ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the passage of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the divergent interests of religious organisations and the State. It opens by acknowledging the centrality of religions, religious leaders and religious texts, in the formation, dissemination and incorporation of human rights understandings and conventions. During the passage of the human rights legislation, the home secretary expressed confidence that section 13 of Act offered 'significant protection' to all religious believers. The chapter assesses this claim. In doing so, it explains why the representatives of certain Churches were concerned that the Act might jeopardise their religious freedoms and considers the various options which the government had open to it in responding to the fears of religious organisations. The chapter argues that whilst rightly criticised for being vague and imprecise, section 13 is, for all its faults, the least worst option which the government could have chosen to accommodate the competing political and ecclesiastical interests at play in this area.
