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Sandberg, Russell and Doe, Christopher Norman 2008. The strange death of blasphemy. Modern
Law Review 71 (6) , pp. 971-986. 10.1111/j.1468-2230.2008.00723.x file
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Post-print version of article subsequently published in (2008) 71(6) Modern Law Review 971-986.
1
The Strange Death of Blasphemy
Russell Sandberg and Norman Doe *
INTRODUCTION
Tucked away in Part 5 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, amid a
plethora of provisions affecting various parts of the criminal law,1 can be found one
line that ends a long-running debate in England and Wales about the future of the
blasphemy laws. Section 79(1) states that: ‘The offences of blasphemy and
blasphemous libel under the common law of England and Wales are abolished’.
Although many had already pronounced the offence of blasphemy dead, 2 or at least
moribund,3 the abolition of these ancient offences in such an understated way has
caught many by surprise.4 The purpose of this article is to explain what has been lost,
to explore why blasphemy has been abolished now and to examine the extent to which
the criminal law still nevertheless protects religious beliefs and believers.
* Russell Sandberg is Lecturer in Law and Norman Doe is Professor of Law at Cardiff University.
Norman Doe is the Director of the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff Law School.
1 Part 5 includes provisions affecting, inter alia, the law on pornography, data protection offences, the
use of reasonable force in self defence. It also expands the offence of stirring up religious hatred found
in part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 to include hatred on grounds of sexual orientation.
2 See, eg A. Denning, Freedom Under the Law (London: Stevens, 1949) 46: ‘the offence of blasphemy
is a dead letter’.
3 Writing in 2005, Ahdar and Leigh commented how the offence ‘has lingered on, enjoying a perilous
existence on a life support machine while legislators, commentators and judges huddle around the
bedside debating whether it has a future’: R. Ahdar and I. Leigh, Religious Freedom in the Liberal
State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005) 368.
4 The popular and academic coverage of the abolition of the blasphemy laws has been much more
muted than the coverage concerning the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006.
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2
THE STRANGE LIFE OF BLASPHEMY
Blasphemers were originally dealt with by the Church Courts; it was not until the
seventeenth century that the law was enforced by the secular criminal courts. The
rationale for the offence is clearly elucidated in one of the earliest cases heard by the
criminal courts: Taylor’s Case.5 In that case it was established that blasphemy was
akin to treason: the Chief Justice of the day held that Taylor’s cry that ‘Jesus Christ
was a bastard, an impostor and a cheat’ was ‘not only an offence to God and to
religion, but a crime against the laws, state and Government’. He reasoned that to
undermine religion was ‘to dissolve all those obligations whereby the civil societies
are preserved’; since ‘Christianity is parcel of the Laws of England’, it followed that
‘to reproach the Christian religion is to speak in subversion of the law’.6 However,
since the law of blasphemy rested, in the main, on decisions made by courts in the
seventeenth to nineteenth centuries,7 it was often difficult to determine the exact
scope of the law.8 That said, despite what one academic called the offence’s
5 (1676) 1 Vent 293.
6 See House of Lords Select Committee on Religious Offences in England and Wales, Volume I -
Report (2003), Volume I, Appendix 3, para 2.
7 Blasphemy was originally both a statutory and a common law offence. It is now only an offence at
common law: the Criminal Law Act 1967 repealed the Blasphemy Act 1697.
8 See, eg, House of Lords Select Committee, n 6 above, Appendix 3, paragraph 1; A. Bradney,
Religions, Rights and the Law (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1993) 82; D. Feldman, Civil
Liberties and Human Rights in England and Wales (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) 913.
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3
‘chameleon-like’ capacity to adapt to changed social conditions,9 it was possible to
outline the essence of the offence.10
The actus reus of blasphemy was to publish ‘blasphemous’ material in any form.11
To be ‘blasphemous’, the content of the material had to be both in conflict with the
tenets of the Church of England and couched in indecent or offensive terms likely to
shock and outrage the feelings of the general body of Church of England believers.
The extent to which the law protected Christian denominations other than the Church
of England was an open question. Indeed, by the nineteenth century judicial
pronouncements were becoming increasingly confused. In Gathercole’s Case12, for
instance, it was noted that a person could lawfully attack ‘any sect of the Christian
Religion (save the established religion of the country)’ because the Church of England
alone is ‘the form established by law, and is therefore a part of the constitution of the
country’. However, the judgment continued to state that ‘any general attack on
Christianity is the subject of criminal prosecution, because Christianity is the
established religion of the country’.13 Nevertheless, as it was made clear in
9 C Munro, ‘Prophets, Presbyters and Profanity’ [1989] PL 369 at 371
10 See, eg P W Edge, Legal Responses to Religious Difference (The Hague: Kluwer Law, 2002) 207-
211.
11 ‘Blasphemous’ material could be published in a written or verbal form.
12 (1838) 2 Lewin 237.
13 See also Stephen’s Digest of the Criminal Law which defined blasphemous matters as those ‘relating
to God, Jesus Christ or the Bible, or the formulation of the Church of England as by law established’:
(London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1950) article 2.14, quoted by the House of Lords in R v Lemon, R v Gay
News [1979] AC 617.
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Williams14, other Christian denominations and other religions were protected ‘to the
extent that their fundamental beliefs are those which are held in common with the
established Church.’15 In Williams, a publication attacking Old Testament was not
interpreted merely as an attack upon Judaism. It was rather held that the ‘Old
Testament is so connected with the New that it was impossible that such a publication
as this could be uttered without reflecting upon Christianity itself’. Other religious
groups, Christian or not, were protected ‘to the extent that their beliefs overlapped
with those of the Church of England.’16
The second limb of the definition of ‘blasphemous’ material was important: the
material must be couched in indecent or offensive terms likely to shock and outrage
the feelings of the general body of Church of England believers.17 In R v Gott 18 the
14 (1797) 26 St Tr 654.
