread shock at the fatwa pronounced by the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, commanding Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie for publishing his magical realist novel The Satanic Verses. This chapter rehearses the case against such laws in the spirit of J. S. Mill’s On Liberty, and argues that what may seem blasphemous (or heretical) to some may be an important contribution to a necessary debate about religious claims. It will also highlight the easily forgotten distinction between attacking God and offending the sensibilities of religious devotees.