Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 219-240).

The aim of this manuscript is to show the historical development of blasphemy and Sunday laws, their relationship, their similarities and differences, their origins and justifications, their importance in the area of religious liberty. The study addresses itself primarily to English and New Zealand law, with the law stated as at the 30th September 1990.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 219-240).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 219-240).

The offence of blasphemy and its implications is one of the critical issues in Pakistan today. This research examines the historical setting and gradual amendment of blasphemy laws and their impact on religious communities in Pakistan. The law of blasphemy belongs to two historical periods. First, the era when the country was under military rule by the British during the colonial period: they originally framed Chapter XV of Offences Relating to Religion of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 1860. Secondly, its application in an independent subcontinent gradually moved from its original intention in Pakistan after 1947. In 1980s Pakistan, both the intentions of this law and its penalties were significantly altered, becoming the law which people now known as the law of blasphemy. Since the law was amended, it has made people in all religious communities, particularly minorities, critically vulnerable to malicious or unfounded accusation and has been interpreted and applied to varying effects. This historical review shows how Pakistan, though claiming to be secular and to protect all religions and communities, has actually become an exclusively Islamic country. Amending Chapter XV of Offences Relating to Religion was one of the important steps to Islamise Pakistan. This research considers a range of legal, political and constitutional questions concerning the law of blasphemy and religious communities both in pre and post-colonial periods, exploring how the law and religious communities have been and are affected by politics and legislation. In so doing, it will appraise politically significant religious laws, values and activities.

