The House of Commons will today vote to pass into law last year's proposal that 'incitement of religious hatred' be treated in the same way as incitement of racial hatred. As I've pointed out in these pages before, the law (while clearly based on good intentions) is a step in the wrong direction. For a country with a state religion, the UK has long been immune to faith based initiatives such as those currently influencing the White House.

The problem here is that religious belief does not have any intrinsic value. Everyone should always have the right to believe what they like… but should they have the right to have those beliefs immune from criticism? Are my political ideas somehow different from religious beliefs? All because my ideas are based on reality? The reason I'm worried is that this law will make it easier for people with certain beliefs to silence critics and heretics because of the threat of prosecution. This sort of legislation always encourages self-censorship and repression of free speech. It is already illegal to incite violence for any reason. The law must act to protect citizens. But the law must also make sense and this one doesn't.