15 R v Chief Stipendiary Magistrate ex parte Choudhury [1991] 1 QB 429.
16 House of Lords Select Committee , n 6 above, Volume 1, Appendix 3, para 4.
17 This requirement seems slacker than the criterion that needs to be met in discrimination law before a
religious group can benefit from an exemption from generally applicable laws. Under Regulation 7(3)
of the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1661), for example, there
is an exemption where the employment is for purposes of an organised religion: such an employer can
apply a requirement related to sexual orientation either to comply with the doctrines of the religion, or
because of the nature of the employment and the context in which it is carried out, so as to avoid
conflicting with the strongly held religious convictions of a significant number of the religion’s
followers. The employer can discriminate either where the employee does not meet the requirement
imposed or where the employer is not satisfied, and in all the circumstances it is reasonable for him not
to be satisfied, that that person meets it. See R Sandberg and N Doe, ‘Religious Exemptions in
Discrimination Law’ (2007) 66(2) Cambridge Law Journal 302.
18 (1922) 16 CR App R 87.
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5
selling of a newspaper that described Jesus as entering Jerusalem ‘like a circus clown
on the back of two donkeys’ was held blasphemous on the basis that the passages
were ‘equally offensive to anyone in sympathy with the Christian religion, whether he
be a strong Christian, or a lukewarm Christian, or merely a person sympathising with
their ideas’.19 This requirement did mean however, that the offence of blasphemy did
‘not protect religious beliefs as such’ but rather was ‘concerned with attacks on those
beliefs expressed in highly offensive ways.’20 The mere publication of a self
confessed anti-Christian work,21 and the registration of a company promoting the
principle that human conduct should be based upon natural knowledge and not
supernatural belief,22 were thus not caught by the blasphemy law. Decent and
reasonable criticism was not blasphemous. These decisions questioned, however, the
original rationale of the offence since it was made clear that ‘if the decencies of
controversy are observed, even the fundamentals of religion may be attacked’23 and
that ‘reasonable men do not apprehend the dissolution or the downfall of society
because religion is publicly assailed by methods not scandalous’.24
The mens rea of the offence was only firmly established in the last successful
prosecution. The House of Lords in R v Lemon, R v Gay News25 held that the
19 Interestingly the references here are to ‘Christianity’ rather than the ‘Church of England’.
20 R Ahdar and I Leigh, Religious Freedom in the Liberal State (2005, Oxford) 367. See also Stephen’s
Digest of the Criminal Law (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1950) article 2.14.
21 R v Ramsay and Foote (1883) 15 Cox CC 231.
22 Bowman v Secular Society Ltd [1917] AC 406.
23 R v Ramsay and Foote (1883) 15 Cox CC 231.
24 Bowman v Secular Society Ltd [1917] AC 406.
25 [1979] AC 617.
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6
defendant must have intended to publish the blasphemous material. There was no
requirement that the defendant had an intention to blaspheme;26 it was sufficient for
the prosecution to prove that the publication had been intentional and that the matter
was blasphemous. The Gay News case was the first successful prosecution for almost
sixty years.27 During that period, blasphemy was policed extra-legally; it was
curtailed ‘by the fears, anxieties and sensitivities of individuals’:28 copies of Siné’s
Massacre, a French cartoonist's book of anti-clerical cartoons (some of which had a
sexual theme) were burned; permission to film in Britain a motion picture entitled The
Many Faces of Jesus concerning Jesus’ sex life was denied; and Mary Whitehouse led
a campaign against Monty Python’s Life of Brian.29 A similar moral panic led to the
Gay News case itself:30 in 1979 Mary Whitehouse brought a private prosecution
against the editor and publishers of Gay News alleging that the publication of the
poem ‘The Love That Dares to Speak its Name’, by James Kirkup with illustrations
was blasphemous.31 The Gay News case showed that the blasphemy laws remained
very much alive.
26 P W Edge, Legal Responses to Religious Difference (The Hague: Kluwer Law, 2002 ) 209-210.
27 Since R v Gott (1922) 16 CR App R 87.
28 See R Webster, A Brief History of Blasphemy (Southwold: Orwell Press, 1990) chapter 1.
29 See R Hewison, Monty Python: The Case Against (London: Eyre NMethuen Ltd, 1981) 66-67.
30 In 1972, Whitehouse had failed in her private prosecution against the BBC for transmitting an
episode of Till Death Do Us Part in which Alf Garnett was disparaging on the subject of the virgin
birth. The Director of Public Prosecutions decided that the case was unlikely to succeed due to the
constitutional position of the BBC: see: R Hewison, Monty Python: The Case Against (London: Eyre
NMethuen Ltd, 1981 60.
31 The poem described acts of fellatio and sodomy committed on Christ’s body immediately after his
death. It also suggested that Jesus had committed promiscuous homosexual practices with the
Disciples and other men.
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The Gay News case also showed that the law on blasphemy was compliant with the
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Although the ECHR safeguards
both freedom of religion (Article 9) and freedom of expression (Article 10),
Strasbourg has held that the freedom to manifest religion does not include a right to
be exempt from all criticism32 and freedom of expression contains ‘a duty to avoid
expressions that are gratuitously offensive to others and profane’.33 It was therefore
unsurprising that the editor and publisher of Gay News were unsuccessful in
petitioning Strasbourg. The European Commission of Human Rights found that the
application was manifestly ill-founded and declared the application inadmissible.34
The Commission held that the common law offence of blasphemous libel constituted
a restriction to freedom of expression but that restriction was justified in order to
protect the religious feelings of citizens, legitimate and was necessary in a democratic
society provided the principle of proportionality is respected.35 Subsequent
32 İA v Turkey (Application no. 42571/98) 13 September 2005, para 28: ‘Those who choose to exercise
the freedom to manifest their religion, irrespective of whether they do so as members of a religious
majority or a minority, cannot reasonably expect to be exempt from all criticism. They must tolerate
and accept the denial by others of their religious beliefs and even the propagation by others of doctrines
hostile to their faith.’
