All of Islam isn’t intolerant, nor did the West always accept blasphemy

12 January 2015. The tradition of freedom of expression on religious matters is not quite so venerable as many seem to imagine in the outcry at the killing of Charlie Hebdo journalists and cartoonists in Paris. While modern Western nations do not make blasphemy punishable by death, many had blasphemy laws for centuries. Severe penalties were imposed even in the last century