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THE Church of England “might be open to the blasphemy law being abolished”, a spokesman said yesterday. But he urged “real caution” in proceeding without careful thought. He said that the Church would agree only when there had been time to assess “the consequences of the new incitement to hatred legislation, which continues to expand”.
As MPs on Wednesday debated a repeal of blasphemy law as part of the Criminal Justice Bill, the Justice Minister, Maria Eagle, said that the Government had “every sympathy” with abolishing blasphemy offences, and would review the law. An amendment which would abolish the law against “scurrilous vilification” of Christianity fell after Labour MPs were ordered to vote against it.
Downing Street confirmed that ministers are now in talks with Churches. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said that it was necessary to consult “particularly the Anglican Church”, before coming to a final decision. He said that the Government would move amendments in the House of Lords after consultation.
The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, and the former Bishop of Oxford, Lord Harries, were among signatories of a letter to The Daily Telegraph urging all MPs to support Wednesday’s cross-party amendment to the current Criminal Justice Bill.
The common law of blasphemous libel protects Christian (mainly Anglican) beliefs, but not people or communities, says the letter. “Most religious commentators are of the view that the Almighty does not need the ‘protection’ of such a law.”
The signatories, who include the author Philip Pullman, the historian Dr David Starkey, and the comedian Ricky Gervais, made their stand in the wake of the case in Sudan where a British teacher was imprisoned for blaspheming against Islam after naming a teddy bear Muhammad.
“In the light of the widespread outrage at the conviction of the British teacher for blasphemy in Sudan over the name of a teddy bear, is it not time to repeal our own blasphemy law?” the letter says.
Lord Harries said on Tuesday that he stood by his views as expressed in a debate in the House of Lords in 2005, which was why he was backing this current amendment.
In that debate on the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, Lord Harries made it clear that he did not support the law of blasphemy and blasphemous libel, but that at the time he supported the view that the issue of religious hatred should be dealt with separately, and first.
In the debate, he said: “I could not agree more with the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, that God does not need a law to protect him.”
This week’s amendment was backed by the Christian think tank Ekklesia, which had called for the repeal of the offences last November, after an attempt by an individual to seek a judicial review in the High Court of the decision by a magistrates’ court to refuse a private prosecution against the BBC for broadcasting Jerry Springer — the Opera.
The co-director of Ekklesia, Simon Barrow, said: “Privileging one religion above other views is indefensible in a democracy, and for Christians there is the added irony that Christ was himself arraigned on a charge of blasphemy. Using the law to attack opinions about belief is to misuse it, and suggesting that God needs protection against free speech makes no theological sense at all.”
The amendment was being tabled by the Liberal Democrat front-bench MP Evan Harris, the former Labour Cabinet minister Frank Dobson, and the Conservative back-bench MP David Wilshire.
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