33 İA v Turkey (Application no. 42571/98) 13 September 2005, para 24.
34 Gay News Ltd v United Kingdom (1983) 5 EHRR. 123.
35 The failure of the Article 10 claim was also fatal for the Article 9 claim since interference would be
justified under Article 9 (2) on the same grounds as under Article 10 (2). An argument on grounds of
Article 14 (discrimination in the enjoyment of a Convention right) was also dismissed since there was
no evidence that the applicants were discriminated against on account of their homosexual views or of
beliefs not shared by confessing Christians.
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8
judgments by the European Court of Human Rights in relation to other States
followed the same approach.36
Following the Gay News case, it seemed that the offence of blasphemy was
experiencing something of a revival. The public order disturbances following the
publication of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses37 led to a claim for judicial
review in the High Court.38 This was refused on the grounds that the common law
offence of blasphemy applied only to the Christian religion and there was no
justification for a court to extend this, not least since this was likely to do more harm
than good. A subsequent Strasbourg was declared inadmissible.39 The blasphemy
law was also enforced by the decision-making of public bodies: for example, the
36 See eg Otto-Preminger Institute v Austria (1995) 19 EHRR 34 in which the Court (but not the
Commission) held that the seizing of a satirical religious film, Council in Heaven, before it could be
shown did not breach the filmmaker’s Article 10 rights to freedom of expression since the interference
was prescribed by law, had a legitimate aim in protecting the Convention rights of others and was
necessary in a democratic society given the pressing social need to ensure religious peace in that region
and was proportionate in that authorities did not overstep their margin of appreciation.
37 The fictional novel tells the story of two men: one of whom is divided between his attraction to life
in the East and his attraction to life in the West; the other is divided between his desire to believe in
God and his inability to believe in God. The first man survives by returning to the East; the second is
unable to return to his religious beliefs and finally kills himself. The novel includes disparaging
references to God, Abraham, Muhammad and the teachings of Islam.
38 R v Chief Stipendiary Magistrate ex parte Choudhury [1991] 1 QB 429.
39 Choudhury v United Kingdom (1991) 12 HRLJ 172. The Applicant applied to European
Commission of Human Rights on grounds of violation of Articles 9 and 14. The Commission
dismissed the claim on the grounds that ‘no State authority or any body under which the United
Kingdom Government may be responsible under the Convention, directly interfered in the applicant’s
freedom to manifest his religion or belief’.
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9
British Board of Film Classification has refused to grant films a certificate on the
ground that their content was blasphemous. Again, this was upheld by Strasbourg:40
the refusal to issue a certificate for Wingrove’s Visions of Ecstasy41 was prescribed by
law, had a legitimate aim in protecting the rights of others, was necessary in a
democratic society given that the film made serious offensive attacks on matters
regarded sacred by Christians, and was proportionate given the ‘high threshold of
profanation embodied in the definition of the offence’ of blasphemy.42 In addition to
the use of the blasphemy laws by public authorities, the high profile of the Gay News
case meant that the offence was also invariably policed in offence by means of self-
censorship.
THE DEATH OF BLASPHEMY
The ‘high threshold of profanation’ elucidated by the European Court of Human
Rights in Wingrove v United Kingdom and the lack of a successful prosecution since
1979 could be interpreted as meaning that the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act
2008 was hasty in that the lack of court action was a sign of the success of the law not
of its weakness. An alternative interpretation, however, is that the Gay News case
was the exception to the rule that the offence was moribund; the fact that the ‘The
40 Wingrove v United Kingdom (1997) 24 EHRR.
41 The eighteen minutes long silent film was derived from the life and writings of St Teresa of Avila, a
sixteenth century nun who experienced ecstatic visions of Christ. The film showed scenes of a sexual
nature juxtaposed with images of Christ fastened to the Cross. The film ends with St Teresa kissing
and licking the body of Christ, and placing her hand in his which he then holds.
42 Compare the decision of the Commission who held that the interference was not necessary in a
democratic society. The total ban was disproportionate. Since the film was a video rather than
cinematic release, it was unlikely to be displayed to general public. Its short length meant conscious
decision to view was required so no there was pressing social need.
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Love That Dares to Speak its Name’ had been broadcast on BBC television43 and
recited publicly without prosecution44 means that the offence of blasphemy was dead
long before the formal recognition of its demise by the Criminal Justice and
Immigration Act 2008.
A cursory examination supports this latter view. Since 1979, numerous commentators
and politicians called for the offence to be abolished.45 For example, in 1981, the Law
Commission proposed abolition,46 while in 2001, the then Home Secretary David
Blunkett told the House of Commons that the Government’s position was that ‘There
is a good case for revising and, indeed, removing existing blasphemy law’.47
However, a more detailed analysis of the events of the last ten years suggests a more
nuanced conclusion. Five developments need to be examined in turn: the 1999
decision of the Supreme Court of Ireland that a prosecution crime of blasphemy could
not succeed in Ireland,48 the work and findings of the House of Lords Select
Committee on Religious Offences in England and Wales in 2003, the enactment of the
43 During the course of the BBC 2 television programme Taboo (broadcast 12.12.01), the text and
cartoon drawing published in Gay News was shown on the screen while Joan Bakewell read out a
section of the poem. The response from the BBC’s Head of Programme Complaints Unit was that this
‘was responsible and appropriate to the subject matter and the inclusion of part of the poem was
justified. [The] change in public attitudes over time has extended the degree of tolerance’.
