Blasphemy Laws Still Silence the Non-Religious in 2026 | Column

Column. Blasphemy laws remain one of the oldest tools for silencing free thought. They still exist in dozens of countries in 2026. In ten of them, blasphemy or apostasy can carry a death sentence. Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia sit on that grim list.

Why blasphemy laws endure

These laws claim to protect the sacred. In practice they protect power. Accusations settle personal scores. They punish minorities, converts and the non-religious. Increasingly they punish a Facebook post or a TikTok clip. A single screenshot can ruin a life.

The chilling effect spreads far beyond courts. People self-censor to stay safe. Teachers avoid certain questions. Writers bury their real views. Atheists learn to hide. A society that fears its own thoughts cannot flourish.

A hopeful turn worth defending

There is progress worth naming. Northern Ireland’s assembly voted this year to abolish blasphemy offences. Campaigners across the UK have pressed similar reforms. Momentum is real. It builds on hard secular bargains like the fights over religious privilege elsewhere.

I welcome these steps. Yet repeal in London means little to a prisoner in Lahore. The freedom to doubt must be universal or it is fragile everywhere. Rich democracies should raise these cases in every forum.

Defenders of blasphemy laws offer their own arguments. They say such laws keep social peace. They warn that insult can inflame violence. Those concerns are not imaginary. But peace bought by silencing dissent is not peace. It is fear wearing a calmer face. The remedy is more speech, not less. Protect people, not doctrines. See the reform campaign via the National Secular Society.

History offers both a warning and a hope. Europe once jailed heretics too. Reform came slowly, through argument and courage. The same path is open elsewhere. Ex-believers, writers and lawyers keep testing these laws in court. Each acquittal chips at the edifice. Progress is uneven, but the direction of travel, measured across centuries, bends toward freedom.

This is an opinion column. Fact basis: National Secular Society reporting and global data on blasphemy and apostasy laws (2026).