Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, for giving us an opportunity to make absolutely clear our sense of revulsion at the evil acts that he described and our determination to root out that vile behaviour from our society. This has been an important opportunity to make our views clear. It might be helpful to see what would happen if the words proposed in the amendment were added to the Bill. New Section 29A, entitled ““Meaning of ‘religious hatred’, would read:"““In this Part ‘religious hatred’ means hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to religious belief or lack of religious belief and shall include the desecration of symbols or sacramental objects that are important to such a group of persons””." That emphasises the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza; we must be very careful about adding these words in the context in which they are proposed. That point was also made by the noble Viscount, Lord Bledisloe. Although I sympathise with what has been said by the noble Lord, Lord Harris of Haringey, I fall back on the wise advice of the noble Lord, Lord Desai. We may be straying beyond the intention for which the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Newcastle quite rightly expressed his sympathy, but in considering these words, we would be extending protection—dare I even mention it?—to the swastika and various other evil symbols of a decadent past civilisation. I caution the noble Lord about the wording of the amendment while expressing total support for his objective, which I strongly endorse.