Britain’s blasphemy laws
by Ben Sixsmith, The Critic:
In 2021, a teacher was suspended from a school in Batley, Yorkshire for showing pupils a caricature of Muhammad during a religious studies lesson. Protests from aggrieved Muslims were fierce. The teacher went into hiding, and has never emerged again — doubtless remembering the fate of Samuel Paty, the French teacher who was killed for a similar “crime”.
Wakefield is seven miles from Batley. In Kettlethorpe High School, in the city, four boys have been suspended. Their sin? Causing slight cosmetic damage to a copy of the Quran — with, as their headteacher states, “no malicious intent by those involved”.
Slightly damaging a book — and a book, no less, that the students had purchased themselves — is grounds for suspension now? It sure is, but not because the authorities at Kettlethorpe High School are iron disciplinarians but because they are trying to appease a mob of activists.
Apparently, one of the pupils brought the Quran into school after losing a bet. (This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me but kids make odd decisions.) According to the school’s investigation, it appears that one of the students dropped the book after being collided with. It also picked up a smudge of dirt — which will surprise no one who is familiar with the hygiene of teenage boys.
Somehow, rumours spread. Activists came to believe that the Quran had been kicked or spat on, which inflamed a “huge uproar” in the Muslim community. Some even suggested that the Quran had been torn up in front of Muslim students.
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