Are religious hate speech and hate crimes protected by freedom of religion?

It depends on the country.

For example, the UK is very sensitive about hate speech. Whether in a religious context or not, one can get even prison time for verbal attacks on minorities including LGBT people in public.

In the Netherlands, the scope of freedom of speech is wider than in the US. For example, if you say “asshole!” to a police officer you may get fined for it, but not for “I think you are an asshole.” Many Americans would be mortified if they heard how freely the general public speaks with the cops if they do not agree with what they are doing. So I cannot see anyone getting prosecuted for religious hate speech.

In France, you wouldn’t dare to. France is strictly secular and they would not have any tolerance for religious hate speech.

Swedish are peace-loving people who hate confrontations. They are proud of the fact that for more than 200 years their country has not been involved in a war. Therefore religious hate speech in Sweden is unimaginable to me. Hence I am not sure what Swed would do with people who make religious hate speech from a legal standpoint, however, I am fairly sure Swedish people would privately have a good laugh.

And for the US…

In the US you can perhaps get away with any kind of speech and even attract followers. For example, a group can claim “the sky is red” and ask for respect for their opinions, and call media that cite blue as the color of the sky biased.

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