The BBC reports that the UK government has survived a backbench revolt over its plans for a new law to ban the incitement to religious hatred.

An amendment from a coalition of Tory and Lib Dem MPs to block the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill failed by 303 votes to 246, giving a majority of 57.

Critics, including comic actor Rowan Atkinson, say the measure will limit freedom of expression and stop them from telling religious jokes.

Index on Censorship has more on the bill which is now in the committee stage where Home Secretary, Charles Clarke claims that the bill’s critics will be able to voice their concerns about the threat to free expression posed by the bill - although I didn’t notice any commitment to actually take these concerns into account.

The article goes on to outline why this is such a dangerous piece of legislation…

The Bill contains no definition of “religious belief” and the government has conceded that it would cover members of the African religion whose adherents were convicted in June of cruelty to a girl of eight they believed was a witch.

Some interpretations of the bill suggest that the fact that the accused person did not intend to stir up hatred would not be a defence, even if there was only a ‘likelihood’ that their actions would provoke hatred of religious groups. The uncertainty surrounding the law’s reach would have a ‘chilling effect’ on free comment about religious groups and their practises, say some legal experts.

This bill is badly thought out, badly drafted and was dreamt up by Labour primarily to try and win over Muslim voters after Blair’s little adventure in Iraq.

Trackback this Post | Feed on comments to this Post