Abstract:
Incitement to religious hatred and restrictions on freedom of expression protect religious believers from unlawful expression. There is neither need to defamation of religion resolutions nor to blasphemy legislation. The Islamic and several developing states have internationalized blasphemy law under the name of defamation of religion. Defamation of religion and blasphemy's protection of religion contradicts with the individual based nature of human rights. It does not also comply with the classic understanding of defamation law that has only protected individual's reputation. Defamation of religion requires the state to arbitrate amongst intangible competing religious truth. The lack of clear guidelines on what is and is not immune makes the enforcement of defamation of religion difficult. The ambiguity of defamation of religion, as a legal concept, opens the door further for state abuse.
