ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 investigates the real function, or point and purpose, behind the introduction of stirring up religious hatred offences in England and Wales. We canvass five possible explanations. The public order explanation is that the offences were introduced to tackle the problem of street disturbances and riots that had taken on more complex racial, ethnic and religious dimensions since the Race Relations Act 1965. The sop explanation is that the stirring up religious hatred offences were intended to protect Muslims and sweeten the pill of anti-terrorism legislation that disproportionately burdened the Muslim community. The anti-terrorism explanation is that the laws were part of a strategy for combating Islamist terrorism post-9/11 and 7/7. The client politics explanation is that as victims of the stirring up of religious hatred Muslims became a highly motivated, mobilised and persuasive lobbying group. The parity of protection explanation points to the government’s desire to do the right thing by extending protections enjoyed by some groups to other similar groups, including Muslims. We come down on the side of a pluralistic explanation that combines public order, client politics and parity of protection but rejects both the sop explanation and the anti-terrorism explanation.
