1. A Publication of Hillsdale College
Imprimis Over 2,100,000 Reader s Monthly
40 th Anniversary
Februar y 2012 • Volume 41, Number 2
Blasphemy and Free Speech
Paul Marshall
Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
Paul Marshall is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious
Freedom. He has published widely in newspapers and magazines,
including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington
Post, First Things, The New Republic, and The Weekly Standard. He is
the author or editor of more than 20 books on religion and politics,
including Their Blood Cries Out, Religious Freedom in the World, and
Blind Spot: When Journalists Don’t Get Religion. Most recently he is the
co-author, with Nina Shea, of Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy
Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide.
The following is adapted from a lecture delivered at Hillsdale College’s Allan P. Kirby, Jr.
Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C., on February 3, 2012.
A growing threat to our freedom of speech is the attempt to stifle religious
discussion in the name of preventing “defamation of” or “insults to” religion,
especially Islam. Resulting restrictions represent, in effect, a revival of blasphemy laws.
Few in the West were concerned with such laws 20 years ago. Even if still on some
statute books, they were only of historical interest. That began to change in 1989, when
the late Ayatollah Khomeini, then Iran’s Supreme Leader, declared it the duty of every
Muslim to kill British-based writer Salman Rushdie on the grounds that his novel, The
Satanic Verses, was blasphemous. Rushdie has survived by living his life in hiding. Others
connected with the book were not so fortunate: its Japanese translator was assassinated, its
Italian translator was stabbed, its Norwegian publisher was shot, and 35 guests at a hotel
hosting its Turkish publisher were burned to death in an arson attack.
More recently, we have seen eruptions of violence in reaction to Theo van Gogh’s and
Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s film Submission, Danish and Swedish cartoons depicting Mohammed,
the speech at Regensburg by Pope Benedict XVI on the topic of faith, reason, and

2. Hillsdale College: Pursuing Truth • Defending Libert y since 1844
religious violence, Geert Wilders’ film was convened to discuss sectarian vio-
Fitna, and a false Newsweek report that lence and terrorism, but seized on the
the U.S. military had desecrated Korans cartoons and urged its member states to
at Guantanamo. A declaration by Terry rouse opposition. It was only in February
Jones—a deservedly obscure Florida pastor 2006—five months after the cartoons
with a congregation of less than 50—that were published—that Muslims across
he would burn a Koran on September 11, Africa, Asia, and the Mideast set out from
2010, achieved a perfect media storm, Friday prayers for often violent demon-
combining American publicity-seeking, strations, killing over 200 people.
Muslim outrage, and the demands of The highly controlled media in
24 hour news coverage. It even drew the Egypt and Jordan raised the cartoon
attention of President Obama and senior issue so persistently that an astonishing
U.S. military leaders. Dozens of people 98 percent of Egyptians and 99 percent
were murdered as a result. of Jordanians—knowing little else of
Such violence in response to purported Denmark—had heard of them. Saudi
religious insults is not simply sponta- Arabia and Egypt urged boycotts of
neous. It is also stoked and channeled Danish products. Iran and Syria manipu-
by governments for political purposes. lated riots partly to deflect attention from
And the objects and victims of accusa- their nuclear projects. Turkey used the
tions of religious insults are not usually cartoons as bargaining chips in negotia-
Westerners, but minorities and dissidents tions with the U.S. over appointments
in the Muslim world. As Nina Shea and I to NATO. Editors in Algeria, Jordan,
show in our recent book Silenced, accusa- India, and Yemen were arrested—and
tions of blasphemy or insulting Islam are in Syria, journalist Adel Mahfouz was
used systematically charged with “insulting
in much of that world −´ public religious senti-
Imprimis (im-pri-mis),
to send individuals [Latin]: in the first place ment”—for suggesting
to jail or to bring a peaceful response
Editor
about intimidation Douglas A. Jeffrey to the controversy.
