"When u attack Black people, they call it RACISM.
When u attack Jewish people,they call it ANTISEMITISM.
When u attack women, they call it SEXISM.
When u attack homosexuality,they call it INTOLERANCE.
When u attack a Country, they call it TREASON.
When u attack a religious sect, they call...it HATE.
But when...they...attack the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), they call it FREEDOM OF SPEECH? "
How can citizens of European nations which maintain blasphemy laws — and there are more than a few — cry foul when Muslims are offended by a cartoon, when they themselves press charges and demand imprisonment over something as simple as a pop star making negative statements about their religion and an artist in Russia? There may be a difference in the degree of punishment, but isn’t the intent the same, to silence those who don’t agree?
1) Polish pop star faces two years' prison for blasphemy
http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2010/05/08/polish-pop-star-faces-two-years-prison-for-blasphemy/
2)Russian art exhibitors convicted of blasphemy
http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2010/07/12/russian-art-exhibitors-convicted-of-blasphemy/
It is a fact that they indulge in hypocrisy and maintain dual standards. Blasphemy laws are maintained in more then a few in European country's inclusive of UK and USA...In, Christianity it carry's the same punishment as in Islam...Death!
Blasphemy laws - nowadays often altered to include blasphemy regardless of religion - exist in several countries, such as in:
Austria (Articles 188, 189 of the penal code)
Finland (Section 10 of chapter 17 of the penal code)
Unsuccessful attempts were made to rescind the law in 1914, 1917, 1965, 1970 and 1998.
Germany (Article 166 of the penal code)
Islamic Republic of Iran
Ireland
The Netherlands (Article 147 of the penal code)
New Zealand (Section 123 of the Crimes Act 1961)
Spain (Article 525 of the penal code)
Switzerland (Article 261 of the penal code)
The United Kingdom
Denmark (Paragraph 140 of the penal code).
Was up to revision in 2004, but failed to gain majority.
Has been discussed since, and especially after the Mohammed cartoons crisis.
The United States
In the United States, the First Amendment guarantees a relatively unlimited right of free speech, although some US states still have blasphemy laws on the books. Chapter 272 of the Massachusetts General Laws states, for example:
Section 36. Whoever willfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumaciously reproaching God, His creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumaciously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumaciously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior.
The history of Maryland's blasphemy statutes suggests that even into the 1930s, the First Amendment was not recognized as preventing states from passing such laws. An 1879 codification of Maryland statutes prohibited blasphemy:
Art. 72, sec. 189. If any person, by writing or speaking, shall blaspheme or curse God, or shall write or utter any profane words of and concerning our Savior, Jesus Christ, or of and concerning the Trinity, or any of the persons thereof, he shall, on conviction, be fined not more than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both fined and imprisoned as aforesaid, at the discretion of the court.
According to the marginalia, this statute was adopted in 1819, and a similar law dates back to 1723. In 1904, the statute was still on the books at Art. 27, sec. 20, unaltered in text.[1]. As late as 1939, this statute was still the law of Maryland.[2] It is unclear from the statutes and notes when Maryland's blasphemy statute was last prosecuted.
However, the US Supreme Court in Joseph Burstyn, Inc v Wilson 1952 held that the New York State blasphemy law was an unconstitutional prior restraint on freedom of speech. The court stated that "It is not the business of government in our nation to suppress real or imagined attacks upon a particular religious doctrine, whether they appear in publications, speeches or motion pictures."
The last person to be jailed in the United States for blasphemy was Abner Kneeland in 1838, as decided by the Massachusetts case Commonwealth v. Kneeland.
United Kingdom
Blasphemy laws in England have never been repealed. The last person in Britain to be sent to prison for blasphemy was John William Gott on 9 December 1921. He had three previous convictions for blasphemy when he was prosecuted... for publishing two pamphlets which satirised the biblical story of Jesus entering Jerusalem (Matthew 21:2-7), comparing Jesus to a circus clown. He was sentenced to nine months' hard labour.
In 1977, Denis Lemon, the editor of Gay News was found guilty of blasphemous libel for publishing James Kirkup's poem The Love that Dares to Speak its Name which allegedly vilified Christ and his life (Whitehouse v. Lemon). Lemon was fined £500 and sentenced to a suspended sentence of nine months imprisonment. It had been "touch and go", said the judge, whether he would actually send Lemon to jail.
In 2002, a deliberate and well-publicised public, repeat reading of the poem The Love that Dares to Speak its Name took place on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square and failed to lead to any prosecution.
Blasphemy in Christianity
Leviticus 24:16 states that those who speak blasphemy "shall surely be put to death".
Christian theology may condemn blasphemy, as in the Luke 12:10, where blaspheming the Holy Spirit is spoken of as unforgivable.
...However, in the simpler message of the time of Jesus, when Christian ideas relied upon the influence of natural authority against the then secular religious power of the Second Jewish Temple period, (positions exchanged in the centuries that followed), this admonishment may be interpreted as warning against an actual reaction from the Holy Spirit in the form of a curse that can irreparably harm a person (and thus be unforgivable but not by dictate). This statement in effect establishes the importance of this aspect of the Godhead, rather than setting an arbitrary law.
A careful reading of Mark (from the American Standard) shows this: Mark 3:29 "But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin." The more metaphysical aspects of early Christianity being now occluded by the dogma of secular religious authority.
The last prosecution for blasphemy in Scotland was in 1843.
Blasphemy in Islam
Blasphemy in Islam constitutes speaking ill of Muhammad, of any other prophet mentioned in the Qur'an, or of any Biblical prophets. Speaking ill of God is also blasphemy. Blasphemy is considered a very serious offence and may be punishable by death if charges are proven. British author Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses was seen by many Muslims to contain blasphemies against Islam, and Iranian clerical leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989 calling for Rushdie's death. More recently, the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons were criticised in part on the basis that they were blasphemous against Muhammad. The Egyptian government under pressure by the parliament banned the film The Da Vinci Code and is to confiscate the novel for containing blasphemy.
http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/scottish_anatomy/blasphemy.html
The Quran is a holy heavenly scripture and since the day it was revealed upon Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)) though the angel Jibrael (Gabrial) 1400 years ago.Not a comma or full stop has been changed in its contents and neither can any true Muslim ever even think of making a change in it.It is in its true and original form and this is the beauty and purity of this holy book and the miracle affects of its wisdom texts teachings.
If you go and re-read the above notes content you will come to understand that the Blasphemy law in Islam not only protects the honor and respect of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH),but in all earnest and fairness Protects.Jesus and all Prophets!
Moral of the story: You cannot live in a glass house and throw stones at others !...
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