Blasphemy and freedom of speech

Whoops, almost a month since my last post! I am still here, just been busy with research.

Today's edition of BBC Radio 4's "The Long View" discussed blasphemy and freedom of speech. I only caught part of it and wasn't concentrating all that well, but it sounded interesting. I will be listening again here when I get some time. After the "Jerry Springer - The Opera" debacle, and the violent protests from the Sikh community about a play in Birmingham, it's worth knowing that the problem is not new, and useful to think about how this issue has been discussed in the past.

I must say that I thought that less than helpful comments were made by all sides. The Evangelical Alliance spokesperson Don Horrocksseemed to imply at one point that Christians (especially in the West) are better than Sikhs or Muslims at detecting when apparently blasphemous art is in fact intended to be satirical - a rather dubious assumption, to say the least. On the other hand, the historian Justin Champion said "...it's built into the nature of religion to believe that your faith is right, and by default all others are wrong" - which I think is simply not true. What if you think of faith in terms of narrative: "My faith tells the story of God, the world, and my life in a way that makes the most sense to me, a way that resonates deeper than "right or wrong", a way that shapes who I am and how I behave. I'm not so sure about other stories, but I'm certainly not willing to make "right or wrong" judgments about them".

Despite my doubts, however, I think "The long view" is probably second only to "In our time" as my favourite BBC Radio 4 show. I've wondered if presenting one of these shows would be my ideal job...