by Stefan Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
LONDON (Worthy News) – British Christian leaders and politicians fear a new working group advising the government on “anti-Muslim hatred /Islamophobia” will lead to blasphemy legislation that would further limit freedom of expression.
In a statement obtained by Worthy News, Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, said that the “rise in anti-Muslim hate crime is unacceptable and has no place in our society. That’s why we’ve committed to defining Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia as a crucial step forward in tackling it and creating a society where everyone feels safe and welcome.”
However, David Alton, who chairs Britain’s Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, warned against pursuing any semblance of blasphemy laws in the country.
“The U.K. should tread very carefully before incorporating anything which resembles a blasphemy law into British Statute,” Alton said in published remarks.
“In jurisdictions which have such laws, I have personally seen how they can be misused against people of other beliefs or no belief – including death sentences and long-term imprisonment.”
It was a reference to countries such as Pakistan and Iran, where Christians and others have languished in prisons for years for alleged blasphemy against Islam while some have been killed.
Danny Webster, director of advocacy for the U.K. Evangelical Alliance, said Islamophobia should be set within the broader, legal understanding of the freedom to disagree with those of other faiths.
ANTI-MUSLIM HATRED
“Any definition of anti-Muslim hatred, or Islamophobia, has to safeguard the freedom of others to criticize religious belief and support the freedom for people to change their beliefs,” Webster stressed.
If a definition of Islamophobia means that views about perceived identity can be subjectively classed as “hatred,” then this would limit freedom of expression and religious belief, he stressed.
“It is vital that we encourage good relationships between people of different faiths, and this is fostered by accepting deep differences and allowing free expression, rather than either criminalizing disagreement or pretending it doesn’t exist,” Webster added.
The advisory group’s chair, Dominic Grieve KC, admitted in a statement seen by Worthy News that “Islamophobia is as challenging to define as its existence is undoubted.”
However, he stressed, “We need to balance addressing the lived experience of those who are victims of it and the right of British Muslims to feel heard and protected as equal citizens of our country.”
He added that these rights should be “with the unwavering requirement to maintain freedom of thought and expression under law for all. I welcome the government’s decision to bring forward this needed work. And I am hopeful that this commission will come up with principles in defining Islamophobia which are compatible with those requirements and can thus help support positive change in our country.”
The government suggested that the advisory group is needed as in the year ending March 2024, “there were 140,561 hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales,” although that was a “5 percent decrease compared with the previous year.”
Yet Alton called it a “ploy” to introduce blasphemy laws that Christians fear could lead to persecution of non-Muslims in Britain and beyond.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told U.S. envoys that Ukraine is willing to give up its bid to join NATO if it helps bring an end to the war with Russia, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
American authorities have detained “a person of interest” following a deadly shooting at Brown University in the U.S. state of Rhode Island that officials said killed two students and wounded nine others, prompting a campus lockdown and renewed debate over security at the nation’s universities.
Australian police said Monday that a father and son carried out a deadly antisemitic terror attack at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing 15 people and wounding about 40 others, in what officials described as the country’s worst gun violence in nearly three decades.
An uneasy calm returned Monday to the streets of Amsterdam after Dutch police said they arrested 22 people following clashes with anti-Israel protesters outside one of the world’s most famous concert halls.
Tens of thousands of Hungarians carrying toys and torches rallied in Budapest, demanding the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over child abuse scandals at state-run youth detention centers.
The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that a targeted airstrike in Gaza City killed senior Hamas commander Raad Saad, one of the terror group’s most influential remaining military leaders, in what Israeli officials described as a direct response to repeated ceasefire violations by Hamas.
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a sweeping executive order aimed at preventing states from regulating artificial intelligence, asserting that a fragmented regulatory landscape threatens U.S. innovation and global competitiveness—particularly against China.