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CONTEXT is all. In a very helpful Theos lecture given in the Inner Temple in London on Monday evening, Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve teased out a workable interpretation of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of religion. Among the points she made was that proscribing words or phrases that are offensive has been proved to fail under attacks from parody, satire, and the like, and all the more so now in the chaotically unregulated world of the internet. She advocates, instead, concentrating the law’s attention on “speech acts”, occasions when words, possibly innocuous ones, are used to defraud, intimidate, abuse, or incite violence.

Read the full article at churchtimes.co.uk

The Theos Annual Lecture took place on 19 November 2015 at the Honourable Society of Inner Temple and was given by Onora O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve, titled 'Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Religion', and was chaired by BBC Religious Affairs Correspondent Caroline Wyatt.

Read a transcript of the lecture here