A new study by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom finds that laws criminalizing blasphemy are “astonishingly widespread.” A few disturbing highlights from the report:
• Seventy-one countries, spread out across many regions, maintain blasphemy laws.
• Every one of these blasphemy statutes deviates from at least one internationally recognized
human rights principle. Most of these laws fail to respect fully the human right of freedom
of expression.
• All five nations with blasphemy laws that deviate the most from international human rights
principles maintain an official state religion.
• Most blasphemy laws studied were vaguely worded, as many failed to specify intent as part
of the violation. The vast majority carried unduly harsh penalties for violators.
• Most blasphemy laws were embedded in the criminal codes and 86 percent of states with
blasphemy laws prescribed imprisonment for convicted offenders. Some blasphemy statutes
even imposed the death penalty.
