RELIGIOUS OFFENCES
JEW | 30.12.2003 14:15
The Board of Deputies has welcomed the Government’s reply to the report from the Religious Offences Committee of the House of Lords. The report examined a number of issues, including the law on blasphemy and the case for introducing new laws to combat incitement to religious hatred.
The Board of Deputies’ evidence to the Select Committee is cited at several points in both the report and the Home Office response. The Home Office response broadly reflects the Board’s evidence. Both the Board and the Home Office recognise the difficulties of updating the law of blasphemy in order to protect faiths other than Christianity, and consider it better to retain the existing law pending a full debate on whether it should be repealed. On the issue of religious incitement, the Home Office supports the case for new legislation if a suitable opportunity arises in the future.
Board Director General Neville Nagler commented, “These are complex issues. Although the Jewish community is covered by the existing laws against incitement to racial hatred, these have proved relatively ineffective and do not protect most other faiths. We have therefore supported the case for new powers to deal with religious incitement, and hope that the Government will reintroduce the proposals that were dropped from the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. On the issue of blasphemy, we believe that, in view of the inherent contradictions in extending the law to other faiths, it could be better to retain the current position. We also support the proposal to update the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860 in order to provide greater protection for places of worship.”
JEW
Homepage:
http://www.bod.org.uk/cgi-bin/archive/archive.pl?id=556
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