I’m sorry, but I am so amazed at my ignorance.  Blasphemy has been a sin in Christianity from the beginning. ” In Britain’s last blasphemy execution, 20-year-old Thomas Aikenhead was executed for the crime in 1697. He was prosecuted for denying the veracity of the Old Testament and the legitimacy of Christ’s miracles.[22]”   

I didn’t think such as this had survived to  the modern era.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_law_in_the_United_Kingdom

Abolition

 

In January 2008, a spokesman for prime minister Gordon Brown announced that the government would consider the abolition of the blasphemy laws during the passage of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. The government consulted with the Church of England and other churches before reaching a decision. The move followed a letter written to The Daily Telegraph at the instigation of MP Evan Harris and the National Secular Society and was signed by leading figures including Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, who urged that the laws be abandoned.

 

In March 2008, peers voted for the laws to be abandoned.

 

On May 8, 2008, the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 abolished the common-law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel in England and Wales, with effect from 8 July 2008.[40][41]

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_law_in_the_United_Kingdom