Editorial Bear

UK mulls hate law reform as far-right leader cleared
Saturday November 11, 08:21 AM

LONDON (Reuters) - Racial and religious hatred laws may need reform after a court cleared a far-right leader for the second time this year over a speech in which he called Islam a "wicked, vicious faith", ministers said.


Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, was found not guilty on Friday of inciting racial hatred during secretly filmed speeches in 2004.

Two senior ministers said the comments had upset most Britons and British Muslims needed reassurance that the laws would protect them.

"Any preaching of religious or racial hatred will offend mainstream opinion in this country and I think we have got to do whatever we can to root it out," Chancellor Gordon Brown told the BBC.

Now, I don't like the BNP.

I think they're offensive idiots who are still pushing the blackshirt agenda in the only arena it still has feet. The poorest and most marginalised parts of the country.

But the fact is, people have the right to free speech.

We might not like it. In fact, it might make us gnash our teeth and be disgusted at a bigoted, idiotic slice of Britain we liked to think we'd grown out of. But the fact is the comments Nick Griffin made attacked religion, not race, and called for political, not violent action.

The law is very clear that what he said, while offensive to many, was not illegal.

If Gordon Brown wants to change the law to make such comments illegal, I hope he's willing to hold the whole country to these standards. The next time a muslim spokesman calls for action against Isreal or Judaism in Hyde Park, I hope he winds up in court. The next time Rowan Atkinson stands up on stage and makes a throwaway joke about Jesus, are we going to sling him in jail?

The fact is, we all know what will happen. In a Britain pandering more and more to extremist factions, any law passed banning comment on religion will only be enforced on one side. Make a comment about Islam and face the judge. Meanwhile, crowds will gather in Finsbury Park Mosque and listen to hate filled rants against Christianity and Judiasm.

It's all very Orwellian. When it comes to racial equality in Great Britain, some races are more equal than others.

Stop the hate. Stop the rascism. But please, for the love of all that's good and sane, stop it on both sides. Don't marginalise the Christians and Jews of this country and turn a blind eye to what's going on in the muslim community. We don't want to encourage rascism, but when British citizens blow themselves up in the Tube in the name of Islam, we have to wake up, smell the coffee and face the fact that we have a problem and in the name of political correctness, we're pretending it doesn't exist.