Inciting violence against people of a religion is unacceptable. However we must be careful not to conflate this with simply speech that offends people of a religion. We got rid of blasphemy laws for a reason. 1/

The law has no place in policing speech that might offend people
1. Offence is entirely objective.
2. No one has the right to never be offended.
3. We should be free to criticise, ridicule, & condemn any religion.
4. Beliefs of a religion shouldn't be imposed on non-believers 2/

As offensive as subversive art depicting Jesus or images of the Prophet Mohammed may be to people adhering to Christianity or Islam, for example, the meaning applied to religious iconography shouldn't be imposed on others. 3/

Major monotheistic religions are still extremely powerful & the state shouldn't give their adherents the power to silence dissidents via criminal law. 4/

There are, in my opinion, some seriously regressive beliefs associated with major monotheistic religions. This creates a clash of interests where, for example, one may want to express condemnation for the treatment of women in a religion & the believers find this offensive. 5/

Rather than invoking state power, society needs to understand tolerance flows both/many ways. Manners say that unnecessarily insulting a religion to a believer is rude, but not illegal. 6/

Indiscriminately labelling dissidence as "hate" dilutes the significance of true hatred. It is not hate to criticise a powerful belief system nor to ridicule it. Think about how society mocks Scientology already - who chooses which religion is fair game? 7/

Religious people have the right to express their offence at the comments of others about their religion. They have no right to retaliate with violence. There is no justification for violence in the name of religion. 8/

Everyone has the right to worship peacefully. Harassment of religious people or destruction of property should still be treated under relevant existing legislation. 9/

Protest against religious extremism or religion itself is valid & progress is often achieved by those who have rejected the restrictions of religion. Any protest is not going to be relieved well received by those on the receiving end, but they aren't entitled to prevent it. 10/

The proposed laws indicated by @nzlabour must be opposed. Speech should not be criminalised unless it incites violence. Freedom to speak must be protected in law and in practice. 11/

And of course in Tweet number 2 I meant "offence is SUBJECTIVE". Always ruin a long thread with silly error! 12/