Islam (Or Any Religion) And Freedom Of Speech

TW: I tread on religion fairly lightly on the blog for a variety of reasons but freedom of speech to me is in terms of societal needs a top fiver (right up there but quite at the same level as separation of church and state amongst others). Islam, the orthodox versions at least, appear to have challenges with two of my favored good governance attributes. Islamic countries in many respects have been shunted aside as an international player in organizations such as the U.N. etc. As their numbers and political influence grow, how will governments who do not agree with some of our Western beliefs intersect?

Btw I assume the U.S. (and hopefully France/UK) would veto the item should it actually pass.

From Economist:
"THE freedom to discuss religion critically was at the root of modern intellectual freedom. It is therefore both depressing and worrying to learn that the United Nations may be in the process of turning the "defamation" of religion into an offence. This would not only make a mockery of the United Nation's charter on human rights; it would mark a serious attempt to reverse the Enlightenment and everything that flowed from it. It would be good to have another Voltaire to summon up the appropriate outrage at this development.

...A powerful bloc of 57 Islamic states is again pushing for the UN to make it a criminal offense to criticise or 'defame' Islam.

...Though the 57 nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a bloc which also dominates the UN's Human Rights Council, have been lobbying for the move since 1999, the signs this time are that the resolution could well be made binding. While the resolution calls for protection against "defamation" of all religions, it only mentions Islam by name.

The resolution deems offending Islamic sensitivities a "serious affront to human dignity" which could lead to "social disharmony", "violations of human rights" and "incitement to religious hatred in general and against Islam in particular". If passed, the resulting binding resolution would find its way into various UN documents all of which would require that UN member states at "local, national and international levels" start restricting the free speech of citizens to prevent public criticism of religious beliefs, particularly Islamic belief"