Victory on Anti-terrorism Bill

We are delighted that following two resounding defeats in the House of Lords the Government has abandoned its efforts to introduce the new law of incitement to religious hatred. We must give thanks to God and also recognise that once again Christian prayer and letter- writing played a crucial part.

Several Mosques and some Churches have been attacked following the events of September 11th. Of course, everyone accepts that the Government's plans were well intentioned, but such attacks are already illegal. We believe that a new criminal offence would have harmed rather than protected religious believers.

Missionary Organisations and Christian groups have been very concerned about the proposed new law on incitement to religious hatred. They feared that the law could be used to gag the gospel. They worried that criticism of other faiths could be construed as "hatred". Powerful cults and gay rights groups could also have used the hatred law to silence their critics.

You only have to consider what has recently happened in Christian broadcasting to realise how dangerous a new "hate crime" could be. The Radio Authority has recently given a severe warning to Premier Christian Radio because it broadcast sermons which attacked the occult. The authority's action followed 14 complaints from the "Mysticism and Occultism Federation".

Just last year The Christian Channel was fined for broadcasting a statement which said that homosexuality was an "abomination" according to the Bible.

The proposed incitement to religious hatred law would have allowed the police to arrest anyone they believed was inciting religious hatred. The police could also have raided premises which they believed contained literature promoting religious hatred. The decision as to whether or not to prosecute would have been given to one man: the Attorney General. The law carried up to a seven year prison sentence.

It will be important to be vigilant in the future. Prominent Conservatives and Liberal Democrats support the new offence in principle. They just disagreed with the Government's wording and the use of emergency legislation.

We must argue the case to ensure that this proposal is dropped for good.

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