Britain repeals act criminalizing blasphemy against Christianity

Published: 2008-03-06

LONDON (CNS) -- The criminal offense of blasphemy against Christianity has been abolished in England and Wales. The House of Lords voted to support a government amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill to scrap the act, which dates back more than 300 years. Baroness Andrews, communities minister, told Britain's House of Lords, where the bill is in its final stages, that the 1697 Blasphemy Act was anachronistic and had "fallen into disuse." She said legal protections guaranteed to religious believers by the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 meant that the law could be "safely repealed." "As long as this law remains on the statute book, it hinders the U.K.'s ability to challenge oppressive blasphemy laws in other jurisdictions, including those used to persecute vulnerable Christian minorities," she said during the March 5 debate. "It is not an attack on the sacred in our society."

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