December 23, 2011

The Muslim Public Affairs Council today expressed its support for the passage of a historic United Nations resolution to combat ideologies of religious hatred through free expression, instead of silencing expression by creating a global blasphemy law. It also announced the release of its new position paper on the issue, entitled "No Compulsion in Religion: A Faith-Based Critique of the 'Defamation of Religions' Concept."

SEE: U.N. Condemns Religious Intolerance, Drops ‘Defamation’ Line for First Time in Years (Reuters)

ALSO SEE: U.N. Tackles Religious Intolerance without Limiting Free Speech (Human Rights First)

For the past 12 years, the Organization of the Islamic Conference had pushed for a resolution in the U.N. Human Rights Council called "Defamation of Religions" to be adopted into international human rights law. The stated purpose of the resolution was to fight religious discrimination and incitement to violence by instituting a global anti-blasphemy law. However, this year the OIC had taken the Defamation of Religions concept off the table and made an important positive step forward of engaging with other global leaders to fight bigotry by using free speech, not denying it. Now the U.S. and Europe need to demonstrate a serious effort to counter Islamophobia and not remain silent on this form of religious bigotry.

"We are pleased to see the positive direction global leaders are taking in fighting religious hatred, the right way," said MPAC Government and Policy Analyst, Alejandro Beutel. "Successfully combating discrimination can be done while respecting freedom of expression."

In our position paper, we oppose the misguided Defamation of Religions concept for two reasons:

• It runs contrary to Islamic values promoting religious tolerance and a free, civil exchange of ideas
• Second, evidence indicates anti-blasphemy laws actually encourages more violence rather than preventing it

The resolution approved this week declares that "discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief constitutes a violation of human rights." It also replaces the previous language about defamation with concern about the incitement to religious hatred and the failure of some states "to combat this burgeoning trend."