11 October 2007
In brief
Threatening people because of their religion or stirring up hatred against them because of their religious beliefs is now an offence, following the implementation of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006. This Act is similar to the Public Order Act 1986, which forbids inciting racial hatred. This allows Jews and Sikhs to be protected by race hatred laws because they are found by courts to be racial groups. Members of other religions were not, however, and this Act closes this loophole giving all religions the same protection. The law was watered down from original proposals to protect the right to free speech.
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