By the 10th anniversary of the "Charlie Hebdo" attack on 7 January 2025, the so-called "blasphemy law" (§166 of the German Penal Code) should be history! This is the goal of a parliamentary petition that can now be signed. In fact, the governing coalition has a historic opportunity to remove this "censorship law" (as Kurt Tucholsky described it), which dates back to the German Empire, from the Penal Code.

Under German law, the surviving members of the editorial team of the satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" would have had to face conviction, as their cartoons could be seen as inciting extremists to commit acts of terror. According to §166 StGB, anyone who "insults the religious or ideological beliefs of others in a way that is likely to disturb public peace" faces fines or imprisonment for up to three years.

This constitutes, according to philosopher Michael Schmidt-Salomon, who submitted the parliamentary petition to abolish §166 StGB on behalf of the Giordano Bruno Foundation (gbs), a "scandalous reversal of the perpetrator-victim principle." He explains: "Public peace is obviously not disturbed by artists who satirize religions while respecting the constitution, but by religious fanatics who have not learned to respond to criticism appropriately."

Abolishing §166 StGB is particularly urgent in light of recent global developments, Schmidt-Salomon argues: "Especially since the Hamas terror attack on Jewish men, women, and children in October 2023, German politics should realize that it is time to take a firm stand against religious extremists and strengthen the profile of the democratic constitutional state. The current coalition has a historic opportunity to eliminate this 'censorship law' (Kurt Tucholsky), which dates back to the German empire, from the German Penal Code."

Sign the Parliamentary Petition Now!

Numerous organizations have joined forces in the "Free Charlie!" campaign to support this demand. The campaign website free-charlie.de, features key arguments against §166 of the Penal Code, as well as satirical cartoons by renowned illustrators who support the campaign.

Civil society is now called upon to act: "Help us remove the 'blasphemy paragraph' from the Penal Code and support our parliamentary petition!" urges the "Free Charlie!" campaign. "This process is a bit more cumbersome than signing a petition on platforms like Campact, Change.org, Avaaz, or openPetition, but parliamentary petitions are the only ones which are legally binding. Please exercise your democratic rights and strengthen the freedom of art, expression, and opinion. Let us demonstrate together that the principle of tolerance must apply equally to devoutly religious individuals as it does to non-religious people! After all, religions are not above the law."

You can co-sign the petition to abolish §166 of the Penal Code here:
https://epetitionen.bundestag.de/content/petitionen/_2024/_01/_05/Petition_161923.html