through threats, beat- Deputy Editor Lars Vilks’ later and
ings, and killings. Timothy W. Caspar more offensive 2007
Copy Editors
The Danish car- Emily Sarver Swedish cartoons and
toons of Mohammed Monica VanDerWeide Geert Wilders’ 2008
Art Director
were published in Angela Lashaway
film Fitna led to com-
Denmark’s largest Marketing Director paratively little outcry,
newspaper, Jyllands- Fred Hadra demonstrating further
Production Manager
Posten, in September Lucinda Grimm
that public reactions
2005. Some were Circulation Manager are government-driven.
reproduced by news- Wanda Oxenger Repression based
papers in Muslim Staff Assistants
Robin Curtis
on charges of blas-
countries in order Kim Ellsworth phemy and apostasy, of
Kathy Smith
to criticize them. Mary Jo Von Ewegen course, goes far beyond
There was no violent the stories typically
response. Violence Copyright © 2012 Hillsdale College covered in our media.
The opinions expressed in Imprimis are not
only erupted after a necessarily the views of Hillsdale College. Currently, millions of
December 2005 sum- Permission to reprint in whole or in part is Baha’is and Ahmadis—
hereby granted, provided the following credit
mit in Saudi Arabia line is used: “Reprinted by permission from followers of religions
of the Organization Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College.” or interpretations that
Subscription free upon request.
of the Islamic arose after Islam—are
ISSN 0277-8432
Conference—now Imprimis trademark registered in U.S. condemned en masse
the Organization of Patent and Trademark Office #1563325. as insulters of Islam,
Islamic Cooperation and are subject to dis-
(OIC). The summit criminatory laws and
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3. February 2012 • Volume 41, Number 2 hillsdale.edu
attacks by mobs, vigilantes, and terrorists. Choudhury was imprisoned for hurting
The Baha’i leadership in Iran is in prison, “religious feelings” by advocating peaceful
and there is no penalty in Iran for kill- relations with Israel. In Iran, Ayatollah
ing a Baha’i. In Somalia, al Shebaab, an Boroujerdi was imprisoned for arguing
Islamist group that controls much of that that “political leadership by clergy” was
country, is systematically hunting down contrary to Islam, and cleric Mohsen
and killing Christians. In 2009, after Kadivar was imprisoned for “publishing
allegations that a Koran had been torn, untruths and disturbing public minds”
a 1,000-strong mob with Taliban links after writing Theories of the State in Shiite
rampaged through Christian neighbor- Jurisprudence, which questioned the
hoods in Punjab, Pakistan’s largest prov- legal basis of Ayatollah Khomeini’s view
ince, killing seven people, six of whom, of government. Other charges brought
including two children, were burned against Iranians include “fighting against
alive. Pakistani police did not intervene. God,” “dissension from religious dogma,”
Throughout the Muslim world, Sunni, “insulting Islam,” “propagation of spiri-
Shia, and Sufi Muslims may be persecuted tual liberalism,” “promoting pluralism,”
for differing from the version of Islam and, my favorite, “creating anxiety in the
promulgated by locally hegemonic reli- minds of … Iranian officials.”
gious authorities. Saudi Arabia represses Muslim reformers cannot escape
Shiites, especially Ismailis. Iran represses being attacked even in the West. In 2006,
Sunnis and Sufis. In Egypt, Shia leaders a group called Al-Munasirun li Rasul al
have been imprisoned and tortured. Allah emailed over 30 prominent reform-
In Afghanistan, Shia scholar Ali ers in the West, threatening to kill them
Mohaqeq Nasab, editor of Haqooq-i-Zen unless they repented. Among its targets
magazine, was imprisoned by the govern- was Egyptian Saad Eddin Ibrahim,
ment for publishing “un-Islamic” articles perhaps the best known human rights
that criticized stoning as a punishment activist in the Arab world. Another was
for adultery. Saudi democracy activists Ahmad Subhy Mansour, an imam who
Ali al-Demaini, Abdullah al-Hamed, and was imprisoned and had to flee Egypt, in
Matruk al-Faleh were imprisoned for part for his arguments against the death
using “un-Islamic terminology,” such as penalty for apostasy. The targets were
“democracy” and “human rights,” when pronounced “guilty of apostasy, unbe-
calling for a written constitution. Saudi lief, and denial of the Islamic established
teacher Mohammed al-Harbi was sen- facts” and given three days to “announce
tenced to 40 months in jail and 750 lashes their repentance.” The message included
for “mocking religion” after discussing their addresses and the names of their
the Bible in class and making pro-Jewish spouses and children.
