In a historic break with tradition, Britain's House of Lords voted on Wednesday to repeal laws making it a crime to commit blasphemy against Christianity.
Pragna Patel argues, "in the rush to be tolerant or sensitive to religious difference, they have created the space for the most authoritarian and even fundamentalist religious leaders to take control of our communities."
The following petition was submitted to the British Government on 15 November 2007, with 19,107 signatures. Below is the recently issued government's response:
Ziauddin Sardar: "Faith folks, such as the archbishop and I, have legitimate moral qualms about "legal universalism". Nevertheless, we are obliged to follow the law, which applies to all, equally and universally."
