Banning Islamophobia: Blasphemy Law by the Backdoor

Mar 9, 2024 by Jill

by Frederick Attenborough, Free Speech Union:

The FSU recently published Banning Islamophobia: Blasphemy Law by the Backdoor, a research briefing by Tim Dieppe, and we’re pleased to say that it has since gained significant media traction (European Conservative, Jewish Chronicle, Spiked, Spiked).

You can read the briefing here.

Tim Dieppe, Head of Public Policy at Christian Concern, believes that any attempt to define ‘Islamophobia’ and punish those responsible for it, whether by cancelling them or changing the law to make ‘Islamophobia’ a ‘hate crime’, would have a chilling effect on free speech, criminalising historians, silencing critics of Islamism, and shutting down the last vestiges of open discussion about Islam, integration and multiculturalism.

That’s particularly true of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims’ definition, which was published in 2018 and quickly adopted by institutions including the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, the Scottish Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish Greens, as well as one in seven local authorities in England.

According to this definition, ‘Islamophobia’ is “rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”.

As Tim points out for Spiked, one of the many problems with the APPG’s definition is that its key terms – ‘Islam’ ‘Muslimness’ and ‘perceived Muslimness’ – are never explicitly defined, which means that “it can be invoked to shut down legitimate criticism of Islam as a religion, not just unacceptable prejudice towards Muslim people”.

For instance, is the definition’s reference to ‘Islam’ intended to suggest ‘religion and religious practices’, which should never be protected from criticism or even insult, or the people who perform those practices? And what about the term ‘Muslimness’ – is this targeting anti-Muslim hatred and bigotry against Muslims alone, or might it also be used to demonise critical commentary about ‘Muslim practices and beliefs’ in general?

It is because of these ambiguities, Tim says, that a “well-meaning effort to protect Muslim people from abuse ends up stifling debate about almost anything connected to Islam”.

Read here

Must read: Banning Islamophobia: Blasphemy Law by the Backdoor by Tim Dieppe