united-kingdom england-and-wales freedom-of-speech
What is a section 29J defence to stirring religious hatred?
<p>For religious hated but not racial hatred there is a section 29J defence contained in the public order act 1986 as amended. What is this about and when does it apply?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/1/notes" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/1/notes</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>16.New section 29J provides that the offences of stirring up religious hatred are not intended to limit or restrict discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule or insult or abuse of particular religions or belief systems or lack of religion or of the beliefs and practices of those who hold such beliefs or to apply to proselytisation, evangelism or the seeking to convert people to a particular belief or to cease holding a belief.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sorry but the above is just completely incomprehensible to me and I can't really make sense of it or parse the run on legalese/grammar. Could someone either indent into a sort of syntactic parse tree or simple explain what it means in plain English?</p>
<p>I suppose I have sort of a rough understanding of it but like then it's pretty generous and all encompassing and the question then becomes: what does this defence not cover, and when does it not apply?</p>

<p>Here is my best attempt:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>New section 29J provides that the offences of stirring up religious
hatred are not intended to:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>limit or restrict</p>
<ul>
<li>discussion</li>
<li>criticism</li>
<li>or expressions of
<ol>
<li>antipathy</li>
<li>dislike</li>
<li>ridicule or</li>
<li>insult</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>or abuse</li>
</ul>
<p>of:</p>
<ul>
<li>particular
<ol>
<li>religions or</li>
<li>belief systems</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>or lack of religion</li>
<li>or of the beliefs and practices of those who hold such beliefs</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><p>or to apply to:</p>
<ul>
<li>proselytisation</li>
<li>evangelism</li>
<li>or the seeking to convert people
<ol>
<li>to a particular belief</li>
<li>or to cease holding a belief.</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>

<p>The statutory defence is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Nothing in this Part shall be read or given effect in a way which
prohibits or restricts discussion, criticism or expressions of
antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular religions
or the beliefs or practices of their adherents, or of any other belief
system or the beliefs or practices of its adherents, or proselytising
or urging adherents of a different religion or belief system to cease
practising their religion or belief system.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <em>intent</em> is that Alice may say whatever she likes about [religion] (although she should be cautious about what she says of its followers - see below), she may try to persuade Bob to leave [religion], she may not shout at Bob, &quot;You are scum because you are of [religion].&quot;</p>
<p>In 2013 <a href="https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/app/uploads/2015/03/cp213_hate_crime_amended.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Law Commission wrote of this</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>2.118 It is difficult to assess the practical effect of this provision, in part because prosecutions under the religious hatred
provisions are so rare. In any event, the provision cannot override
the protection of articles 9 and 10 of the ECHR.<sup>176</sup></p>
<p>2.119 There are no reported cases interpreting section 29J. In commentary, it has been argued that the saving would allow someone to
say “Islam is a wicked evil faith” but not “Muslims are wicked and
evil”, because this could stir up hatred against Muslims as a
group.<sup>177</sup> However, this can be a fine line and it may be an
artificial exercise to distinguish between insulting and abusive
attacks on belief systems, and similar attacks on a group of religious
adherents.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Examples of such commentary can be found in <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN03768/SN03768.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the House of Commons Library Briefing Paper about The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006</a>.</p>
<p>Footnote 177 above points to a BBC article about the acquittal of the BNP's then-leader Nick Griffin prior to this legislation. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bradford/6135060.stm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bradford/6135060.stm</a></p>
<p>The Law Commission went on to say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>2.120 An example of expression which fell on the wrong side of this line is Bilal.<sup>178</sup> In this case, the defendant pleaded
guilty to an offence under section 29C. He had posted “highly abusive”
anti-Hindu content on the “Islamic awakenings” website, about a
college in India that had decided to ban Muslim students from wearing
the burka. In his plea the defendant had claimed to have had an
“emotional reaction” to what he perceived as anti-Islamic conduct by
the college.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This passage cites a criminal case and appeal - you can read some details in this judgment. However, my understanding is that the defence did not argue on the basis of 29J. <a href="https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2012/959.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2012/959.html</a></p>

<p>Nate Eldredge did a good job at parsing the text.</p>
<p>My own interpretation is that two things are explicitly permitted:</p>
<ul>
<li>Criticizing or speaking out against specific belief systems (including atheism) or of the practices associated with them (e.g. keeping Kosher, going on a pilgrimage to Mecca, wearing certain clothing).</li>
<li>Attempting to convert others to or from a specific belief system or unbelief.</li>
</ul>
<p>In other words, it's ok to hate a religion or a religious practice but not to express hate toward <em>specific people</em> who believe in or practice that religion. So, it's ok to say &quot;I hate Islam, all Muslims should convert to Odinism for reasons!!!11!11one. Glory to Odin the All-Father, all Muslims are going to hell!!!11!11one.&quot;, but not to go out in public and threaten Muslims intending that they fear or commit violence on the street.</p>
<p>In other words:</p>
<ul>
<li>Hate the religion but not the people.</li>
<li>It's ok to proselytize.</li>
</ul>
