The Evangelical Alliance and CARE have commented following the defeat of the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill in the House of Lords Oct. 25th. Christians, religious groups as well as comedians celebrated as the government’s proposed Racial and Religious Hatred Bill was overwhelmingly defeated.
The Bill had been proposed by the government to outlaw incitement to religious hatred; however it has been widely criticised and condemned as going too far.House of Lords’ peers voted by a majority of 149 to support a cross-bench move to implement freedom of speech safeguards into the proposals.
Opponents to the Bill have been hugely diverse, from the Evangelical Alliance and Christian Party, to comedian Rowan Atkinson and various Secular groups have all condemned the Bill as being drawn too widely and have expressed concerns that it could outlaw criticisms of beliefs.
Speaking after the vote in favour of an amendment by Lord Lester, R. David Muir, Director of Public Policy at the Evangelical Alliance said, “Peers have done the only sensible thing with this legislation and forced the Government to rethink its position. The strength of opposition to this Bill in the House of Lords is a timely reminder to ministers of the importance this country places on free speech.”
Don Horrocks, Head of Public Affairs at the Evangelical Alliance added, “We have worked tirelessly with a number of organisations to keep this issue in the headlines. The overwhelming backing of Lord Lester’s amendment is testimony to the belief that, although well-intentioned, this Bill is seriously flawed. We now urge the Government to consult with the relevant people to get the Bill right, which they should have done at the start.”
Meanwhile, Christian social concern charity CARE has welcomed the move by Members of the House of Lords to throw out the Bill, but is warning Christians not to become complacent.
Roger Smith, Head of Public Policy at CARE, said that the Government will still try and push ahead with the Bill and that Christians should be more active than ever in writing to their local MP on the issue.
Smith said, “The Government are ideologically committed to this Bill – they are bound to its passage because it is an election manifesto pledge. They also have the majority in the House of Commons to overturn these welcome changes.
“Now it is for everyone who values freedom of speech and good community relations, not just Christians, to appeal to the good sense of Members of Parliament to support these new protections offered in the Bill when the Government do challenge them in the House of Commons.”We have worked tirelessly with a number of organisations to keep this issue in the headlines. The overwhelming backing of Lord Lester’s amendment is testimony to the belief that, although well-intentioned, this Bill is seriously flawed.
Don Horrocks, Head of Public Affairs EAUK