Le blasphème est, depuis ses origines, un concept politique qui n’intéresse le religieux que marginalement. Jérusalem, Athènes, Rome, les morts fondatrices de Socrate et de Jésus-Christ, tous deux condamnés à la peine capitale, le premier pour impiété, le second pour blasphème, ainsi que la Torah, l’Évangile et le Coran témoignent que l’histoire de l’interdiction du blasphème est avant tout celle de sa fonction politique, qui est d’éliminer celui qui nuit à la communauté. Avec l’apparition de la modernité, l’invention de la tolérance et la proclamation de la liberté d’expression comme droit fondamental, le blasphème aurait dû disparaître. Il s’est en fait transformé. De Salman Rushdie à Charlie Hebdo, il est même devenu l’enjeu de crises planétaires répétées. Dans le monde musulman, son interdiction est aujourd’hui un outil redoutable de répression des minorités au niveau national et d’accélération de choc des civilisations au niveau international. À ce défi, l’Europe prétend répondre par la liberté d’expression, bien que la majorité des pays occidentaux continue à condamner le blasphème, compris non plus comme une offense à Dieu, mais aux croyants, signe d’une sécularisation dévoyée. C’est particulièrement le cas en France où la prolifération des lois venant limiter la liberté d’expression a fini par réinstaurer un délit de blasphème tout en multipliant les délits d’opinion. / Blasphemy is since the beginning of its recorded history not only a religious but also a political concept. Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, the founding deaths of Socrates and Jesus Christ, both sentenced to death, the first for impiety, the second for blasphemy, but also the Torah, the Gospel and the Quran show that the prohibition of blasphemy has above all a political function, which is to eliminate whoever harms the community. With modernity, the invention of tolerance and the proclamation of freedom of expression as a fundamental right, blasphemy should have disappeared. Instead, it metamorphosed. From Salman Rushdie to Charlie Hebdo, it became a worldwide issue. In the Muslim world, its prohibition has become a fearsome tool of repression of religious minorities on a national level and of acceleration of a clash of civilizations on an international level. To face this challenge, Europe pretends to answer with freedom of expression, but the majority of European countries still forbid blasphemy, understood no more as an offense to God but an offense to the believers, which is the sign of a rogue secularization. This is especially true in France where the proliferation of laws limiting freedom of expression ended up in a re-introduction of the prohibition of blasphemy and more generally of crimes of opinion.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-07-19T11:23:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 diogotomazpereira.pdf: 1570437 bytes, checksum: 83a3dbee30ae2e573a19d5550b79b519 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-08-09T15:09:17Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 diogotomazpereira.pdf: 1570437 bytes, checksum: 83a3dbee30ae2e573a19d5550b79b519 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-09T15:09:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 diogotomazpereira.pdf: 1570437 bytes, checksum: 83a3dbee30ae2e573a19d5550b79b519 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-05-25 / FAPEMIG - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / Estudos realizados sobre a Inquisição Moderna ocorrem substancialmente em duas direções: uma análise sobre os aspectos jurídicos-institucionais do Tribunal do Santo Oficio e, sob outra ótica, uma investigação sob determinadas transgressões que foram alvo de perseguições. O presente trabalho enquadra-se na segunda vertente, onde buscarei examinar os processos-crime dos réus julgados pelos delitos de blasfêmia e de proposições heréticas, oriundos do Brasil, que se encontravam sob jurisdição do Tribunal de Lisboa. Após uma distinção entre os dois delitos - que facilmente são confundidos por estarem relacionados à fala -, buscarei uma análise que mostre como as blasfêmias estavam enraizadas na cultura do colono na América portuguesa. Expressões que faziam parte do dia a dia de homens e mulheres, jovens ou velhos; discursos grosseiros, jocosos, rústicos, que não visavam atacar, ofender, mas sim, expressar uma insatisfação momentânea. Quanto às proposições heréticas apresentarei os agentes históricos desse delito que, normalmente, eram pessoas instruídas na fé, que sabiam ler e escrever. Oposta às blasfêmias, as proposições tinham o intuito de romper, de agredir, de gerar novas ideias e propagá-las o máximo possível. As análises realizadas na presente dissertação sobre a perseguição aos delitos de blasfêmias e proposições heréticas servirão como auxilio na busca pelo entendimento da realidade social vivida pelos colonos do Novo Mundo frente às políticas de intolerância do Santo Ofício português e seus desdobramentos. / Most studies carried out on the Modern Inquisition subject occur substantially on two perspectives: through the analysis of legal formalities of the Holy Office and, from another point of view, through the investigation of transgressions that were persecuted. This paper is part of the second type of perspective, where I will try to examine the criminal proceedings of the defendants who were tried for the crimes of blasphemy and heretical propositions coming from Brazil, which was under the jurisdiction of the Lisbon Court. After a distinction between the two offenses - which are easily confused because they are related to speech - I will seek an analysis that shows how blasphemies were rooted in the colonist's culture in Portuguese America. Expressions that were part of the daily life of men and women, young or old; discourses that were crude, jocular, rustic, not aimed at attacking, offending, but expressing a momentary dissatisfaction. As for the heretical propositions, I will present the historical agents of this crime, who were usually people of faith who knew how to read and write. Opposed to blasphemies, the propositions were intended to break, to attack, to generate new ideas and to propagate them as much as possible. The analysis conducted in this dissertation about the persecution of crimes of blasphemies and heretical propositions will serve as an aid in the search for comprehension of the social reality lived by the settlers of the New World against the policies of intolerance of the Portuguese Holy Office, as well as its unfoldings.

