Marcel Berlins today outlines the pros and cons of the proposed law against inciting religious hatred.

Pros:

• To resolve the anomoly that the current law against racial hatred defends Jews and Sikhs, but not, say, Muslims.
• A jury should easily be able to distinguish between legitimate criticism of a religion and a personal attack on individuals in a group.

Cons:

• The government is doing this mainly to appeal to the Muslim vote.
• Criticising a religion is a comment on an organisation, not a person, and that should be acceptable.
• It may be used against those legitimately criticising a religion.

Fascinating intellectual stuff. But I’m sure there’s one item missing from the Pros list: surely inciting religious hatred should be stamped out.

Tags: race, religion, law