Just ran across an article that starts:
This intrigues me…
No, nevermind about the play - blasphemy is a crime? At least in Scotland, though the byline might imply that it’s all of GB.
How serious of a crime is it?
Here’s an analysis of the Blasphemy Act.
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld200203/ldselect/ldrelof/95/9515.htm
There’s some question as to whether or not a prosecution could still be brought under the Act. The last prosecution for a blasphemy related offense was in 1976 (Whitehouse v. Lemon).
I don’t know how you could charge people with that crime. Wouldn’t everybody who isn’t in the CoE be guilty?
Giles
December 10, 2004, 3:59pm
4
No – heresy is not the same as blasphemy.
From the Government Report linked to above
So the play should be allright if Christ talks seriously about his homosexuality, but they’ll be in trouble once he starts singing show tunes.
Judging from the performance of Jerry Springer the Opera I saw a couple weeks ago, it may be safe to say the offense is now defunct.
Cerowyn
December 10, 2004, 6:31pm
7
As the Committee’s deliberations from the Captain ’s link indicate, the passage of the Human Rights Act calls into question the enforcability of Blasphemy Act:
Although no blasphemy case has been prosecuted in England and Wales since the passage of the Human Rights Act, and what follows is therefore necessarily speculative, it is our view that any prosecution for blasphemy today—even one which met all the criteria described in paragraphs 5-7 above—is likely to fail on grounds either of discrimination or denial of the right to freedom of expression.
But there’s this new law being debated which could be much more severe:
http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=100602®ion=3
The UK parliament is currently in the second reading of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, a law designed to stamp out the incitement of religious hatred and to protect faith groups, some say particularly Muslims, from attack…
The meeting heard the new offence could carry a sentence of up to seven years in jail.
A Home Office spokeswoman defended the Bill, insisting it would not interfere with the right to free speech, saying "There is a clear difference between criticism of a religion and the act of inciting hatred against members of a religious group.
“The incitement offensive has a high criminal threshold and prosecution requires the consent of the Attorney-General,” she says.
Why am I not convinced?
Celyn
December 11, 2004, 3:09am
9
I should think this lot of protestors mainly want publicity (the theatre group likewise, I suppose)
…
In 1922 he was sentenced to nine months’ hard labour for comparing Jesus with a circus clown. In Scotland, there has not been a public prosecution since 1843.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4085023.stm