Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, on an interesting maiden speech. Let me be honest: I begin with a prejudice. I have always opposed the blasphemy Acts. They have proved to be irrelevant and they are cumbersome. Normal public order controls can deal with disorder at religious services or attacks on religion. The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill is another form of the blasphemy laws. And as the former Archbishop of Canterbury, the noble and most reverend Lord, Lord Carey of Clifton, pointed out, it will be a lawyers’ paradise. But more fundamentally, I do not believe that religion is helped by the protection of the state in this specific manner. By its very nature, religion—whatever the sect or creed—inevitably produces controversy. Religions lay down moral rules about the status of women, be it in the ministry or society at large. They lay down rules and moral codes about sexuality and much more. Inevitably it produces argument. Religious groups should operate in an open society and define their dogmas and ideas without the protection of the state. It would force people to think—particularly about religion—and to justify their opinion in the open market place. I remind noble Lords that the Christian Church achieved its most notable success when it was persecuted by the state. My own creed, the Anglican creed, which has washed its dirty linen in public for about 150 years, has not suffered as a result. Certainly, as the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Winchester, pointed out, when laws were laid down in the latter part of the nineteenth century, it did not help the Anglican Church. I therefore deeply oppose this Bill. It will be bad for religion. We ought to look back to the early Church, to the time of religion’s greatest success. As Tertullian said—I will bet that this is the first time that Tertullian has been quoted in this House—"““The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church””." So I oppose the provision. I think that it will be bad for religion—bad for Islam and bad for Anglicanism. It will be a hunting ground for fanatics. I therefore hope that noble Lords will join me in the Lobby in voting against the Bill.