In February 2012, less than two weeks before presidential elections in Russia, a two-minute video of young women in brightly colored masks and short dresses was uploaded to YouTube. The video featured four members of the Pussy Riot punk feminist band performing a wild dance in front of the altar of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Lip-syncing to a song, which they called a punk prayer, they beseeched the Virgin Mary to "drive" Vladimir Putin, then the prime minister and a presidential candidate, "away." The performance was followed by the quick arrest of three of the band members and a trial in a criminal court that sentenced them to two years in a penal colony on charges of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" and transformed the case into a symbol of the infringement of freedom of expression in Putin's Russia. This research explores the legal and discursive strategies for marginalizing political dissent and discusses the implications of the case for shrinking the arena of legitimate public debate in contemporary Russia. As revealed by a critical discourse analysis of a report by psychological and linguistic experts that formed the basis of the prosecutor's case, it employed a range of discursive devices that normalized conformity and depoliticized the band's critique. Whereas those discursive devices portrayed Pussy Riot's religiously contextualized speech as socially unacceptable, the analysis of the court's decision revealed the mechanism that made it illegal. An analysis of the rationale used by the court to justify the criminal conviction of Pussy Riot showed clear prosecutorial bias. The post-case amendments that were introduced into Russia's Criminal Code and Code of Administrative Violations toughened up the punitive measures in articles associated with insulting religious feelings of citizens and contributed to further authorizing limitations on political speech on religious and moral grounds. As demonstrated by an analysis of the media coverage of the Pussy Riot affair, the Russian press did little to delegitimize this power abuse. The state-run newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta took a clear stance in support of the prosecution. The mainstream newspaper, Izvestia, although not demonstrating a consistent prosecutorial bias, did not provide any sensible alternatives to the government's framing of the affair. Neither did the liberal-oppositional outlet Gazeta.ru. It failed to provide a comprehensive, substantial, and contextualized coverage of Pussy Riot's activism and portrayed them not as agents of change, but as victims of the vigilant, all-powerful state. By doing so, it did not take advantage of the public resonance of the case to elevate a discussion about the feasibility of dissent in an increasingly authoritarian context and thus potentially contributed to undermining the value of political protest. The treatment of the Pussy Riot affair by the Russian state contributed to further infringements of freedom of expression, strengthened the interpenetration of church and state and illuminated the legal system's role as a tool for conserving the status quo of power relations in contemporary Russia.

Some Muslim immigrants in the United States have difficulty reconciling American free speech rights with the blasphemy component of Islamic law, which often requires death for those who criticize Islam. Little academic literature addresses reconciliation of Islamic beliefs with the Constitutional right to free speech or information on Muslim political participation regarding free speech. Using policy feedback theory as the foundation, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the experiences of Muslim immigrants who practice Islam in a free speech society. Data were collected from a sample of 10 immigrant Muslim imams, scholars, and community leaders in Virginia regarding blasphemy laws, and examination of their acculturation experiences and political participation in the United States where insults against religion are protected. Interview transcripts were coded using attribute, anchor, descriptive, and in vivo codes and then subjected to thematic analysis. Findings indicate that participants shared diverse experiences, but most believed that education and dialogue are the best solutions to blasphemy. Some would accept certain blasphemy restrictions, but others opposed any punishment. All were happy with life in America and had little interest in influencing free speech policies, unless free speech were at risk. Then, some would lobby as groups against free speech restrictions, supporting the policy feedback theory. Findings influence positive social change by encouraging dialogue with Muslims, discouraging anti-Muslim immigration policies and Sharia bans, and reducing fears of Muslim immigrants imposing strict blasphemy punishments. Policymakers, the public, and Muslims would benefit from the reduced Islamophobia.

The freedom of speech, caricatures and satire, bans on veils and burning of the Koran have been reported and portrayed in different ways in several news media. The aim of this study was to analyze how the burnings of the Koran in Sweden are portrayed in Swedish media (Dagens Nyheter) compared to English-language Arabic media (Al Arabiya). With the framing theory and postcolonial theory as a theoretical basis, we asked the following research questions: What themes can be found in the reporting of the Koran burning in Dagens Nyheter and Al Arabyia? How is Sweden represented in the various news media? The analysis method we have used is qualitative thematic analysis. In the analysis, four themes emerged: Sweden's image, freedom of speech and blasphemy, Koran burners and demonstrations. Based on a postcolonial-, orientalist-, and occidentalist approach the results show that there was often an “us and them” feeling from both sides. It may also depend on which media logic is used in the various media newsrooms and which audience the media outlets are targeting.