Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

I intend to speak briefly in support of these amendments, because they are not wrecking amendments—which some noble Lords seem to believe—they are properly focused. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Lester, and my noble friend Lord Hunt on a helpful amendment, because at least it can be read as a whole. It is a matter for the Government how to amend the Bill, if they are willing to, but to fillet out religious hatred from racial hatred and to recognise their important distinctions is very valuable. The first important distinction is that the first requirement of the Bill should be that a citizen should be guilty of the offence of stirring up hatred on religious grounds only if he or she actually intends to stir up religious hatred. It will not be difficult to recognise those far-right activities to which the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, objected. They will be well and truly caught by the amendment. What will not be caught, nor should be caught, is the much vaguer concept as to whether something is ““likely”” to stir up racial hatred. That is too vague. The evil people whom the Bill rightly seeks to catch are people who intend to stir up racial hatred and usually there is not the slightest doubt that that is their intention, and British juries will find it perfectly easy to recognise them and convict them. The second reason that I strongly support the amendment is that it tackles, in paragraph 29J of the amendment, the need to protect both freedom of speech and freedom of religion. It expressly states that, ““discussion, criticism”” and even,"““dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular religions or the beliefs or practices of their adherents””," are expressly permitted, provided that one is not ““intending””, to the satisfaction of the jury and the court, to stir up racial hatred. Furthermore, ““proselytising””, for one’s own religion, and urging others to turn away from their religion is also expressly permitted. That is what the preaching of the Gospel and the contents of many sermons rightly seek to do. They usually do it in measured language in circumstances where no one would dream of bringing a prosecution—but occasionally the language may become more inflammatory and we do not want the chilling effect on public discussion, whether from the pulpit or in the bar or anywhere else, of an excessive Bill. Although the amendments might seem sweeping in some ways, they focus on those two points: intention, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The Government can have their Bill. They will be able to prosecute correctly those who genuinely intend in an evil way and in a threatening manner to stir up religious hatred, but the amendments will not catch what we wish to avoid them catching and I strongly recommend them to the Committee.