Thank God we don't suffer the rubbish that people in the UK do.

It is “Islamophobia month” there. Presumably that doesn't mean this month, ‘go for it’; rather, it is a very divisive and silly idea not extended to other religions.

One Labour politician has already asked if Starmer would consider criminalising the desecration “of all religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions”.

The introduction of blasphemy laws, in other words. Starmer hasn't said yes or no; but we are learning that the man is capable of doing all sorts of awful things.

The Pakistani who made the request is integrated enough to get into Parliament, but not enough to believe in the freedoms Parliament is supposed to uphold. And the only Abrahamic religion he cares about is Islam; but he could hardly say, publicly, just Islam.

The UK did have blasphemy laws until 2008. They were
abolished for England and Wales and in Scotland in 2021.

The Labour MP Tahir Ali who urged the government to
introduce legislation criminalising the desecration of
religious texts was given a response by PM Sir Keir
Starmer who told the Commons:

"Can I agree with him that desecration is awful and I
think should be condemned across the House".

"We are, as I said before, committed to tackling all forms
of hatred and division, including blamophobia in all of its
forms".

Although the PM did not rule it out, his answer was simple.
No religion would be given any preference in law. And, -

"Blasphemy Laws have no place in the UK".

Armchair Critic

Yes, it is precisely in the cases of the most serious crimes that the principle of the sanctity of the confessional is tested.

We do already allow some legal protections in this area – lawyers are not obliged to tell the police or courts if their client admits they really did commit murder or rape. I’m not Roman Catholic and will happily stand corrected, but my understanding is that, theologically, the seal of confession is somewhat analogous – the sinner confesses not to the priest but to God. The space to do this with complete and total honesty is necessary for genuine repentance, atonement and forgiveness, which are the characteristics of the divine justice.

As I understand it, priests can require people who confess to crimes under the seal of confession to admit them also to victims and authorities as a condition of forgiveness. They can also refuse to give absolution if they believe a person is not genuinely repentant, and refusing to submit to legal consequences would be clear evidence of that. So I guess cases where rape or murder are confessed to a priest but not to the police are pretty rare (except maybe deathbed confessions)

Of course freedom of religion is vital; and unless there is evidence that people in Australia (other countries are not our concern) have been denied their freedoms, the topic is BS.

UK PM Starmer has been described by British media as “weak and cowardly” for leaving the door open to blasphemy laws by hesitating to defend free speech on religion.

People, including children, are already punished for ‘desecrating’ the Koran in the UK. Last year a 14 year old boy was suspended from school for scuffing a copy of it. His mother had to front up at the local mosque to appeal for his safety.

As I said, any worries about religious freedom in Australia are BS when compared with other parts of the world.

There was another reminder a couple of days ago that religious freedoms are still safe in Australia after AG Mark Dreyus's attempt to remove the exemptions to the Sex Discrimination Act for faith-based schools back in 2022.

Even his own party didn't support him.