Denmark

A Constitutional monarchy, the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC) is designated State religion in Denmark, and the Church receives several privileges in society.

“Blasphemy” law reintroduced

In June 2017, Denmark abolished its de facto blasphemy provisions contained within the criminal code. However, following a series of Quran burnings in the summer of 2023, the government of Denmark brought a proposal (L133) to parliament seeking to criminalize the inappropriate treatment of religious texts and objects of all religions. Following criticism of the original proposal, the government presented a new proposal that would limit the criminalization to religious texts and exclude religious objects of registered religious communities.

On 7 December 2023, the Danish parliament voted to amend the Danish Penal Code (Straffeloven (LBK nr 1360 af 28/09/2022) to add subsection 2 to Article 110(e) to criminalize “inappropriate treatment of a text that has a significant religious importance to a recognized religious community, or an object, that appears to be such a text.”

Those convicted under the provision could face a fine or imprisonment of up to 2 years.

The amendment does not apply to the Faroe Islands or Greenland.