ThinkProgress covers the wide-ranging problems with blasphemy laws:

An estimated 100,000 people in Pakistan attended the funeral of a man who was executed for murdering former governor Salman Taseer earlier this month.

Mumtaz Qadri became an unlikely hero when he shot Taseer to death in 2011. Rose petals were thrown at his feet when he walked into the courtroom that sentenced him to death and mourners praised his “bravery” as they carried his coffin through the streets of Rawalpindi.

To understand why a bodyguard-turned-murderer received a rockstar’s last rites lies, one must look to Pakistani history — and its controversial blasphemy laws. ..

But it isn’t just in Pakistan where the charge of offending God sees very real repercussions for people. Such cases can be found all over the world — and not just in Muslim-majority countries either. Here are a few examples.

You can read the full article here.