Ethics

UN Passes Defamation of Religion Resolution

By Ed Brayton

The UN Third Committee has passed a resolution calling on countries to prohibit "defamation of religion." This is the latest in a series of non-binding resolutions passed in various UN committees calling for such laws. Those resolutions are sponsored by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), whose goal is to make these resolutions binding as a part of international law.

But while the draft's sponsors say it and earlier similar measures are aimed at preventing violence against worshippers regardless of religion, religious tolerance advocates warn the resolutions are being accumulated for a more sinister goal.

"It provides international cover for domestic anti-blasphemy laws, and there are a number of people who are in prison today because they have been accused of committing blasphemy," said Bennett Graham, international program director with the Becket Fund, a think tank aimed at promoting religious liberty.

"Those arrests are made legitimate by the UN body's (effective) stamp of approval."

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on November 30, 2008 (boomark / email).