Newshour Extra: Blasphemy

In the aftermath of the murders in Paris, western journalists have responded by defending freedom of speech. 

The killers of the cartoonists may have said that they were avenging their Prophet, but their crimes enabled Charlie Hebdo to sell millions of copies of an edition of the magazine featuring a cartoon of the Prophet on it. Why do millions of Muslims say that it’s blasphemous? What is blasphemy in Islam and how does that compare to other religions?

Owen Bennett Jones is joined by the Bishop of Bradford, Professor Yvonne Sherwood from Kent University, Paul Marshall of the Hudson Institute,  Australian columnist Waleed Aly and journalists Audrey Carville in Dublin, Ireland, and Omar Waraich and Nick Cohen in London to debate the changing meaning of blasphemy.

BBC broadcast times: Friday, January 16 at 0206 ET

Broadcast window: January 16- 29, 2015

Program duration: 49 minutes (23 minutes & 26 minutes 30 seconds) or 30 minutes including News bulletin, billboard & promo

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