.... The traditional formulation of Islam calls for punishment by death for blasphemy and apostasy. These offenses are actually not defined and there is a mixing of the terminology, blending together blasphemy, apostasy, insulting Islam, defaming Islam and heresy. All of these terms are used interchangeably. They are applied differently from country to country and from place to place.
They change over time and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, they expand and contract. What is prevailing Islamic doctrine on both blasphemy and apostasy is extremely subjective depending on who is doing the interpreting.
Paul Marshall and I have surveyed several leading Muslim countries in our new book Silenced, which shows this. Silenced is a survey on the human rights impact of contemporary blasphemy and apostasy codes in leading Muslim counties today; it is not a theological study. [The Iconoclast] Read more
