French Magazine Bombing and Blasphemy Codes

WASHINGTON--The satirical French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, published a spoof edition yesterday which featured the Islamic prophet Muhammad as its editor, sparking a violent firebombing of their offices. Many are now questioning the issue of freedom of speech in relation to Muslim demands to uphold religious blasphemy codes. This use of violence to silence free speech is the latest in a growing global trend that also entails non-violent means to enforce anti-blasphemy legal codes on both Muslims and non-Muslims within the West.

A new book by Hudson Senior Fellows Paul Marshall and Nina Shea examines this growing and troubling phenomenon that is an affront to individual freedoms of religion and speech in the West. Silenced: How Apostasy & Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide (Oxford University Press, Nov. 3) provides the first survey of the global range and effects of apostasy and blasphemy charges in the contemporary Muslim world, in international organizations, and in the West.

Both authors are available for comment.

Hudson's Center for Religious Freedom, directed by Nina Shea: http://CRF.Hudson.org.

###

Hudson Institute is a nonpartisan policy research organization dedicated to innovative research and analysis. Founded in 1961, Hudson is celebrating a half century of forging ideas that promote security, prosperity, and freedom. http://www.hudson.org

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
James Bologna, 202-974-6456, jbologna@hudson.org