blasphemy laws
Anti-irreverence legislation
Blasphemy laws criminalize speech or acts deemed insulting to religious beliefs, deities, or sacred objects.
Such laws exist in dozens of countries, with penalties ranging from fines to death.
Critics argue they suppress free expression and target religious minorities; defenders see them as protecting communities from offense.
Pakistan's blasphemy laws carry a mandatory death sentence.
- sacrilegeViolation of the hallowed
- apostasyRenunciation of former beliefs
- heresyBelief opposing official doctrine
- moral outrageAnger at wrongdoing
- theocracyRule by religious authority
state religion · censorship · criminal law · human rights law · sharia · canon law · constitutional law · freedom of speech · free thought · religious freedom · Charlie Hebdo · fundamentalism · international law · Salman Rushdie · religious tolerance · minority rights · judicial review · political activism
- PakistanIslamabad, Karachi, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan
- Biblical lawsTen Commandments, dietary laws, sabbath laws, kosher laws, clean animals
- censorshipbanned books, censored, banned, book banning, book bans
- church-statechurch-state, separation, church-state separation, establishment clause, religious accommodation
- colonial faithPilgrims, Puritans, Calvinism, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony
- historical lawattainder, Justinian Code, Roman law, curtesy, Napoleonic Code
blasphemy lawsseparation of church and state
Constitutional religious neutrality principle
secularism · establishment clause · disestablishmentarianism · religious pluralism · anti-clericalism
lawful, lawless, blasphemy, blasphemous, blaspheme, blasphemer