Freedom of Expression, Offense and Religion

Abstract

This paper discusses confusions that make up some of the background of the conflict between freedom of expression and religion mentioned in the European Council's report "Living Together: Combining Diversity and Freedom in the 21st-century." The first part considers the difficulties of Mill´s harm principle and Feinberg´s offense principle, and underlines some problems of the language of offense. A second part identifies two levels of debate about freedom of expression. Confusing these two levels makes it difficult to defend freedom of expression against the demands of more restrictions against it.