ABSTRACT
The Religious Offences Bill 2003 will abolish the offence of blasphemy if it becomes law. This essay will argue that abolition is readily defensible due to the current width of the offence and its discriminatory nature. By the middle of the 19th century and, in particular, after the case of Ramsay and Foote (1883), it became clear that the basis of blasphemy had narrowed: it required a scurrilous attack on Christianity, rather than merely reasoned and sober arguments against it. It was thought by 1950 that the offence no longer existed, but it was resurrected in Lemon (1979). Gay News published a poem ‘The love that dares to speak its name’, by a Professor of English Literature, James Kirkup. It expressed religious sentiment in describing a homosexual’s conversion to Christianity and, in developing its theme, it metaphorically attributed homosexual acts to Jesus. A private prosecution was brought against Gay News and the editor and publishing company were convicted of the offence of blasphemous libel. This decision led to an arguably unacceptable broadening of the offence.
