'Britain's ancient laws of blasphemy have been abolished by MPs'

Evangelists had tried to prosecute the director-general of the BBC over the controversial musical Jerry Springer – The Opera.

MPs voted to support the abolition of blasphemy in an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill.

This has now received Royal Assent, condemning the laws to history.

Maria Eagle, the junior justice minister, said in the debate: "These offences have now largely fallen into disuse and therefore run the risk of bringing the law into disrepute.

"Given that these laws protect only the tenets of the Christian Churches, they would appear to be plainly discriminatory."

But Edward Leigh, a Conservative MP, claimed their abolition would encourage more people to make fun of Christianity.

"Getting rid of the blasphemy law sends a message that that is OK, but it is insulting to many Christians," he said.

The last successful prosecution for blasphemy was in 1977, when the publisher of Gay News, Denis Lemon, was given a suspended sentence for printing a poem about a Roman centurion's love for Jesus.

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