When Fear Replaces Freedom (UK Slide to Blasphemy law)

Focus on Western Islam ^ | Oct 27, 2025 | Potkin Azarmehr

[Titus-Maximus]

Law enforcement officials in Britain made more than 12,000 arrests over “offensive” social media posts in 2023, according to the latest figures published by The Times in London, which reports that “police are making more than 30 arrests a day over offensive posts” on the internet.

This is an exceptionally large number of arrests for a Western democracy. Yet Britain has a proud history of tolerance and freedom of speech. From the Reformation and the martyrdom of Sir Thomas More to the radical liberal thought of Locke and Mill, our freedoms were hard-won, emerging from centuries of religious conflict. Today, however, the very liberties that define our society are under threat—and mostly from fear of the backlash by a violent minority within the United Kingdom.

That was the message at a conference organized by Policy Exchange, a conservative think tank on October 20, 2025. At the conference, Conservative MP and former Downing Street advisor Nick Timothy issued a stark warning: Britain is sliding toward a form of soft blasphemy law, enforced not by Parliament, but by policing, prosecutors, and the courts using the public order act of 1986. “The right to freedom of expression, if it is a right worth having, must include the right to express views that offend, shock, or disturb,” Timothy reminded his audience. Yet in practice, those who criticize Islam risk arrest, intimidation, getting fired from their job, and social ostracism, he reported.

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TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: islamophobia

[Titus-Maximus]

Thirty arrests a day for posts on social media. They are destroying free speech. The West is sinking.

People being jailed for saying things that aren't nice about Islam. A real live thought police while citizens get fired, dismissed, disowned, canceled. How did this happen?

The line that best sums up the insanity was from a lower court judge who said "violent assaults against the defendant were evidence of his guilt." Meaning, if an Islamic terrorist stabs you - it was your fault for saying something that got him angry. That abomination was reversed by an appellate court, so luckily, a few adults are still in the room.

[posterchild]

It sure would be illuminating to see a distillation of what actual comments result in arrest ranked in order.

[Salman]

If the UK is enforcing Muslim blasphemy laws -- regardless of the legal pretext -- Islam is their official religion. Period.

Yes. Even though The C of E (the "established" church) stays on as an ecclesiastical sideshow for the time being.