44 In 2002, a group from the National Secular Society arranged a public recitation of ‘The Love That
Dares to Speak its Name’ to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the prosecution. Advanced
notice was provided in the press. Again, there was no police action.
45 N. Addison, Religious Discrimination and Hatred Law (London: Routledge, 2007) 124.
46 Law Commission.(1981). Offences against Religion and Public Worship (Working Paper No. 79).
47 David Blunkett, HC Deb Column 707 26 Nov 2001.
48 Corway v Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd [1999] 4 IR 484.
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Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 , a 2007 High Court decision concerning Jerry
Springer: the Opera,49 and, finally, the parliamentary history of section 79(1) of the
Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. These developments are critical to an
understanding of the reasons for the abolition of the blasphemy offences in 2008.
The abolition of blasphemy in Ireland
In Corway v Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd, proceedings were brought in
relation to a cartoon published in the Sunday Independent which it was claimed
treated the sacrament of the Eucharist and its administration as objects of scorn and
derision. The allegation of blasphemy required the court to examine the evolution of
the crime of blasphemy in England and then its evolution in Ireland. Although the
Irish Constitution states that ‘The publication or utterance of blasphemous... matter is
an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law’,50 blasphemy is
undefined by the Constitution and Irish law. The Supreme Court concluded that that a
prosecution crime of blasphemy could not succeed in Ireland for three related reasons.
The first reason was the wording of the Irish Constitution:51 it was debatable if the
‘secular’ Constitution carried over the English law on blasphemy and even if it did, it
was questionable whether that law was compatible with Article 44.1 which places the
duty on the State to respect and honour religion as such meaning that the State’s ‘only
49 Green v The City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court [2007] EWHC (Admin) 2785.
50 Article 40.6(1)(i).
51 On which, generally see P Colton, ‘Religion and Law in Dialogue: Covenantal and Non-Covenantal
Cooperation of State and Religions in Ireland’ in R. Puza and N. Doe (eds), Religion and Law in
Dialogue: Covenantal and Non-Covenantal Cooperation between State and Religion in Europe
(Leuven: Peeters, 2006).
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12
function is to protect public order and morality’.52 The second reason was the
disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871. The Supreme Court reasoned that
since the English law of blasphemy only protected the Church of England as the
‘established Church’ it is was difficult to see how the common law crime of
blasphemy, could survive in such a different constitutional framework.53 The third
reason was legal uncertainty: the Court held that in the absence of any legislative
definition of the constitutional offence of blasphemy, it was ‘impossible to say of
what the offence of blasphemy consists’ since neither the actus reus nor the mens rea
is clear.
These objections, however, are questionable. The first reason seems to be
undermined by the Constitutional reference to blasphemy and seems contrary to the
Strasbourg case law: there is no legal basis to say that a religious protection
constitutional clause means that there can be no offence of blasphemy. The second
reason seems incorrect in law: even if it is assumed that the offence protects the
Church of England only as opposed to Christianity generally, Williams establishes
that the offence of blasphemy protects other Christian denominations to the extent that
their beliefs overlap with the established Church. It follows that the disestablishment
of the Church of Ireland is as irrelevant as the disestablishment of the Church in
Wales. 54 The third reason is contrary to the Strasbourg case law which has
consistently held that the English prohibition against blasphemy is ‘prescribed by law’
52 Corway v Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd [1999] 4 IR 484 [31], [34].
53 Ibid [35].
54 The Welsh position is buttressed further by the fact that England and Wales share the same criminal
law jurisdiction. For a contrary view, see N. Addison, n45 above, 123.
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and is not in breach of the legal certainty requirements of Article 7 ECHR. Although
the Irish Supreme Court declined to follow the Gay News case, 55 there was nothing
preventing the Irish Court from reviewing the same centuries-old authorities as the
House of Lords to reach the identical conclusion that the mens rea of the offence was
certain. However, despite its flaws, the importance of the Irish Supreme Court’s
decision on the mainland should not be under-emphasized. In particular, Corway cast
a long shadow upon the deliberations of the House of Lords Select Committee on
Religious Offences in England and Wales in 2003.
Select Committee on Religious Offences
Established ‘to consider and report on the law relating to religious offences’, the
House of Lords Select Committee on Religious Offences in England and Wales
identified two main strands of their inquiry: whether existing religious offences
(notably blasphemy) should be amended or abolished and whether a new offence of
incitement to religious hatred should be created and, if so, how.56 Although the
Report was light in terms of definite conclusions, it did note that there was a gap in
the law and seemed reluctant to see blasphemy filling that gap. The Report concluded
that the future of the common law offence of blasphemy ‘may not depend upon
legislation but upon the contemporary climate, both social and legal, which could lead
to a decision to take no action at all’.57 The Report also expressed the view that the
offence of blasphemy was a dead-letter, contending that ‘any prosecution for
55 n 52 above [31].
