Insulting Catholics in Poland can get you 2 years in jail?
Not sure about the penalties, but insulting any religious group is illegal in other countries too, such as France or Germany.
In UK practically nothing is legal, as free speech in that country is just an abstract concept and you can get in trouble even for expressing negative view on kinds of foods others eat, let alone their religious views.
Therein lies the rub: one man's critique is another man's insult
I think there are ways to tell the difference.
If I say
Catholics killed millions of people then it is not an insult but a fact.
If I say
Catholics are "a murderous cult" then we have a situation stemming from the following doubts:
- is Catholicism a cult or a religion?
- do the Catholics murder people as a group and as a matter of habit/policy/credo? (notice present tense)
Since neither is true I'd say we might be dealing with an insult.