by Katie Lam MP, Conservative Home
Katie Lam is the MP for the Weald of Kent and a former advisor in Downing Street and the Home Office.
Four years ago, a teacher at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire showed his pupils a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad during a religious studies class.
The subsequent images we saw were repugnant: angry young men outside the school, many hooded and masked, intimidating staff, parents and pupils. The campaign of abuse levelled at the teacher — who was delivering a lesson approved by the school – was unimaginable.
Suspended from teaching and forced into police protection, he hasn’t been able to return home, and to this day remains an exile in his own country.
Were his actions Islamophobic? Of course not. He was simply trying to teach his class about free expression — something we used to consider a public good. Free speech should be a fundamental right in any free and democratic country, yet in 21st century Britain it’s become impossible to show a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.
It may be distasteful to some, but no religion should be beyond mockery or criticism. In a free society you have the right to be offended and to offend.
That’s why the British public should be deeply concerned that the Government is currently consulting on a new official “definition of Islamophobia”, drawn up behind closed doors by a working group chaired by Dominic Grieve KC (notably the only non-Muslim member).
Talking freely about Islam ‘feared more than any other religion’ by Charles Hymas, Telegraph
Islamic radio station fined for hate accuses Ofcom of Islamophobia by Matt Dathan, The Times