Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, for raising this issue. As he has identified, Section 2 of the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act provides protection from low-level public mischief taking place in churches of the Established Church to other registered places of worship. As a point of information, it is important that we recognise that 1,587 non-Christian places of worship were registered under the Religious Places of Worship Act 1855 at the time of the Select Committee’s report. Therefore, they, too, are eligible under the ECJA for protection. Unlike blasphemy and a number of the other offences to which the noble Lord has referred in the past, this provision is used, as is demonstrated by the figures cited by the noble Lord. The Select Committee on Religious Offences heard evidence from the Director of Public Prosecutions that it provides a route to prosecution for some forms of undesirable behaviour which would not be covered by other parts of the law. So it is not otiose. Although prosecutions have been few in recent times, the Director of Public Prosecutions told the committee—I am sure the noble Lord will remember this—that it was used sufficiently regularly for it to be considered a useful offence. We are dealing with a single-issue Bill today and, as with blasphemy, we are very keen to have a single message and to convey it with clarity. It is for that reason that we consider it unhelpful to cloud the issue with further matters which may cause unnecessary confusion. It is quite right that these and some of the other issues to which we will turn shortly may well be properly the subject of further discussion, but not in this Bill.