remarks. Egyptian Nobel prize winner Mimount Bousakla, a Belgian senator
in literature Naguib Mahfouz reluctantly and daughter of Moroccan immigrants,
abandoned his lifelong resistance to cen- was forced into hiding by threats of
sorship and sought permission from the “ritual slaughter” for her criticism of the
clerics of Al-Azhar University to publish treatment of women in Muslim com-
his novel Children of Gebelawi, hitherto munities and of fundamentalist influ-
banned for blasphemy. Mahfouz subse- ences in Belgian mosques. Turkish-born
quently lived under constant protection Ekin Deligoz, the first Muslim member
after being stabbed by a young Islamist, of Germany’s Parliament, received death
leaving him partly paralyzed. threats and was placed under police
After Mohammed Younas Shaikh, protection after she called for Muslim
a member of Pakistan’s Human Rights women to “take off the head scarf.”
Commission, raised questions about But the story gets worse. Western
Pakistan’s policies in Kashmir, he was governments have begun to give in to
charged with having blasphemed in one demands from the Saudi-based OIC and
of his classes. In Bangladesh, Salahuddin others for controls on speech.
3

4. Hillsdale College: Pursuing Truth • Defending Libert y since 1844
Weekly, suggested an “Everybody Draw
An audio version of Imprimis Mohammed Day.” She quickly withdrew
is available online at the suggestion and implied that she
hillsdale.edu/imprimis had been joking. But after several death
threats, including from Al-Qaeda, the
FBI advised her that she should go into
In Austria, for instance, Elisabeth hiding—which she has now done under a
Sabbaditsch-Wolf has been convicted new name.
of “denigrating religious beliefs” for her In 2010, Zachary Chesser, a young
comments about Mohammed during convert to Islam, pleaded guilty to threat-
a seminar on radical Islam. Canada’s ening the creators of South Park. And on
grossly misnamed “human rights com- October 3, 2011, approximately 800 news-
missions” have hauled writers—including papers refused to run a “Non Sequitur”
Mark Steyn, who teaches as a distin- cartoon drawn by Wiley Miller that
guished fellow in journalism at Hillsdale merely contained a bucolic scene with the
College—before tribunals to interrogate caption “Where’s Muhammad?”
them about their writings on Islam. And Many in our media claim to be self-
in Holland and Finland, respectively, censoring out of sensitivity to religious
politicians Geert Wilders and Jussi Halla- feelings, but that claim is repeatedly
aho have been prosecuted for their com- undercut by their willingness to mock
ments on Islam in political speeches. and criticize religions other than Islam.
In America, the First Amendment As British comedian Ben Elton observed:
still protects against the criminalization of “The BBC will let vicar gags pass, but
criticizing Islam. But we face at least two they would not let imam gags pass. They
threats still. The first is extra-legal intimi- might pretend that it’s, you know, some-
dation of a kind already endemic in the thing to do with their moral sensibilities,
Muslim world and increasing in Europe. but it isn’t. It’s because they’re scared.”
In 2009, Yale University Press, in con- The second threat we face is the spec-
sultation with Yale University, removed ter of cooperation between our govern-
all illustrations of Mohammed from its ment and the OIC to shape speech about
book by Jytte Klausen on the Danish Islam. A first indication of this came in
cartoon crisis. It also removed Gustave President Obama’s Cairo speech in 2009,
Doré’s 19th-century illustration of when he declared that he has a responsibil-
Mohammed in hell from Dante’s Inferno. ity to “fight against negative stereotypes of
Yale’s formal press statement stressed the Islam whenever they appear.” Then in July
earlier refusal by American media outlets of last year in Istanbul, Secretary of State
to show the cartoons, and noted that their Clinton co-chaired—with the OIC—a
“republication…has repeatedly resulted “High-Level Meeting on Combating
in violence around the world.” Religious Intolerance.” There, Mrs.
