A play being staged in Birmingham (England) is provoking violent protest and death threats from leaders of the local Sikh community and their followers. Here's a BBC report.

The police, instead of defending the author's right to say whatever she wants, have advised her not to say anything in public. Leaders of other religions are weighing in on the side of the Sikh protesters, not because they care tuppence about the Sikh faith but because they are running scared of having their own crackpot beliefs exposed to ridicule. (Not that the play in this case is exposing any religion to ridicule.)

The British state, to its credit, has become (de facto, if not de jure) a much more secular state than most others, whether in the developing or developed worlds. Yet it needs only some religious fanatic to snap his fingers, and freedom of speech goes out of the window.

Meanwhile the Labour government is racing to extend the reach of the blasphemy law to more faiths, instead of removing that protection from the privileged faiths presently covered.