Is hate speech the new blasphemy?

This is the full transcript of a speech given at Camden Town Hall for the We Need to Talk event.

In 1697, 20 year old Edinburgh student Thomas Aikenhead was the last person to be executed for blasphemy in the U.K. Now, “blasphemy” is so passé. Institutions have adopted the handy euphemism “hate speech” to cover their tracks when persecuting and reprimanding speech they believe to be unholy. To illustrate…