What freedom of speech do religious leaders have when their religious speech discriminates others? Freedom of religion and freedom of expression may collide with the right to equality (including the principle of non-discrimination). Religious plurality and social polarization in Dutch society induce conflict between these fundamental rights.
This article reviews two legal cases where an imam and a minister were accused of discrimination of homosexuals. From this jurisprudence the authors deduce three principles in judicial decisions weighing freedom of religion and freedom of speech against equality rights: interpretative reluctance, cautiousness and the position of the religious leader.

Provocative anti-religious articles and pictures in the communist newspaper De Tribune incited the Christian majority in the Netherlands’ Parliament in the early thirties of last century to penalizing blasphemy. Jan Donner, minister of Justice, convinced that legal proceedings in reference to blasphemy as such will not stand before court, introduced the crime of brutalizing believing people by mocking their God.