Humanist campaign raised by MSP

I note that the blasphemy laws are still on the statute book, although they have not been used for some time.

They focus on a narrow definition of religion and they hamper efforts to challenge blasphemy laws that are used in many countries around the world.

Individuals have faced persecution, imprisonment and even threat of execution by states that still have active blasphemy laws, but international efforts to convince those states to rescind such laws have faced challenge because countries including Scotland still technically have blasphemy laws.

In that context, steps to remove blasphemy laws from the statute book as part of the wider review would be welcome.

Ivan McKee, MSP for Glasgow Provan

It is great news that the Scottish Parliament has discussed the impact of Scotland’s Blasphemy law and the Humanist Society Campaign. SNP Ministers should now take up their own backbenchers call to scrap this outdated restriction.

Here in Scotland, Humanists, atheists, agnostics and free-thinkers enjoy freedoms and respect that would be denied elsewhere. However it should be a badge of shame that Scotland is cited in the footnotes of other countries who actively persecute people under Blasphemy laws.

Gordon MacRae, Humanist Society Scotland