Trevor Phillips and the Islamophobia indictment

Mar 11, 2020 by Jill

by Tim Dieppe, Christian Concern:

Former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips, claims to have: “introduced the term ‘Islamophobia’ to British politics by commissioning the Runnymead Trust’s 1997 report on the issue.” Now the proliferation of this term and its proposed definition as adopted by the Labour Party have come back to haunt him.

Allegations of Islamophobia

On Monday, The Times reported that this same Trevor Phillips, who lobbied for the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 – the first law giving practical protection to Muslims – and who was also an architect of the Equality Act which gave added protections to religion and belief, has been suspended from the Labour Party over allegations of Islamophobia.

Controversial definition of ‘Islamophobia’

The problem here stems, in particular, from a controversial definition of ‘Islamophobia’ proposed by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims in November 2018. The definition is:

“Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”

I have written before about how dangerous this definition is. Islam is not a race. ‘Perceived Muslimness’ is ridiculously vague. The APPG report on the definition makes clear that the idea is to define ‘Islamophobia’ as a form of ‘cultural racism’ whereby criticism of Islamic culture or practices is unacceptable. The adoption of this definition will serve to seriously threaten free speech in relation to Islam and Islamic issues. I was one of over 40 signatories to an open letter to the then Home Secretary last year which outlined the serious concerns about this definition which are shared by people from a wide range of faith and non-faith backgrounds.

In spite of such concerns, the APPG definition has been hastily adopted by various local councils, and by political parties, including, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and, of course, the Labour Party.

The adoption of this Islamophobia definition is now bearing its predicted fruit. Those who dare to raise valid questions about Islamic beliefs and practices are indicted – no matter what their prior track-record.

Read here

Read also: And now on Today, ranting Robinson denying free speech to Trevor Phillips by Julie Lynn, The Conservative Woman