56 House of Lords Select Committee , n 6 above, chapter 1, para 1.
57 Ibid, para 139.
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blasphemy today … is likely to fail on grounds either of discrimination or denial of
the right to freedom of expression’.58
The Report made three distinct contentions in this respect. First, the report contended
that the Wingrove decision that blasphemy was in the UK’s ‘margin of appreciation’
does not mean that it will continue to be Convention compatible: ‘the Court’s decision
in Wingrove that there was not ‘as yet…sufficient common accord’ to mean that the
English law of blasphemy was in breach of the European Convention does not mean
that it will not rule otherwise in the future’.59 Second, the common law is uncertain in
relation to whether the offence applies to the Church of England or Christianity. This
means that the law is not compatible with Article 7 ECHR.60 The third contention
was that the discrimination against non-Christian faiths and the dis-proportionality of
the unlimited penalty may cause problems. The Report pointed out that these factors
had not been in point in any of the Strasbourg cases so far and domestic courts have to
give a definite ruling, unlike Strasbourg which can lean on its ‘margin of
appreciation’.61
58 Ibid, Appendix, para 9.
59 Ibid, Appendix 3, para 12.
60 In Wingrove, ‘counsel for both sides presented a united front that Lord Scarman’s speech in the Gay
News case had defined the actus reus of blasphemy in common law’. This was questionable especially
since in Wingrove the British Board of Film Classification adopted a definition of blasphemy but
omitting any reference to the Church of England: In Wingrove, ‘counsel for both sides presented a
united front that Lord Scarman’s speech in the Gay News case had defined the actus reus of blasphemy
in common law’. This was questionable especially since in Wingrove the British Board of Film
Classification adopted a definition of blasphemy but omitting any reference to the Church of England
61 House of Lords Select Committee , n 6 above, appendix 3, para 15.
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This reasoning is similar to but more nuanced than that in Corway. The first
contention boarders on the farcical since if taken to its logical conclusion it would call
into question every pronouncement by Strasbourg. Although it is true that the ECHR
is a living instrument and that its interpretation will change over time, it seems
disingenuous to speculate in the light of a clear judicial statement that Strasbourg
would perform a volte-face in the short-term. The second contention is also
questionable on practical grounds: ‘To date the English courts have taken a very
narrow view of the protection afforded by Article 7 and have failed to accept that
common law crimes such as manslaughter by gross negligence and public nuisance
are incompatible with Article 7 on the grounds of their vagueness’.62 The third reason
seems contrary to Strasbourg case law, particularly Choudhury v United Kingdom63:
the Article 14 prohibition on discrimination is not a free-standing right;64 there must
be breach of another Convention Article. The decision in Choudhury v United
Kingdom, coupled with the current unwillingness of English courts to accept
62 D. Ormerod, Smith & Hogan Criminal Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 11th ed, 2005) 20.
63 (1991) 12 HRLJ 172.
64 Article 1 of Protocol 12 extends this to ‘any right set forth by law’ but this has not been ratified in
the UK. See R. Ahdar and I. Leigh, Religious Freedom in the Liberal State (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2005) 109.
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interference with Article 9,65 suggests that it is unlikely that an English court would
declare the blasphemy laws incompatible with the Convention.66
Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006
The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 amended the Public Order Act 1986 to
create Part 3A entitled ‘Hatred against persons on religious grounds’.67 The Act, in
the words of section 1, ‘creates offences involving stirring up hatred against persons
on religious grounds’. It creates numerous criminal offences protecting groups of
believers from being threatened in a way that is defined by reference to religious
belief or lack of religious belief.68 However, contrary to Government’s original
intentions, a prosecution can only be brought if the defendant intended to stir up
65 On which see M. Hill and R. Sandberg, ‘Is Nothing Sacred? Clashing Symbols in a Secular World’
[2007] PL 488 and R. Sandberg, ‘Controversial Recent Claims to Religious Liberty’ (2008) 124 LQR
213.
66 There is also some evidence of an emergence of a domestic margin of appreciation, on which R (on
the application of ProLife Alliance) v British Broadcasting Corporation [2002] EWCA Civ 297, at
paras 31-33 per Laws LJ, and [2003] UKHL 23, at para 132 per Lord Nicholls: as commented upon by
M. Hill, ‘Freedom of Expression: Defining the Limits for Broadcasters’ (2004) 7 Ecclesiastical Law
Journal 466; and R (on the application of Begum) v Headteacher and Governors of Denbigh High
School [2006] UKHL 16 at para 36, per Lord Bingham: and para 64 per Lord Hoffmann: as
commented upon by M. Hill and R. Sandberg, ‘Muslim Dress in English Law: Lifting the Veil on
Human Rights’ (2006) 1 Religión y Derecho (Law and Religion) 302.
67 For an account of the Act’s extraordinary legislative history, see N. Addison, n 45 above, 139-141.
68 For a full account, see I. Hare, ‘Crosses, Crescents and Sacred Cows: Criminalising Incitement to
Religious Hatred’ [2006] PL 521; and K. Goodall, ‘Incitement to Religious Hatred: All Talk and No
Substance’ (2007) 70(1) MLR 89.
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religious hatred.69 This, coupled with a freedom of speech clause included in the
final Act,70 has decreased the likelihood of a successful prosecution under the Act.71
The focus of the new law differs from that of the law on blasphemy.72 Unlike the law
of blasphemy, which seeks to protect Christian religious beliefs as a source of public
morality and social cohesion, the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 simply seeks
to outlaw antisocial behaviour committed against people on grounds of religion. The
protection extends far beyond the sensibilities of the established church: indeed, the
protection is not focused on ‘religion’ as such but rather upon deviant acts that happen
to involve ‘religion’. Although some commentators have seen aspects of the Act as
possible replacements for the law on blasphemy,73 and this was the original stated
intent of the Government,74 at Report Stage,75 the House of Lords voted down an
amendment to abolish the law on blasphemy by 153 votes to 113.
69 The Government had wanted the offence to be charged either when the defendant had the intention to
stir up religious hatred or was being reckless as to whether religious hatred would be stirred up thereby.
The Government had also wanted to include ‘abusive or insulting’ words or behaviour in addition to
‘threatening’.
70 Section 29J .
71 See A. Jeremy ‘Practical Implications of the Enactment of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006’
(2007) 9 Ecclesiastical Law Journal 187.
