Britain's blasphemy law no longer sacred
After a teddy bear incident and much debate, the House of Lords votes to abolish it.
By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 6, 2008

LONDON -- A funny thing happened in November when Britain launched a righteous protest over Sudan's arrest of a British schoolteacher accused of insulting Islam by letting her students name a class teddy bear Muhammad.

The Sudanese ambassador was summoned; Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a protest. But it didn't take long for someone to point out that Downing Street was standing on diplomatic quicksand: Britain itself has a law making blasphemy a crime. the rest image