Ex-Archbishop of Canterbury Carey Joins Atkinson to Oppose Religious Hatred Bill

The former Archbishop of Canterbury has joined calls against the proposed Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, and also commented last week that the blasphemy law should be axed, and that the Church of England would not seriously present much opposition to such proposals, according to the Guardian newspaper.

|PIC1|Lord Carey was speaking at a cross-party event where the group was unveiling its amendments to the controversial bill that proposes to ban incitement to religious hatred, which will return to the House of Lords on Tuesday.

The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill has been backed by the government saying that the law would only punish those inciting hatred to others of a particular faith, and that it would not punish the faith itself.

However, critics have been greatly concerned that the supporters of the legislation are hoping that it will be used as an extension to the blasphemy laws, which only apply to Christianity, reports the Guardian.

The former Archbishop stated that he would give his full backing to the amendment tabled by Lord Ayebury, a Liberal Democrat peer, who hopes to scrap the existing blasphemy law.

Lord Carey said, “I don't think within the Church of England there will be much opposition. It seems to be that the time has come to look at it very critically and say it's redundant. Then we even out the playing field. It needs to be removed and maybe if it had been then we would have had a better bill before us now.”

Lord Carey also revealed that he defended Monty Python’s ‘The Life Of Brian’ and did not object to Jerry Springer The Opera saying, “It's good for religion to be knocked and challenged ... we may need that criticism.”

|QUOTE|A spokesman for the general synod of the Church of England reported, “We would not stand in the way of repeal of the law as long as something else was in place beforehand.”

Huge protests were seen earlier this month as thousands of Christians from the Evangelical Alliance UK, the African & Caribbean Evangelical Alliance, Lawyer’s Christian Fellowship and the Christian Party united in a prayer rally outside Parliament calling for the Religious Hatred Bill to be rejected as it stands.

The government has however, stated that it would use the Parliament Act to force through the measure if necessary, and so this has led peers opposed to the Bill to seek a compromise amended version.

Those behind proposed amendments have argued that the altered legislation would still prevent incitement to hatred whilst still protecting freedom of speech.

The amendments have added in that the prosecutors in an action would still have to prove criminal intent. In addition, that people may only be prosecuted if their words or behaviour were perceived as threatening and not merely abusive and insulting, as it stands at present.

|TOP|One of the most important alterations proposed is that the legislation should explicitly state that freedom of speech be safeguarded.

Joining the cries for the current model of legislation to be rejected was comedian and actor, Rowan Atkinson. He stated that the law would be so “sinister and intimidating” and that it would impose self-censorship.

Atkinson referred to the Australian state of Victoria, which banned the vilification of religion. A witch, who was a jailed paedophile, brought a claim against a Salvation Army course on Christianity for prisoners because it “vilified” his “Wiccan” beliefs.

Rev Katei Kirby, the African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance (ACEA) Chief Executive told, “It affects everyone so deeply. This is not just about doctrine. This is not even about theological opposition. This is about our basic freedom to speak and to preach.

“It affects people's freedom to discuss and to critique anything because it might upset or offend somebody else and that is very serious.”

The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill goes before the House of Lords once again on Tuesday 25th October 2005.