72 See R. Sandberg, ‘Religion and Morality: A Socio-Legal Approach’ [2007] DISKUS (online).
73 See N. Addison, , n 45 above, 133.
74 See the comments of David Blunkett, n above 47.
75 8th November 2005. As Lord Avebury noted this was simply the latest in a long line of debates
concerning the future of the offence, including debates surrounding the Blasphemy (Abolition) Bill of
1995; in the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill of 2000; the Religious Offences Bill of 2002; in
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At Report Stage, Lord Averbury’s arguments supporting his amendment to abolish
blasphemy echoed those of the Irish Supreme Court and the Select Committee.
However, in addition to the well-rehearsed arguments concerning legal certainty,
discrimination against other faiths and incompatibility with Article 10 ECHR,76 two
further arguments were advanced. First, that the enactment of the Racial and
Religious Hatred Act without the abolition of blasphemy would lead to ‘confusion
between incitement to hatred of believers and hatred of beliefs themselves’ (since the
Act only forbade the former);77 and second, that the law on blasphemy should be
abolished because of the low level of mens rea required for a blasphemy prosecution
(simply an intention to publish).78 It was this first argument that other peers rejected:
rather than opposing the abolition of blasphemy, successive speakers questioned
whether it was the right time and the right Bill for such an amendment.79 Although
their lordships noted that there was ‘broad consensus outside the House for change’,80
the amendment fell largely because the Church of England Bishops had given ‘a red
the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill in 2004 and at Second Reading of the Racial and
Religious Hatred Bill itself: HL Hansard, Column 520 8 Nov 2005
76 Ibid, Columns 521-522.
77 Ibid, column 521.
78 Ibid, column 522.
79 See eg ‘If religious hatred is nothing to do with blasphemy, let the two be dealt with separately’: the
then Lord Bishop of Oxford, ibid column 52; ‘it would be totally wrong to move forward with the
clause as it stands at this stage when there will be no proper opportunity to consider the wider
implications’: Lord Crickhowell, ibid column 528. Baroness O’Cathain’s contribution (at ibid
Columns 532-533) is an exception to this overall picture.
80 Baroness Whitaker, ibid column 535.
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signal to [the] amendment but a green signal to the principle’;81 the conclusion was
simply ‘not in this Bill’.82 The question following the debate and the astonishing final
parliamentary stages of the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill was how long the
abolition of blasphemy was to stay in the political long grass.
Jerry Springer: the Court Case
Although the furore surrounding the television transmission of Jerry Springer: the
Opera in 2005 cast attention on the relationship between freedom of expression and
freedom of religion,83 it was the resulting litigation almost two years later that
focussed attention upon the existence and future of the blasphemy law. In Green v
The City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court84 a member of Christian Voice sought to
bring a private prosecution for blasphemous libel against the producer of Jerry
Springer: the Opera and the Director General of the BBC. When the District Judge
sitting in the Magistrates Court refused to issue a summons on the grounds that
prosecution was prevented by the Theatres Act 1968 and in any case there was no
81 Lord Hunt of Wirral, ibid column 539.
82 Baroness Scotland of Asthal, ibid Column 540.
83 The BBC received a record 55,000 complaints before transmission and 8,000 further complaints post
transmission. Many Commentators, including BBC News, attributed this high volume of complaints to
an orchestrated campaign by various Christian groups – such as Christian Voice and The Christian
Institute. Christian Voice published the home addresses of several BBC executives on their website
which led to one executive receiving death threats and having to leave their home for a while to protect
their live and that of their children. See T. G. Ash, ‘In Praise of Blasphemy’ The Guardian (13.01.05).
84 [2007] EWHC (Admin) 2785.
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prima facie case,85 Green applied for a judicial review, seeking a mandatory order
requiring the issue of the summons
The High Court refused the application. Hughes LJ, giving the judgment of the court,
noted that, although it very rarely invoked, the offence of blasphemous libel still
existed. The law could be accurately stated and was Convention compliant since
interference with freedom of expression is permitted under Article 10(2) and there
would not normally be an interference with that Article 9 rights since the right to hold
and practise a religion was generally unaffected by such insults. These findings
undermined much of the reasoning of the Irish Supreme Court, the House of Lords
select committee and the House of Lords debate on the Racial and Religious Act,
which assumed that the blasphemy laws would not be compatible with the ECHR.
However, the two grounds upon which the High Court refused the judicial review
provided a more cogent rationale for abolishing the offence. First, the High Court
held that the District Judge was right to refuse the summons on the basis that section
2(4) of the Theatres Act 1968 prevented prosecution. The Act states that
‘No person shall be proceeded against in respect of a performance of a play or
anything said or done in the course of such a performance … for an offence at
common law where it is of the essence of the offence that the performance or, as the
case may be what was said or done was obscene, indecent, offensive, disgusting or
injurious to morality’. The High Court held that this applied to the offence of
blasphemy, which was a common law offence, the essence of which was such
85 She added that, given the long delay and the circumstances in which the offence had been invoked,
the application bordered on the vexatious but that this was not a reason for her decision.
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offensiveness as to endanger a threat to society in general. Although the Theatres
Act 1968 did not apply to the broadcast by the BBC, the Broadcasting Act 1990,86
contained provisions identical to those in the Theatres Act applicable to broadcasts.
Second, the High Court found that the District Judge has not erred in her finding that
there was no prima facie case to answer. Rejecting the claim that previous
unsuccessful challenges in respect of Jerry Springer: the Opera had led the judge to
fetter her discretion, 87 the High Court held that the District Judge had been entitled
to conclude that the play as a whole was not and could not reasonably be regarded as
aimed at Christianity or at what Christians held sacred. It was apparent from the
claimant’s own description of the work (and confirmed by the Court’s own brief
viewing of a recording) that the target of Jerry Springer: the Opera was ‘the tasteless
“confessional” chat show, rather than the Christian religion’88. Moreover, there was
no evidence before the District Judge justifying a finding of prima facie damage to
society or of the risk of civil strife. Since the facts were not in dispute, her conclusion
was within the range of decisions properly open to her.
