Comments on: BBC Asks “What Is The Right Punishment For Blasphemy?”

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 18:24:29 +0000

I wonder about the comment “The very fact that religion is so utterly resistant to dissent and debate speaks volumes about the veracity of its contents”. It seems a biased view and paints all religions with the same brush. Personally I classify myself as an agnostic in the sense of the proper definition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism). I chose to believe in a God and the message of Christianity. I’m quite happy discussing and considering other viewpoints. Also my experience of other Christians I associate with is that they certainly have more open-mindedness than the quote seems to imply.

By: Brien Doyle

Brien Doyle — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 04:44:57 +0000

Blasphemy is a coward’s/bully’s method of defending their lies because they have no proof but the sword, this sword of blasphemy.

By: Rich Sanderson

Rich Sanderson — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 23:11:54 +0000

In recent months, I’ve seen and heard quite a number of “experienced” skeptics/humanists/liberal activists stumble over concepts such as free speech, hate speech, racism, fascism, etc. Or, as I suspect, they have thrown away their knowledge in order to push their own agendas.

I am not at all surprised that members of the general public don’t understand the difference. The vast majority of the media don’t understand these concepts, either.

By: Rich Sanderson

Rich Sanderson — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 23:07:40 +0000

The tweet was poorly worded, for sure, but I was disappointed some of the callers were not challenged more. There was one guy on who was saying how gutted (I’m paraphrasing) he was that Salman Rushdie hadn’t been killed yet, and that he still supports the fatwa. It was almost as if he woke up in pain every morning, because Rushdie still breathed!

I’m sure if a white supremacist (a proper one, and not just somebody who Dan Arel or PZ Myers disagree with) phoned Nicky Campbell’s phone-in, with similar views, the presenter would make it clear their view was extreme.

By: Blabangida

Blabangida — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 22:30:29 +0000

Great piece, thanks.

The first few pages of replies in Twitter show that only one person took the question seriously. Barely literate @1Asi786 was also the only one invited on air.

Pretty good evidence they asked the question they intended to.

By: Ullrich Fischer

Ullrich Fischer — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 20:26:10 +0000

Islam blasphemes against Christianity every time anyone reads specific sections of the Qur’an out loud…. and vice-versa with the Bible. Ditto for pretty much every other possible pairing of religions. Blasphemy Laws are completely incompatible with any form of government other than theocracy.

By: RobJFH (@RobJFH)

RobJFH (@RobJFH) — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 15:35:01 +0000

Sent this to http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complain-online/

Today, a programme on BBC Radio hosted by Shazia Awan asked the question “What is the right punishment for blasphemy?”. This disgusting, irresponsible question was followed up by posts on Twitter and Facebook – https://twitter.com/bbcasiannetwork/status/842672388223483904.There is no “right” punishment for blasphemy – it is not a crime in this country, and in countries where it is it is used to persecute religious minorities and political activists. Given the case of Asad Shah who was murdered in Glasgow for “blaspheming” by another Muslim, any implication that criticising religion is blasphemous and requires punishment literally puts lives in danger. Can the BBC, the Asian Network and the host of this programme explain what it is doing aligning itself with such backward points of view, even by implication?

At best this is a clumsy, but still nevertheless dangerous, way of wording a question. At worst it endorses a fundamentalist religious point of view that any criticism of said religion should be punishable. This is not what I expect the BBC to be doing.

Please reassure me that such questions will not be posed again on any of your programmes, online or on radio. We live in a democracy. Religious and non-religious people have a right to believe what they want, mock what they want and criticise what they want without a BBC host asking about the “right” way to punish them for their opinion.

By: Pilky

Pilky — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 14:02:18 +0000

Excellent article, and couldn’t agree more.
Unfortunately we do have to worry about this creeping upon us here in the west, as was demonstrated by the British Olympian last summer.

I started training at a new job last month.
Part of the training was safeguarding and discussing different types of abuse.

The manager couldn’t grasp my argument that racial and religious abuse were two very different things, and neither could the other 17 people I was being trained with. Astonishing.

By: AbnormalWrench (@AbnormalWrench)

AbnormalWrench (@AbnormalWrench) — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 12:29:58 +0000

It is sad that the question is relevant, but I don’t think that makes the question invalid. I am just as curious what people in Pakistan think about punishment for blasphemy, as I am in what Americans think the punishment for not reciting the pledge of allegiance. IE, it is good to keep tabs on the level of insanity present in the general populations.