Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/295218 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Citation: 
[Journal:] European Public Law [ISSN:] 1354-3725 [Volume:] 28 [Issue:] 2 [Publisher:] Kluwer Law International [Place:] The Hague [Year:] 2022 [Pages:] 297-318
Publisher: 
Kluwer Law International, The Hague
Abstract: 
This article examines the relation between free speech and blasphemy laws and assesses whether the latter may still have a place in secular, liberal democracies. After a theoretical introduction on free speech, its function in a liberal society and the possible grounds for restrictions, the analysis will focus on Italy – prototypical case of a country that has experimented with diverse ways of outlawing blasphemy. The article argues that blasphemy laws, even when wrapped in the new clothes of the ‘protection for religious feelings’, perpetuate a favour toward institutionalized religions that is hardly justifiable today from a constitutional or even logical perspective. The privilege enjoyed by stronger religious denominations, the discrimination between different expressions of individual conscience, the chilling effect on free speech in the name of dogmas – these are all issues of serious concern inextricably linked to blasphemy laws that are intolerable in secular, liberal democratic societies. blasphemy, free speech, freedom of expression, religious feelings, religious sensibilities, freedom of religion, Italy
Subjects: 
blasphemy
free speech
freedom of expression
religious feelings
freedom of religion
Italy
religious sensibilities
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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