http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1504611,00.html
In defence of bigotry
The Religious Hatred Bill will only feed prejudice and lawyers
Henry McDonald
Sunday June 12, 2005
The Observer
Pastor Clifford Peoples is an anti-Catholic sectarian bigot and I will
defend his right to continue to be so.
For stating the above, however, I could theoretically be risking seven years
in jail; paradoxically, Pastor Peoples could be joining me behind bars if he
keeps up his anti-Catholic tirades both from the pulpit and the pages of the
ultra-loyalist hate sheet known as Romewatch .
Under New Labour's Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, which was unveiled last
week, the abuse of one's religion or belief might lead to prosecutions and,
ultimately, a prison sentence for those causing offence. Given the myriad of
fundamentalist religious Christian sects in Northern Ireland, the new
legislation is in danger here of becoming a cranks' charter for the Most
Oppressed Peoples Ever.
Pastor People's anti-Catholicism was laid out all for all to see 48 hours
before the new bill was introduced. The Shankill Road preacher and convicted
loyalist terrorist agreed to take part in an unintentionally hilarious BBC
Northern Ireland Spotlight investigation into a bust-up between him and
other parishioners belonging to a born-again Christian micro-church known as
'the Bethel'.
The row centred on People's decision to distribute copies of Romewatch, a
newssheet written by his friend, mentor and extreme loyalist, Pastor Alan
Campbell. Some members of the church objected to this because it was deemed
overtly political and therefore non-biblical. Mirroring the schismatic trend
of secular loyalism since the ceasefire, the church then divided into
warring factions, with each side seeking to defeat the other through the
courts rather than using handguns and rifles.
It was apposite that the shadowy figure of Alan Campbell emerged in the
Spotlight film, because it was his old friend, the late, loyalist paedophile
John McKeague, who was one of only three people prosecuted under Northern
Ireland's unique incitement to hatred laws. Think about it. We had 30 years
of incipient civil war accompanied by a constant, nagging soundtrack of
sectarian abuse and vituperation and what did our incitement to hatred law
produce? One single prosecution that led to an acquittal.
Campbell's protoge, Pastor Peoples, leads a dwindling flock that believes,
among other things, that the Ulster Protestants are the lost tribe of
Israel. Now anyone who believes in the power of reason and the necessity of
historical inquiry knows this is patent nonsense.
Yet to point this out, to ridicule what is blatantly ridiculous, runs the
risk of breaching Tony Blair's new legislation. Conversely, Pastor Peoples
has the right to counter this critique by alleging his opponents are
inciting hatred against his church. Moreover, anyone from the Catholic
community who picks up and reads the revolting bigotry of Romewatch has the
right to attack Peoples, Campbell and other fundamentalists through the new
law. And given the litigious nature of Northern Irish society, it's a safe
bet the legal profession will gladly offer their services to the slighted,
the offended and the 'concerned'.
It is worth highlighting the extreme example of Peoples, Campbell and the
British Israelite wing of Protestant fundamentalism in order to expose the
absurdities and dangers inherent in this new law. What they have to say
about Catholicism and Catholics is undoubtedly bigoted, sectarian bilge.
However, where does society draw the line between the right of free speech
for Peoples and his supporters and the free speech of liberal opponents and
critics? Those who believe in free, open discourse cannot have one standard
for themselves and another for those they disagree with.
On my newly found spiritual home, the sane left, robustly secular,
anti-fundamentalist website Harry's Place, there is a legend that reads:
'Liberty, if it means anything at all, is the right to tell people what they
don't want to hear.' One of the inherent problems of the north of Ireland is
that there are far too many people who shut down all five senses when
confronted with truths they want to avoid. After Thursday in the country of
the blind, deaf and dumb, hordes will rush to the courts to shut down any
questioning of faith and unreason.
The new bill exposes the hollowness at the centre of the New Labour project.
For in order to win back Muslim support, the Blair government has bowed to
Islamic activist pressure and risked curbing one of the key liberties in a
free society. In the first verse of that global hymn to the socialist
movement, 'The Internationale', the words of the fifth line urge workers
'away with all your superstitions'. Under the new legislation, to denounce
theistic theocracy as a 'superstition' runs the risk of being accused, in
turn, of inciting hatred against Islam, Christianity or Judaism or, for that
matter, Satanism or Jedi.
In theory, 'The Internationale' could be deemed an anthem to incite hatred
against the religiously devout. It is the politics of ethnic rage gone mad
and, given the Northern Ireland experience, the only certain result will be
some lawyers getting a whole lot richer than they already are.
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