... health or morals or for the protection of the reputation or rights of others." The offence is archaic in nature dating back to the times when Christianity was the constitutionally established religion of the state and blasphemy was invoked for the protection of state interests rather than strictly religion and the sensibilities of citizens. The law of blasphemy as it exists today, although retaining much of its antiquity, has evolved. It remains a common law offence but the change in reliance from the Church of England has meant that it is now regarded as providing wide ranging legal protection to the religious sensibilities of individual believers rather than the state. It achieves this by restricting the publication of material that may deny the truth of the Christian doctrine, the bible or vilifies God and Jesus of unnecessary profanity, which is likely to shock and outrage the feelings of Christians. Today ...

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