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UK: Religious hate law clears Commons

Jul 12, 2005 7:17 pm By Robert Spencer

Over the last few days some have argued that the London attacks would stiffen the British spine; others predicted that the appeasement would accelerate. Now here is the first indication that Britain is choosing the dhimmi path. This is the first step toward the death of what was once a great civilization — unless the House of Lords can save the day. From the BBC, with thanks to TS:

Government attempts to clamp down on expressions of religious hatred have cleared the Commons, but are set for a rocky ride in the House of Lords.

MPs gave the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill a third reading by 301 votes to 229, a majority of 72.

Shadow minister Dominic Grieve said the bill would not improve race relations.

But Minister Paul Goggins said: “I believe we need to take on the hate mongers, whether they are terrorists or whether they are extremists.”

‘Catastrophically flawed’

The bill would create a new offence of incitement to religious hatred and would apply to comments made in public or in the media, as well as through written material.

The plans, which have failed to make it through Parliament twice before, cover words or behaviour intended or likely to stir up religious hatred. Jews and Sikhs are already covered by race-hate laws.

They will now undergo scrutiny in the House of Lords.

Home Office Minister Mr Goggins described the bill as small, tightly focused with “not much room for manoeuvre”, although he accepted it was “not the whole answer”.

“But there is a gap and we seek to close that gap through this legislation,” he said.

But shadow attorney general Mr Grieve warned that the legislation remained “catastrophically flawed”.

Satanists protected?

It would not improve race relations and would prevent the lawful expression of differences of view, he said.

“If the government really wants to tackle this issue, it is going to have to get away from the promises made to various people of some equal playing field, accept that religion and race are different, start to look at the real nature of the problem and try to come up with some constructive solutions.”

He also argued that a failure to define religion in the bill meant sects, including Satanists, Scientologists and believers in female genital mutilation would be protected.

He said the measures could struggle to get through the House of Lords….

Liberal Democrat spokesman Alistair Carmichael said he was “embarrassed” that elected representatives were sending a bill to the Lords “that is so bad at this stage” when so much time had been spent on it.

“It is a bill that’s ill-conceived in its thinking, it will be dangerous in its execution and I’m confident we have not seen the last of it,” he said.

ADDENDUM: When I saw Hugh’s comment below I realized I had forgotten an essential part of this story. Some have suggested that the Qur’an itself, with its violent hatred of non-Muslims, would be banned by this new law. However, that is not the case. The Muslim Council of Britain, evidently fearing the same thing, laid aside its Islam-is-a-religion-of-peace dogma long enough to obtain a specific exception for the Qur’an — a telling indication that they know full well what it really says. From The Muslim Weekly, with thanks to Nicolei:

A delegation of Muslim leaders and senior scholars met Home Office Minister Paul Goggins this week to seek clarification on the Incitement to Religious Hatred Bill.

The delegation requested the meeting to seek clarification on a number of matters relating to the bill. Recent confusion regarding freedoms to deliver khutbahs and to recite and quote from the Qur’an and ahadith had raised concerns in the community that dawah and propagatory practices may be curtailed under the new legislation.

The Minister assured the Muslim community that there was nothing in the bill that would prevent scholars from delivering their sermons or from reciting from the Qu’ran and ahadith. The Minister reiterated that what the bill would do is criminalise incitement to religious hatred against individuals.

Sir Iqbal Sacranie stated that he was at eased that matters that had caused some obfuscation in the community had been cleared.

‘We’re happy that the Home Office has agreed to consult the faith communities when preparing the guidelines to the bill. Muslim scholars may proceed uninhibited in the performance of their duties’, he said. The delegation made suggestions to the minister to [the effect] that it may be preferable to totally exempt the holy text, which will include the Qur’an and the hadiths from the remit of the Act.

The minister said, it would be difficult to exempt scriptures because there is likelihood that extreme groups like the BNP may use verses of the Qur’an to incite hatred against the Muslim community. Therefore, the very purpose of the Act would be defeated.

Ah. So whether or not the Qur’an incites religious hatred all depends on who is reading it.

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