God save the heretic – Sunday Times – Times Online

God save the heretic – Sunday Times – Times Online
is about a proposed British law to make it illegal to be “insulting or abusive” about any religion. The author considers this a bad idea, but whether or not he is right depends on what is meant by “insulting or abusive”. It is neither insulting nor abusive to politely point out the manifest inconsistencies within a “sacred” text or between professed beliefs and mandated behaviours, then the reasonable person has nothing to fear. The major religious texts, however, all include passages which are unquestionably insulting and abusive of their peers and so, under the proposed law, they will all have to be expurgated or banned. To which I say “So much the better for all of us!” and “Thank you” to Tony Blair.