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November 23, 2004
Religious Discrimination
There has been recent press speculation that the Government intends to introduce a law against religious hatred, possibly under the guise of setting up a new Commission for Equality and Human Rights. If it does, it will encourage religious extremism by shielding religious leaders from legitimate criticism. It will reverse the triumph of liberalism and free enquiry over entrenched authority and permit religious dogma to go unchallenged. And it will encourage religious fanatics to 'play the religion card'.
Trevor Philips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, recently found himself under attack for Islamophobia because he had the temerity to appeal to Muslim leaders to reiterate their opposition to terrorism. And for her audacity in criticising the inferior status of women under Islam, Guardian columnist, Polly Toynbee, has been declared the ‘Most Islamophobic media personality’ by the Islamic Human Rights Commission. It led, she says, to a bombardment of emails ‘each one more luridly threatening than the last’. Read on.
Posted by David Green at November 23, 2004 01:45 PM
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