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Fact check: Which majority christian countries punish blasphemy with prison time
1. Summary of the results
While blasphemy laws exist in 95 countries globally [1], or 79 countries according to Pew Research as of 2019 [2], the data shows that majority-Christian countries are actually moving away from such laws. Several European nations, which have historically been Christian-majority, have recently repealed their blasphemy laws, including:
2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints
The original question overlooks several crucial points:
- The most active enforcement of blasphemy laws occurs predominantly in countries with Islam as the state religion, with Pakistan (184 cases), Iran [4], and Russia [5] leading in enforcement between 2014-2018 [2]
- 90% of countries in the Middle East and North Africa maintain blasphemy laws [2]
- Five countries (Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, and Brunei Darussalam) can impose capital punishment for blasphemy [1]
- The U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom considers blasphemy laws to be human rights violations [1]
3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement
The question's focus on Christian countries could be misleading because:
- It doesn't acknowledge the clear global trend of Christian-majority nations actively repealing these laws [3]
- It might create a false equivalency, as the data shows that 70% of the top enforcing states have Islam as their official religion [2]
- The question might benefit those seeking to create religious tensions or push anti-Christian narratives, while the data shows that Christian-majority nations are actually leading the movement to eliminate such laws
- The focus on prison time overlooks the fact that some countries have even more severe punishments, including death penalties [1]