Censorial Sensitivities

Free Speech and Religion in a Fundamentalist World

Andras Sajo

• Publisher: Eleven International Publishing
• Year: 2007
• eBook ISBN: 9789077596456
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Public Law
• Index: Law

This book addresses the conflict between free speech and religion. Religious authorities have long tried to "discipline" free speech when it runs counter to religious teachings or dogmas. The reaction to the cartoons about the prophet Muhammad, published in the Danish Jyllands-Posten, demonstrated the resonance of the accusation of blasphemy inside Islam. The conflict is not, however, limited to Islam. The Catholic Church and various Protestant churches have strongly expressed their hostility toward various books, plays, and films that they consider "collective defamation." There is an increasing concern about the need to protect religious sensitivities against offensive speech, in particular where such speech affects vulnerable minorities and collective identities based on religious affiliation. The thought-provoking essays in this book are a welcome contribution to the current debate on how to deal with the clash between free speech and religion in a world where a growing number of people are committed in a fundamental way to religion in everyday life.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Contributors
• Constitutional Democracy Trapped Between Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Religion: A Preface, Renáta Uitz
• PART I THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS
• PART II NATIONAL AND EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES
• PART III ON THE DANISH CARTOONS