Evangelical Groups Warn Religious Hate Law Threatens Free Speech

The Religious Hate Law introduced by the British Home Secretary David Blunkett in November 2004 is being widely criticised by evangelicals, religious organisations, journalists, lawyers, human rights campaigners, MPs and even secularists. Approaching to its Third Reading in the House of Commons Monday 7th February, Barnabas Fund, the evangelical Christian group which supports persecuted Christians, has stepped up its action to press MPs to rethink the issue.

In the light of rising tensions between different faiths and the violence originating from hatred, the new draft is designed to ban any actions or speech made by far-right groups and extremists of all religions that could stir up hatred against the followers of other faiths. However, concern has been raised that it in fact creates more tension and less tolerance between faiths. In addition, there is a danger of threatening the right to free speech on topics of religious debate.

According to the briefing pack issued recently by the Barnabas Fund for all British MPs, "the law gives no indication at all as to what kind of language is acceptable and what is not, these subjective decisions are left entirely to the courts."

"Therefore under this law, it could be argued that strong critical remarks about a religious community and its practice, such as the death sentence required for apostates from Islamic Law or the treatment of Dalits (untouchable) in the traditional Hindu caste system are likely to ‘stir-up’ ‘religious hatred’ against them in the minds of those who read or hear these criticism."

Barnabas Fund also cited another example: exclusive claims about salvation through Christ alone or comparing Christianity with other faiths could potentially be accused of inciting hatred against followers of other faiths. This therefore could affect the free preaching of the Gospel.

Paul Cook, Barnabas Fund's Advocacy Manager pointed out the loophole of the current draft, "The government says the law will not be used to prevent missionary activity, religious debate or jokes. However, there is absolutely nothing in the text of this legislation to guarantee this. Government promises are no substitute for a clear distinction between language that incites hate, and legitimate criticism to be written into the law. The law, as it now stands, is wide open for possible misuse by those who would silence reasonable debate."

Sent to MPs along with a full briefing and summary of areas of concern is a joint statement signed by Barnabas Fund and a number of other prominent organisations and individuals including the Evangelical Alliance UK, the National Secular Society and the actor Rowan Atkinson (TV's Mr. Bean) expressing their shared concern about these proposals.

Responding to the last reading of the Bill, Don Horrocks, Head of Public Affairs at the Evangelical Alliance stated in the press release, "It’s hardly surprising that there was overwhelming opposition from all sides of the House to the Home Secretary’s proposals. David Blunkett has not succeeded in reassuring anybody that the new proposals are workable without threatening freedom of speech and actually fomenting the very conditions he apparently feels the need to legislate against. As yet, we have no real answer to the question of why this law is necessary."

For the full briefing paper of the bill, please visit the Barnabas Fund website.