A report for the UK Commission for Countering Extremism released this spring warns:
“Anti-blasphemy activism in the UK is gaining momentum and showing signs of becoming increasingly radicalised. Responses to perceived acts of blasphemy in the UK are more organised than ever.”
The report recommends:
“The government should consider adopting anti-blasphemy extremism as a specific category of extremism in the UK and using this term in official statements and documents.”
A question of political philosophy emerges in reaction to this report: What is the ethical difference between
- a government attempting to control speech about religion through anti-blasphemy laws
- a government attempting to control speech about religion through actions to restrain anti-blasphemy activists
What other activism might we find growing in the cracks of orthodoxy?