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Articles

Blasphemy and the Rushdie Affair

Brendan Larvor has some thoughts on the fifth anniversary of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie.

The Rushdie affair reminded us that there are laws against blasphemy in Britain. These laws are usually criticised on two grounds. First, they are unfair, because they only protect the established Church. What about the other denominations and indeed other faiths? Second, they offend libertarians because they restrict our freedom of speech. For a libertarian, almost any legal restriction on action or speech is immoral.

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