A group of professionals gathered yesterday afternoon for a Buxton Roundtable to discuss the issue of blasphemy. Guest speakers included Angela Wu from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and Alejandro Beutel from the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Among other things, they addressed the following question: Should governments support legislation which protect religions from blasphemy or defamation?
Ms. Wu began by detailing her understanding of blasphemy. As a definition, blasphemy can be defined as defaming something sacred. Therefore, outlawing blasphemy inevitably requires that the state decide between valid and invalid religious viewpoints which, in her view, is inherently problematic.
Mr. Beutel added to Ms. Wu’s comments by providing his view as a Muslim. In quoting the Qur’an’s warnings against “back-biting”, Beutel emphasized Islam’s call to civility and peace, even in the face of offensive, blasphemous statements against the religion. Thus, he reasoned, the violent responses to the Danish Cartoon incident were not in accordance with the teachings of Islam. He also stressed the need for people of all faiths to examine the underlying issues of blasphemous proclamations instead of arguing over more surface legal issues alone.
After Ms. Wu’s and Mr. Beutel’s opening remarks, the majority of the session was devoted to discussion and debate among the roundtable participants.
Tags: Alejandro Beutel, Angela Wu, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, defamation of religion, MPAc, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Organization for the Islamic Conference
This was quite the event! Angela and Alejandro brought up some really amazing points.