Canada - Blasphemy

CANADA Why Is Blasphemy Still Illegal in Canada? January 20, 2015 By Shanifa Nasser Section 296 of the Criminal Code of Canada states: "Every one who publishes a blasphemous libel is guilty of an indictable offense and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years." True, no one has been prosecuted under the law in more than 70 years; charges against the Canadian distributor of the Monty Python film Life of Brian in 1980, for example, were later dropped. But secular advocacy groups say it's plainly hypocritical for Canada to keep an anti-blasphemy law on the books when it accuses other countries of using similar laws to justify human rights abuses. The United Kingdom abolished its blasphemy law in 2008; the United States has never had one at the federal level. Meanwhile, Canada's law has expanded in application beyond Christianity to religion in general. Last month, the heads of Humanist Canada and the Centre for Inquiry (CFI), a national organization that promotes "skeptical, secular, rational, and humanistic inquiry," met with Ambassador Andrew Bennett of Canada's Office of Religious Freedom to note the inconsistency of the law with his office's policy of supporting religious freedom abroad. But Bennett's mandate doesn't include domestic issues. So the two groups, with the support of lawyers, are now taking their case to the Department of Justice. "There are certain parts of the world where apostasy will get your head removed. We don't have that issue here but why would we even have this on our books?" said Eric Thomas, president of Humanist Canada. [ ... ]  Lawyer Derek James From of the Canadian Constitution Foundation argues that while it's unlikely anyone would be charged with blasphemy in Canada, the very existence of the law is a violation of our freedom of expression. He says the law was considered dead in the UK, too, until it resurfaced in 1977. It's therefore not dead, but dormant, he says. Willoughby agrees. "If it is truly a dead and unused law, then let us bury it." EXTRACT ONLY - FULL @ SOURCE http://www.vice.com/read/blasphemy-in-canada-217 COMMENT What kind of demented government would even have an 'Office of Religious Freedom'? The guy from Canadian Constitution Foundation has a point about that ridiculous blasphemy law.  LINKS Canadian Constitution Foundation