Another publisher, Random House, Clinton announced another conference
rejected at the last minute a historical with the OIC, this one in Washington,
romance novel about Mohammed’s wife, to “exchange ideas” and discuss “imple-
Jewel of Medina, by American writer mentation” measures our government
Sherry Jones. They did so to protect might take to combat negative stereotyp-
“the safety of the author, employees of ing of Islam. This would not restrict free
Random House, booksellers and anyone speech, she said. But the mere fact of U.S.
else who would be involved in distribu- government partnership with the OIC is
tion and sale of the novel.” troublesome. Certainly it sends a dan-
The comedy show South Park refused gerous signal, as suggested by the OIC’s
to show an image of Mohammed in a Secretary-General, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu,
bear suit, although it mocked figures when he commented in Istanbul that the
from other religions. In response, Molly Obama administration stands “united”
Norris, a cartoonist for the Seattle with the OIC on speech issues.
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5. February 2012 • Volume 41, Number 2 hillsdale.edu
The OIC’s charter commits it “to com- In the Muslim world, such restric-
bat defamation of Islam.” Its current action tions enable Islamists to crush debate.
plan calls for “deterrent punishments” to After Salman Taseer, the governor of
counter “Islamophobia.” In 2009, an offi- Punjab, was murdered early last year by
cial OIC organ, the “International Islamic his bodyguards for opposing blasphemy
Fiqh [Jurisprudence] Academy,” issued laws, his daughter Sara observed: “This is
fatwas calling for speech bans, including a message to every liberal to shut up or be
“international legislation,” to protect “the shot.” Or in the words of Nasr Abu-Zayd,
interests and values of [Islamic] society.” a Muslim scholar driven out of Egypt:
The OIC does not define what speech “Charges of apostasy and blasphemy are
should be outlawed, but the repressive key weapons in the fundamentalists’
practices of its leading member states arsenal, strategically employed to prevent
speak for themselves. reform of Muslim societies, and instead
The conference Secretary Clinton confine the world’s Muslim population
announced in Istanbul was held in to a bleak, colourless prison of socio-
Washington on December 12-14, 2011, cultural and political conformity.”
and was closed to the public, with the President Obama should put an end
“Chatham House Rule” restricting the to discussion of speech with the OIC. He
participants (this rule prohibits the iden- should declare clearly that in free societ-
tification of who says what, although ies, all views and all religions are subject
general content is not confidential). to criticism and contradiction. As the late
Presentations reportedly focused on Abdurrahman Wahid, former president
America’s deficiencies in its treatment of of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim
Muslims and stressed that the U.S. has country, and head of Nahdlatul Ulama,
something to learn in this regard from the world’s largest Muslim organization,
the other delegations—including Saudi wrote in his foreword to Silenced, blas-
Arabia, despite its ban on Christian phemy laws
churches, its repression of its Shiite
population, its textbooks teaching that . . . narrow the bounds of accept-
Jews should be killed, and the fact that able discourse. . . not only about
it beheaded a woman for sorcery on the religion, but also about vast spheres
opening day of the conference. of life, literature, science, and cul-
ture in general. . . . Rather than
*** legally stifle criticism and debate—
The encroachment of de facto blasphemy which will only encourage Muslim
restrictions in the West threatens free fundamentalists in their efforts to
speech and the free exchange of ideas. impose a spiritually void, harsh,
Nor will it bring social peace and har- and monolithic understanding of
mony. As comedian Rowan Atkinson Islam upon all the world—Western
warns, such laws produce “a veneer of tol- authorities should instead firmly
erance concealing a snake pit of unaired defend freedom of expression. . . .
and unchallenged views.” Norway’s far-
reaching restrictions on “hate speech” did America’s Founders, who had bro-
not prevent Anders Behring Breivik from ken with an old order that was rife with
slaughtering over 70 religious persecution
people because of his and warfare, forbade
antipathy to Islam: laws impeding free
indeed, his writ- exercise of religion,
ings suggest that he abridging freedom of
engaged in violence Did you know? speech, or infringing
Beginning this month, Hillsdale College
because he believed is offering a free ten-week online course
freedom of the press.
that he could not oth- entitled “Constitution 101: The Meaning We today must do
and History of the Constitution.” For
erwise be heard. further information or to register for the
likewise. ■
course, go to constitution.hillsdale.edu. 5