“The religious bigots are at it again, and this time it’s closer to home. Iqbal Sacranie, leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, recently wrote to Charles Kennedy threatening to withdraw Muslim votes from the Liberal Democrats unless the party drops its opposition to the incitement to religious hatred law…. I sincerely hope that Charles Kennedy continues to back Evan Harris and that he has the balls to tell Mr. Sacranie where he can shove his Muslim votes.”
Category Archives: Religious hatred law
They do not vilify our ideas, they vilify us
The right to blasphemy is not the right to religious hate. Shakira Hussein draws on her own multi-religious background to challenge her childhood hero, Salman Rushdie. (Contains a useful comment on the Australian religious vilification case.)
Open Democracy, 22 February 2005
For Rushdie’s article see here.
MCB calls on MPs to vote for equal treatment under the law
The Muslim Council of Britain has written to party leaders and all members of parliament laying out its case for supporting the proposed legislation to prohibit incitement to religious hatred.
In a letter sent to all MPs, the Secretary-General of the MCB asked everyone to consider: “The question that is not being answered is why certain faith communities should be allowed to suffer unjustly and unfairly because they happen to be of a different faith. Surely, it is important for members of parliament to send a powerful message clearly stating that people of all faiths and none should be treated equally under the law? The proposal is not to create a new type of law but to extend existing laws in order to close the current loophole in legislation, thus ending the hierarchy of rights that we have at present.”
The Lib Dems and the Muslim Council of Britain
Lord Lester writes to the New Statesman (7 February 2005):
“Nick Cohen purports to describe a meeting in my chambers. The meeting, held at the request of the Muslim Council of Great Britain [sic], was to discuss the government’s proposed offence of incitement to religious hatred. The views attributed to me are not what I said.”
For Cohen’s article see here.
But it seems that the only other Lib Dem present at the meeting was leading National Secular Society member Evan Harris (see the MCB’s letter to Charles Kennedy). So who could have provided Cohen with his distorted account of the proceedings? You, as they say, do the maths.
MCB letter to Charles Kennedy
The Muslim Council of Britain writes to Charles Kennedy raising concerns about his party’s attitude to the proposed law banning religious hatred, and complains that details of an MCB meeting with the Lib Dems were leaked to Nick Cohen for his article in the New Statesman (see here).
Now who was responsible for that leak, we wonder. Couldn’t possibly have been leading National Secular Society member Evan Harris, could it? Of course not, and we would never suggest otherwise.
The MCB also complains that Cohen’s account of the meeting was “shamelessly dishonest” and that he failed to contact the MCB to hear their side of the story. Investigative journalism at its best, eh?
See here.
Making Hussein safe
“How can it be right to stir up hatred against people simply because they belong to a particular religious group, or because they don’t share your religious beliefs? How can it be right that this remains unchallenged, particularly when it can lead to violence? Some of the most vocal criticisms against our proposal come from the left – the very people you might have thought would be the most ardent supporters. They deride it as an attack on free speech …”
Fiona MacTaggart argues that religious hatred laws are needed.
The Islamists’ favourite Brits
“Tony Blair’s staunch support for President Bush over Iraq has done the Labour Prime Minister great electoral damage in Britain, not least among the country’s 1.8 million Muslims. Despite being traditional Labour voters, many are now threatening at the forthcoming general election to support either the Liberal Democrats, who have taken a strong line against the war, or Respect, an alliance between the far-left MP George Galloway and Islamic fundamentalists. The British government’s reaction has been a panicky attempt to appease the Muslim community.”
Melanie Phillips opposes the new law against inciting religious hatred and attacks Mike O’Brien’s article in the Muslim Weekly.
MCB calls for end to misrepresentation of proposed incitement law
The Muslim Council of Britain will today be joining the Commission for Racial Equality, the British Humanist Association and Justice to explain the need for legislation to protect faith communities from Incitement to Religious Hatred.
“It is our view that the public debate on this issue to date has caused more confusion about what the purpose of the legislation is, than shed light on what it is trying to achieve. Primary among the fears and concerns expressed is the belief that our right to freedom of speech is threatened by the proposal being put forward by the Government. Further to this there are people who have been ringing alarms bells about alleged curtailment of the right to criticise religious beliefs. This is emphatically not the case. The proposed legislation is meant to protect believers from incitement and not protect their faiths from criticism,” said Iqbal Sacranie, the Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain.
A presentation has been organised by the above named organisations in the House of Commons, for parliamentarians and journalists. The organisers will seek to clarify the purpose behind the proposed legislation. At this event the Secretary-General of the MCB will explain the need for the proposed amendment and clarify that “we are under no illusions that the proposed Bill offers protection to religious beliefs.”
Let the people of England speak
Rod Liddle in the Spectator, complaining about the arrest of Nick Griffin, the proposed law against religious hatred and, as the headline on the cover puts it, “kowtowing to Islam”.
We need protection from the pedlars of religious hatred
Iqbal Sacranie of the Muslim Council of Britain replies to Charles Moore, in defence of the proposed law banning incitement to religious hatred.
Daily Telegraph, 14 December 2004
Over at Jihad Watch, Robert Spencer is not impressed: “What this law does is make Muslims a protected class, beyond criticism, precisely at the moment when Britain needs to examine, honestly and thoughtfully, the implications of having admitted into the country a large number of people with greater allegiance to the Sharia than to the present British state. The long night for Britain is just beginning.”