The History of Blasphemy and the Rushdie Affair

Abstract

Among the startling consequences of the publication of Salman Rushdie’s The. Satanic Verses. in 1988 was not only a renewed practical interest in the English blasphemy law, but also the apparent paradox whereby this apparently illiberal remnant of an ancient jurisdiction was urged as the basis for a more comprehensive law which would be a necessary complement of a multicultural and pluralistic society. The vehement and bitter strife sparked off by the publication went far beyond what is usually denoted by the term controversy. Even in Britain the various protagonists and antagonists cannot be reduced into two coherent camps; the range of argument is testimony to cultural pluralism of a sort, if not always edifying throughout its variety. The outrage expressed by British Muslims over Rushdie’s work did not impact upon a uniform, homogeneous, secular, liberal culture, but one which already had great complexity and diversity woven into its traditions before the ethnic settlements in Britain of recent generations — the range of the response to the controversy sufficiently demonstrates this.¹. Questions of pluralism and cultural diversity have long been issues for the law in England, though the controversy over The Satanic Verses. manifestly raises such issues in an unprecedented way. In particular, the history of the ancient blasphemy laws, dating back over many centuries, illustrates a long development of pluralism in religious, intellectual and cultural life.².