Blasphemy has become a risky business at British universities

You might have thought that of all the things that could get you in trouble on a university campus today, blasphemy would not be one of them. That the days of unbelievers being banished and having their works burned by college dons were long behind us. That the old blasphemies had at least been replaced by new, secular blasphemies about race and gender. Not so, it seems. As one law academic has found out, criticising or even just discussing religious practice is still a risky business at British universities – only the God that campus authorities fear seems to have changed. 

Steven Greer was a human-rights law professor at the University of Bristol until he retired last year. But his many years of service weren’t rewarded with a gentle exit. In 2020, he was the subject of a formal complaint by the Bristol University Islamic Society.