LONDON — A funny thing happened last fall when Britain launched a righteous protest over the arrest in Sudan of a British schoolteacher who was accused of insulting religion by naming a class teddy bear Muhammad.
The Sudanese ambassador was summoned; Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a protest. It didn’t take long, though, for someone to point out that Downing Street was standing on diplomatic quicksand: Britain itself has a law making blasphemy a crime.
Thus began a period of collective soul-searching on free speech and secularism, traditional values and the church that anoints Britain’s queen. It culminated Wednesday in a 148-87 vote in the House of Lords to abolish the laws on blasphemy.
“It is crystal clear that the offenses of blasphemy and blasphemous libel are unworkable in today’s society,” Kay Andrews said in introducing the government-backed amendment, adding that “as long as this law remains on the statute books, it hinders the U.K.’s ability to challenge oppressive blasphemy laws in other jurisdictions.”
But in a debate that underscored Britain’s continuing strong roots in the Church of England, there was substantial doubt about the wisdom of abandoning what for many is a symbol of the increasingly multicultural nation’s reliance on Christian values as a foundation for law and society.
“The essential question is: Should we abolish Christian beliefs and replace them with secular beliefs? As long as there has been a country called England, it has been a Christian country, publicly acknowledging the one true God,” said Detta O’Cathain, a Conservative Party member of the house.
The vote was seen as a crucial hurdle in a process now all but assured.
“The law on blasphemy will be abolished. And good riddance is what we say,” said Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society.
