Blasphemy in Modern Britain 1789 to the Present

Originally published in 1999, this book deals with the cultural and legal debates which have counterposed the right to free speech and the need to protect Christian sensibilities in Britain from the time of the French Revolution to the present day. Central to the book is a close study of the content and public reception of the anti-Christian literature of the 19th century associated with the names G.W.Foote and J.W. Gott, the Freethinker and The Truthseeker. David Nash here also examines a variety of critical-theoretical approaches to blasphemy and blasphemous writing, including postmodernism and the work of Foucault and Said. The book concludes with a detailed examination of 20th-century blasphemy cases, up to and including the Gay News case, The Last Temptation of Christ and Visions of Ecstasy.

Introduction; Part One: The law of blasphemy in Britain: origins and development; Blasphemy and theory: Post-modern turns, Foucauldian analysis, Edward Said and Orientalism, Secularisation theory; Thomas Paine, William Hone and the Carlile agitations: the creation of a modern blasphemous rhetoric; Part Two: G.W.Foote and the Freethinker prosecution: blasphemy as cultural terrorism; Boulter, Stewart, Pack and Gott: blasphemy, conflict and public order; Attempts at repeal and extension: 1913-38; ’Perish Judah’ and save the Empire: Christianity ’from below’, the Godless Congress and the attempted extension of the blasphemy laws in 1938; Silencing the love that dares to speak its name: blasphemy and the Gay News case; Conclusion; Index.

David S.Nash