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"Defamation of Religions" Campaign Discussed In Congress, By Magazine

By Howard M. Friedman

Macleans Magazine last week carried a long article on efforts by the Organization of the Islamic Conference make "defamation of religions" an offense under international law. It says in part:

The trend has rights advocates worried.... Defamation laws traditionally protect individual people from being materially harmed by the dissemination of falsehoods. But "defamation of religions" is not about protecting individual believers from damage to their reputations caused by false statements ? but rather about protecting a religion, or some interpretation of it, or the feelings of the followers. While a traditional defence in a defamation lawsuit is that the accused was merely telling the truth, religions by definition present competing claims on the truth, and one person's religious truth is easily another's apostasy. "Truth" is no defence in such cases. The subjective perception of insult is what matters, and what puts the whole approach on a collision course with the human rights regime ? especially in countries with an official state religion.

The article builds on testimony offered at a July 11 off-the-record briefing presented by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus Task Force on International Religious Freedom titled "Taboos" on Freedom of Religion and Expression at the United Nations: How Religious Defamation Resolutions are Setting a Dangerous Precedent. (Announcement of briefing.) Among those those making presentations were Becket Fund's Angela Wu, whose Issue Brief on the topic is available online. Earlier this week, Becket Fund issued a press release on the Macleans article.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on July 31, 2008 (boomark / email).