JJT
10-23-2004, 12:20 AM
Britain Says Blasphemy Laws Will Be Scrapped -- Eventually
POSTED: 1:32 pm EDT October 21, 2004
LONDON -- Britain plans eventually to drop 17th century laws on blasphemy and blasphemous libel, but the government said change isn't imminent.
A Home Office spokesman said, "At some point the blasphemy laws will be changed so that they basically become extinct. But that is not seen as a priority now."
The laws, which penalize anyone who challenges the truth of Christian doctrine or the Bible, were last used successfully in 1979, when activist Mary Whitehouse won a civil libel case against the Gay News over a professor's poem about a gay centurion's love for Christ at the Crucifixion.
The last successful criminal case occurred in 1922, when a court ruled it was blasphemous for a publication to describe Jesus entering Jerusalem "like a circus clown on the back of two donkeys."
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press (http://www.kirotv.com/news/2455821/detail.html). All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
POSTED: 1:32 pm EDT October 21, 2004
LONDON -- Britain plans eventually to drop 17th century laws on blasphemy and blasphemous libel, but the government said change isn't imminent.
A Home Office spokesman said, "At some point the blasphemy laws will be changed so that they basically become extinct. But that is not seen as a priority now."
The laws, which penalize anyone who challenges the truth of Christian doctrine or the Bible, were last used successfully in 1979, when activist Mary Whitehouse won a civil libel case against the Gay News over a professor's poem about a gay centurion's love for Christ at the Crucifixion.
The last successful criminal case occurred in 1922, when a court ruled it was blasphemous for a publication to describe Jesus entering Jerusalem "like a circus clown on the back of two donkeys."
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press (http://www.kirotv.com/news/2455821/detail.html). All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.