86 Schedule 15 paragraph 6.
87 The claimant had contended that the she had fettered her discretion by treating the issue before her as
being concluded by two previous findings of other bodies in relation to the play: in R (the Christian
Institute) v BBC c/1378/2005, Crane J had dismissed a judicial review into the decision to broadcast the
production on the basis that submissions contending a breach of the Corporation’s Charter and Article
9 ECHR did not constitute an arguable case and the BBC Governors had also rejected a complaint. The
Court dismissed this claim, since it was apparent that the District Judge did not regard the issue before
her as a decision for anyone but herself. There was no sign that she had placed too much weight upon
these decisions but in any event, weight was a matter for the primary decision-maker, not for the High
Court.
88 Ibid [8].
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The High Court thus undermined many of the human-rights based reasons given for
the need to abolish blasphemy. However, in their place, it added two new dimensions
to the debate. The significant curtailing of the blasphemy law by the Theatres Act
1968 coupled with the recognition of the high threshold that needed to be proved,
including evidence of societal damage moved the debate on. It is quite extraordinary
that the impact of the Theatres Act 1968 was previously ignored in the debate
concerning whether the blasphemy offences should be abolished: it is not mentioned,
for example, in the report by the House of Lords Select Committee. This, in itself,
however, did not mean that abolition was inevitable since the demanding
requirements of the actus reus of the offence had long been recognised. 89 Perhaps,
more important, was the High Court’s insistence that the offence of blasphemy was
alive and could still be elucidated. Although Green v The City of Westminster
Magistrates’ Court revealed that the potential for a blasphemy prosecution was
small, it also served as a reminder that the offence lay dormant rather than dead and
could in special circumstances be revived in much the same way as it was in the Gay
News case. Although the House of Lords refused to hear the case judicially, it was
not to be long before Parliament dealt with the offence of blasphemy yet again.
Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
On 9 January 2008 on the floor of the House of Commons, Dr Evan Harris moved a
new clause to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill to abolish what he called ‘the
ancient discriminatory, unnecessary, illiberal and non-human rights compliant
89 Wingrove v United Kingdom (1997) 24 EHRR.
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offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel’.90 In addition to the usual criticisms
concerning legal uncertainty, discrimination and alleged incompatibility with the
ECHR,91 which Dr Harris elucidated without reference to Green v The City of
Westminster Magistrates’ Court,92 a number of further arguments were advanced. Dr
Harris claimed that the blasphemy law was unnecessary: there were ‘enough laws
dealing with outraging public decency and public order offences are already on the
statute book to ensure that the removal of these two offences will not lead to
widespread outrageous behaviour in public’. 93 Moreover, and particularly tellingly
given the recent comments of the High Court, Dr Harris contended that abolition was
required because although the law had not been used for a long time, it had ‘a chilling
effect’, leading to self-censorship.94 Referencing the objections to abolishing
blasphemy at the time of debating the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, Dr Harris
argued that there was no longer ‘an excuse for prevarication’ since ‘religious hatred
was dealt with two years ago’.95
90 HC Hansard, Column 442 9 Jan 2008
91 Ibid, Column 443.
92 Reference to the case was made, however, by Nick Herbert, who commented that ‘it is hard to
understand how any prosecution under the blasphemy laws could succeed when that action did not’:
Ibid, Column 451.
93 Ibid, Column 443.
94 Ibid, Column 445. He further commented that abolition was required because of the offence’s
‘impact on our ability to conduct our affairs in terms of international human rights and international
relations, and to criticise other countries’ uses of their blasphemy laws’: Ibid, Column 448.
95 Ibid, Column 447.
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However, Dr Harris was persuaded of the virtues of prevarication, withdrawing his
new clause in response to an undertaking by the Government to bring forward its own
new clause to the like effect in the Lords, subject to a satisfactory outcome to
consultations with the Church of England.96 The Government relied heavily on Green
v The City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court to reach its conclusion that it was ‘high
time that Parliament reached a settled conclusion on the issue’:97 they contended that
the decision in Green concerning the Theatres Act reinforced the idea that the
offences appear to be moribund. 98 On 5th March 2008, an amendment abolishing
blasphemy was moved by the Government in the House of Lords.99 The
Government’s reasons for the amendment were said to be two-fold: first, since the law
‘has fallen into disuse’, this ‘runs the risk of bringing the law as a whole into
disrepute’; second, there is now ‘new legislation to protect individuals on the grounds
of religion and belief’.100 This first reason seems questionable: whilst it is true that
there had been no prosecutions since 1979; the Green decision surely showed that the
law was being used.101 The Government was on far steadier ground in relation to its
second reason:102 although Green showed that blasphemy still existed, it showed that
96 Ibid, Column 453-454. This reflects the understanding that the blasphemy laws were commonly
understood to apply only to the established Church,
97 Ibid, Column 453.
98 Ibid, Column 453.
99 H L Hansard, Column 1118, 5 Mar 2008.
100 Ibid, Column 1118.
101 The wider argument that this undermines the rest of the law seems overstated. The second reason is
also slightly inaccurate since the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 concerns ‘religious belief’
rather than ‘religion or belief’, the term used in Article 9 ECHR.
102 The Government further noted, at column 1120, that ‘the offences of blasphemy and blasphemous
libel do not protect the individual or groups of people from harm, the new offences of incitement to
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the offences had been severely curtailed. The amendment was passed by 148 votes to
87 by the House of Lords and then by 378 votes to 57 in the House of Commons.
