Blasphemy
The right to blaspheme is fundamental—and it’s under attack.
The right to blaspheme is fundamental, and it is under growing threat.
In as many as 33 Muslim-majority countries, criticizing religious customs, expressing disbelief, or saying anything deemed offensive to religion can lead to criminal prosecution. In some states, so-called “lenient” penalties still include fines and prison sentences. In others, apostasy or blasphemy remains punishable by death, whether enforced by the law itself or carried out through extrajudicial violence.
These dangers do not disappear outside the Muslim world. While apostates may avoid legal punishment in the West, many face profound social consequences, including rejection by family, isolation from their communities, and, in some cases, harassment or abuse.
What you need to know
Muslim-majority countries where blasphemy or apostasy is punishable by death
12
Muslim-majority countries known to criminalize blasphemy or apostasy
33
Cases of blasphemy-related persecution cataloged in our Persecution Tracker
550+
How we address this issue
Persecution Tracker
Our Persecution Tracker catalogs and monitors cases of persecution and oppression against those who commit the "crime" of speaking their minds and blaspheming Islam in secular and theocratic countries alike.
Apostate Report
Our Apostate Report, a survey of hundreds of American and Canadian ex-Muslims, offers a glimpse into the experiences and beliefs of apostates in the West—from encounters with misogyny to their science-based objections to religious belief.
WikiIslam
Our maintenance of WikiIslam is aimed at providing an objective, but skeptical, resource on Islam, including its historic relationship with science and gender equality. Free from the gatekeeping of religious authorities, it encourages readers to draw their own conclusions, however “blasphemous” they may be.
Dissent Dispatch
Our weekly newsletter, the Dissent Dispatch, keeps you up to date on EXMNA news and events, as well as our take on global developments relevant to ex-Muslims and freethinkers.
Mini-Documentaries
Our mini-documentaries spotlight the experiences of real ex-Muslims and their encounters with rejection, abuse, and sexism as a result of questioning and leaving Islam.
What we advocate for
Ex-Muslims of North America advocates for the following policy actions in defense of the right to blaspheme:
All blasphemy laws, no matter how punitive or lax, must be abolished.
In countries where this is not the case, religious belief—and particularly lack thereof—must be granted protected legal status.
States which cast themselves as explicitly Islamic must secularize.