Christians in Britain are being unfairly targeted by laws intended to prevent religious hate crimes
Christians in Britain are being unfairly targeted by laws intended to prevent religious hate crimes, a new report from Civitas warns.
The report, “A New Inquisition: Religious Persecution in Britain Today,” criticizes the “oppressive oddity” of judicial attempts to regulate religious hatred.
The report was researched and written for the think tank by Jon Davies, former head of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Newcastle. He warns that although the Blasphemy Law was abolished in 2008, it has re-emerged in the guise of the hate laws.
The growth in accusations of hate crimes in recent years threatens freedom of speech by destroying the possibility of “open, sociable and critical” discussions on religion.
The difficulty in clearly defining when a hate crime has been committed has resulted in confusion and judges have become “surrogate theologians,” essentially establishing a “theocracy by the backdoor.”
“Are judges, even judges giving the ‘right’ verdict, so qualified in theology that they feel able to offer doctrinal guidance?” the report states.
“Is the Crown Prosecution Service so prudent in its understanding of ‘religious hatred’ that it should be free, with no penalty for error, to mobilize the power and resources of the state against ordinary citizens who make comments about religion?”
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