Criticism of Islam is a protected belief

Phobia is an odd way to describe criticism against a religion anyway.

I wonder how the law would treat my wife, who was brought up as a Muslim in Iran and is very critical of the religion (as I am of Catholicism) and the effect it had on her in 1979 and her subsequent departure from the country of her birth, for obvious reasons.

It’s reassuring and I’m glad it’s been tested in court to draw for clarity’s sake, but a bit annoyed that we have people having to go to the courts for what should be common sense. The people in these cases basically have to focus way too much of their own time, energy and money on confirming the obvious,

I always thought it was straightforward, you can be mean about any idea but if it results in you harassing an individual or group of people or inciting violence then you have crossed the line.

I think that's the issue.

We can all have beliefs but dont have the right to impose them on anyone.

We all have the right to criticise a belief system, but dont have the right to then behave in a discriminatory or violent way towards someone because they have beliefs you dont share.

However, as with everything the moment politicians get hold of this sort of nuance any hope of a reasoned and balance behaviour goes out of the window.

Although for most of us the most obvious example are TRAs, many of whom aren't trans but have weaponised the issue so as to attack women and women's sex based rights.

Would be interesting to know where the courts would draw the line between reasonable criticism and hatred. But as we know even if a TRA calls out from a platform for violence against women, a male judge will just say not to take it seriously.

You should be okay if you just hold a belief and never express it to anyone, even within your own home.

"Who would police our thoughts and beliefs?"

Never forget, Posie had a policeman at her door saying he wanted to check her thinking

How can it be possible to stop someone having a belief? Who would police our thoughts and beliefs? Providing people do not descriminate or behave in ways that are unlawful does it really matter?

I think the winner of that case might have had a knock at the door if he'd been in Scotland: Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021

Definitions of 'phobia' against specific religions can't fly - they all think theirs is the only right way and judge the others' practices heretical. Considering heresy is a Very Bad Sin to the faithful, they'd all be guilty of 'phobia' .

I think Labour's definition is dead in the water now, quite rightly. You can only be bigoted against individuals not ideas.

Interesting news.

I wonder how that will sit with the governments’ apparent desire to outlaw ‘Islamophobia’ with a definition that precludes anyone ‘targeting expressions of Muslimness’?

I can think of a few apparent ‘expressions of Muslimness’ that need targeting.

From the website:

1. There is no single agreed definition of Islamophobia, albeit various civic, social, legal and political sources have attempted to define it. One definition is the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslim’s definition (APPG). The APPG defines Islamophobia as:

https://labour.org.uk/resources/labours-islamophobia-policy/

Hasn't this always been the case? ie that criticism of a religion is permitted, but the expression of it can be unacceptable eg

criticism of Judaism (or any religion) can be a protected "philosophical belief" under the Equality Act 2010, provided it meets specific legal criteria and does not cross the line into unlawful discrimination, harassment, or hate speech.

The key distinction is between holding a belief, which is an absolute right, and how that belief is manifested (expressed), which can be subject to limitations to protect the rights of others