CONCLUSIONS: THE AFTER LIFE OF BLASPHEMY
The move against the laws on blasphemy was characterised by evolution not
revolution. Although the well-rehearsed arguments based on the Human Rights Act
were specious, as the High Court judgment in Green v The City of Westminster
Magistrates’ Court confirmed, they nevertheless built up the momentum began by the
Law Commission’s early call for the abolishment of the offence. The High Court
judgment in Green was especially important in noting despite the amputation of the
offence by the Theatres Act and the significant thresholds that needed to be overcome
prior to prosecution, the offence of blasphemy still existed. Although the offence was
largely symbolic, it was not completely symbolic.
This realisation suggests that the death knell of blasphemy was sounded not by the
Irish Supreme Court, the House of Lords Select Committee, the enactment of the
Racial and Religious Hatred Act or by the High Court in Green. Rather, the death
knell was sounded by Mary Whitehouse over thirty years ago. The Gay News case, in
showing that a prosecution for blasphemy could succeed, demonstrated that the
blasphemy laws had teeth; they were not merely historical symbols of the country’s
organic constitution and religious heritage. The High Court in Green, unlike the Irish
Supreme Court in Corway and the House of Lords Select Committee, accepted this
religious hatred and discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief—in the provision of goods,
services and employment—do.’
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and held in obiter that the law was ECHR compliant. Ironically, it was the very
finding that blasphemy was not dead that proved to be fatal.
It is not the case that section 79(1) of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
has resulted in legal clarity. The abolition of blasphemy leaves untouched other areas
of the criminal law affecting religious beliefs and believers. Some of the same
criticism made of the blasphemy laws can now be made in respect of the Racial and
Religious Hatred Act 2006: the neutering of the Act by the House of Lords, regardless
of the merits of such actions, has resulted in a law of largely symbolic importance.
Furthermore, the growth in pubic order offences has led to the creation of a plethora
of other criminal offences affecting religion. In addition to numerous cases
concerning religion relying on the general provisions of the Public Order Act 1986, 103
prosecutions have been made under the common law offence of breach of the peace104
and under the Protection from the Harassment Act 1997,105 in addition to the use of
Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOS).106 Since 2001, the criminal law has
recognised that the sentence for specific crimes may be increased if that crime is
103 See, e g Horseferry Road Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate ex parte Siadatan [1991] 1 QB 260;
Percy v DPP [2001] EWHC Admin 1125; Norwood v DDP [2003] EWHC Admin 1564; Hammond v
DDP [2004] EWHC Admin 69; Dehal v CPS [2005] EWHC Admin 2154.
104 See, e g Wise v Dunning [1902] 1 KB 167.
105 See, e g Christ of Latter Day Saints v Price [2004] EWHC Admin 325; Singh v Bhaker [2006] Fam
Law 1026.
106 See N. Addison, n 45 above, 137-138.
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racially or religiously aggravated.107 This applies to the law on assault, criminal
damage, public order offences and offences under the Protection from Harassment
Act 1997. 108 Moreover a number of statutory provisions, enacted in the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries,109 which protected religious worship and fettered
freedom of expression, remain operative.110 The criminal law continues to affect
religion even after the abolition of blasphemy: facts that previously may have resulted
in a blasphemy prosecution may now be pursued under a range of different pieces of
legislation.111
107 The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 created a new category of ‘racially aggravated criminal offences’.
Under section 39 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (post 9-11), this category
becomes ‘racially or religiously aggravated criminal offences’.
108 Sections 20 and 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861; Section 1(1) of the Criminal
Damage Act 1971; Sections 4-5 of the Public Order Act 1986; Protection From Harassment Act 1997,
sections 29-32 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as amended by section 39 of the Anti-Terrorism,
Crime and Security Act 2001).
109 Such as the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860, section 36 of the Offences against the
Persons Act 1861 and section 7 of the Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880.
110 Although the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 does remove the references to
blasphemous libel in the Criminal Libel Act 1819, and for eliminating blasphemy in the Law of Libel
Amendment Act 1888. As Lord Avebury noted in the debate on the Criminal Justice and Immigration
Bill, ‘The Government have unfortunately neglected the opportunity to repeal the other ancient
statutory religious offences, which were covered by the Select Committee’s report in 2003’: n 99
above.
111 For the specific argument that the offence now found in section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986
‘could in many respects serve as a replacement’ for the blasphemy laws, see N. Addison, n 45 above,
133.
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Moreover, as the furore concerning the Satanic Verses and more recently the
Mohammed Cartoons in Jyllands Posten makes only too clear, moral panics
concerning the clash of freedom of expression and freedom of religion will occur
even when there is no chance of a successful prosecution. The lack of legal redress
may serve to restrict rather than reinforce free speech. Policing blasphemy by public
pressure is inherently problematic, since the most active pressure groups may not be
representative of society as a whole. Fear of ‘obdurate believers’ may lead to greater
self-censorship than ever before.112 The democratic basis that underpins the law is
absent in relation to rule by pressure group. The body of the blasphemy laws may be
dead but its spirit lives on. Section 79(1) of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act
2008 is just one of a number of legislative changes in the last decade to the way in
which religion is regulated under English law. Only time will tell how whether these
changes are successful. It remains to be seen whether this new law on religion,
which has replaced a stance of passive tolerance with detailed prescriptive regulation
guided by active promotion of religious liberty as a right, is a step in the correct
direction.113
112 For a discussion of obdurate believers see A. Bradney, ‘Faced by Faith’ in P. Oliver et al (ed) Faith
in Law (Oxford: Hart, 2000) 89.
113 For further reflection see N. Doe and R. Sandberg (ed) Law and Religion: New Horizons (Leuven:
Peeters, forthcoming).
