Religious hate bill published
Plans to create a new offence of inciting racial hatred have been published by the Government.
The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill will enable authorities to charge people with inciting religious hatred for the first time.
It would apply where “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour are used by someone who intends to stir up hatred against a group of people defined by reference to religious belief or lack of religious belief, or it is likely that such hatred will be stirred up”.
Whilst the bill is set to be welcomed by Muslim groups, a powerful coalition of comedians and libertarians are set to argue that it will infringe free speech.
Home Office Minister, Paul Goggins, said: “People of all backgrounds and faiths have a right to live free from hatred, racism and extremism. Only by tackling such issues head on will we preserve the tolerance, fairness and inclusiveness which are such vital parts of our society.
“This bill, supported by a wide range of faith and secular organisations, takes up that challenge. It will not rule out criticism of religion, or outlaw the telling of religious jokes. It is about protecting individuals from hatred, and the fear of violence and harassment created by it.”
Attorney General Lord Goldsmith said that the bill was “about protecting people from hatred, not faiths from criticism.”
And the Government specifically emphasised it would not “prohibit people, including artists and performers, from offending, criticising or ridiculing faiths, but would protect people from incitement to hatred against them because of their faith”.
Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said that the measure was “long overdue”.
“This bill will – when enacted – finally end the current hierarchy of rights whereby members of the Jewish and Sikh faiths alone are protected against incitement because they are covered by the existing racial incitement laws.”
He added: “This particular piece of legislation has been the subject of a great deal of wilful misinterpretation by many assorted critics. We hope that it is now clear that criticism or ridicule of faith will not be made an offence under this law and that safeguards have been built in to ensure this.
“The proposed legislation is instead intended to target those who were exploiting the existing loophole in our laws to deliberately stir up hatred against members of faith communities.”
But, opponents suggest that the new offence could prevent criticism or debate of religion and open up the possibility of different faiths resorting to the law over their differences.
Equally, comedians – including Rowan Atkinson – are concerned that the legislation could move religion off-limits for humour.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said that the law would be “massively counter-productive”.
Mr Davis said: “This proposed law would be massively counter-productive to its stated aims and seriously undermine freedom of speech. Religion, unlike race, is a matter of personal choice and therefore appropriate for open debate.
“Aggravated crimes against religious groups are already protected under existing law whilst this new law would technically prevent what many people may regard as reasonable criticism of devil worshippers and religious cults.”
