|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Citing a recent incident of a man who was charged for burning a Quran, Robert Jenrick MP argues that burning a religious text as an act of protest should not be a criminal offence, and that doing so would create a two-tier blasphemy law that only applies to one particular religion – Islam. “It’s a two-tier blasphemy law, fit for Keir Starmer’s two-tier Britain,” he writes.
It’s not only the Crown Prosecution Service that is attempting to introduce blasphemy laws. Senior Labour Party figures, including Keir Starmer, have been promoting the idea of introducing blasphemy laws to protect Islam.
Blasphemy laws were abolished in the UK as a signal that in a free society, no religion should be shielded from insult, irreverence or ridicule. “We knew then, as we know now, that freedom of speech means nothing without the right to cause offence,” Mr. Jenrick says. “We must be much stronger in our defence of free speech – including, and especially, when that speech is offensive.”
Let’s not lose touch…Your Government and Big Tech are actively trying to censor the information reported by The Exposé to serve their own needs. Subscribe now to make sure you receive the latest uncensored news in your inbox…
Robert Jenrick: We Risk A Two-Tier Blasphemy Law, Fit For Starmer’s Two-Tier Britain
By Robert Jenrick as published by Conservative Home on 16 May 2025
Robert Jenrick is Shadow Justice Secretary, a former Home Office, Health and Housing Minister and is the MP for Newark.
In February, a man was arrested after footage emerged of him burning a Quran outside the Turkish Consulate in London. He said that he was protesting against the policies of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, which he feared were turning Turkey into a “base for radical Islamists.”
He was arrested and charged by the Crown Prosecution Service (“CPS”) with a religiously aggravated public order offence. Most concerningly, his charge sheet stated that he acted with intent to cause harassment, alarm, or distress “against the religious institution of Islam.”
This charge was plainly defective.
The Public Order Act only applies when an offence has been caused to an actual person – and obviously, the “religious institution of Islam” is not a person. In effect, if the CPS had been allowed to continue with the case using this charge, they would have been bringing blasphemy laws in by the back door.
That’s why I went public with the full details of the case, raising concerns about the fact that our public order laws were being used to bring in blasphemy charges by the back door. I also wrote to the Chief Inspector of the CPS, urging him to urgently review the charge. Unsurprisingly, people were outraged.
Fortunately, the CPS caved and announced that they would drop the charge, but it should never have come to this. It shouldn’t have taken a political campaign for the CPS to recognise that this was a clear abuse of our public order laws. And this is by no means an unqualified victory – the new charge is also seriously concerning.
Though the reference to the “religious institution of Islam” has been removed from the charge sheet, this man is still standing trial because he burned a religious text.
In certain circumstances, it might be a public order offence to burn a religious text. For example, burning a Torah scroll at the doors of a synagogue – that’s clearly designed to harass and intimidate particular people. But burning a religious text as an act of protest should never be a criminal offence. Offensive? Yes. Criminal? Absolutely not.
The challenge with the Quran in particular is that, over and above most other religious texts, many Muslims say that they regard it as offensive wherever and whenever it happens. This poses a huge problem for us as a society. In a free society, it must be possible to mock and criticise religions, including in ways that people may find offensive. Criminalising the burning of a Quran in any setting effectively creates a blasphemy law – and one that only really applies to one particular religion.
It’s a two-tier blasphemy law, fit for Keir Starmer’s two-tier Britain.
The CPS’s charge risked bringing a blasphemy law through the back door. But there are now MPs within the Labour Party who aren’t shy about introducing one through the front door.
Last November, Labour MP Tahir Ali asked Sir Keir Starmer whether he would introduce laws to ban “desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of Abrahamic religions.” The Prime Minister’s response should have been clear. Burning a religious text might be offensive, but we do not – and should not – have blasphemy laws in the UK. That much should have been obvious.
However, shockingly, Starmer refused to rule it out. He said that we must tackle “Islamophobia in all its forms,” essentially conceding that the state has a duty to prevent criticism of Islam.
In February, Labour’s Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, was asked whether it should be a crime to desecrate a Quran. Once again, her answer should have been clear. Instead, she refused to commit one way or the other, saying that “we already have a framework in place” to deal with “threats to our cohesion and our communities”. Why is this Government so reluctant to speak out in defence of free speech?
When push comes to shove, Labour has shown that it isn’t serious about protecting free speech. Back in 2021, a schoolteacher in Batley was forced into hiding after showing a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad to his students. His school faced protests from Muslim parents. What was the response from Tracy Brabin, Labour’s Mayor of West Yorkshire?
To “welcome the school’s apology and recognition of the offence this has caused.” Not a word in defence of free speech, and not a word of condemnation for the fact that, in certain communities, criticism or mockery of Islam is already effectively impossible.
As we speak, the Government is planning to introduce an official definition of Islamophobia. This may be a well-intentioned to tackle anti-Muslim hate, which everyone can agree should be stamped out. But given the Labour Party’s inability to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Islam and hate based on personal characteristics, a formal definition could open the door to worrying restrictions on free speech.
While we don’t know what definition the Government’s ‘Islamophobia Commission’ will propose, we do know that senior figures within the Labour Party have previously supported the definition proposed by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims. This “APPG definition” was formally adopted by Labour’s National Executive Committee in 2019.
According to that definition, “Islamophobia” could include complaining about immigration from Muslim majority countries, characterising grooming gangs as “majority Muslim,” or criticising Islam from a philosophical perspective. This would be, in effect, reintroducing a formal blasphemy law. No other religion is afforded this unique protection.
We do not have blasphemy laws in this country, and rightly so. They were abolished by Parliament in 2008, a deliberate and principled step which signalled that, in a free society, no religion should be shielded from insult, irreverence or ridicule. We knew then, as we know now, that freedom of speech means nothing without the right to cause offence.
It’s not for the CPS, the courts or the police to reintroduce blasphemy laws by the back door.
Unfortunately, when politicians like Starmer don’t stand up for free speech, institutions are given free rein to crack down on speech which might cause offence to one particular group. We must be much stronger in our defence of free speech – including, and especially, when that speech is offensive.
Fail to do so, and we risk losing one of the precious freedoms that makes our country so great.
Featured image adapted from ‘Pakistani Christians brace for more persecution under revised blasphemy law’, Aleteia, 2 February 2023 and ‘The Urgent Fight Against Blasphemy Laws’, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
The Expose Urgently Needs Your Help…
Can you please help to keep the lights on with The Expose’s honest, reliable, powerful and truthful journalism?
Your Government & Big Tech organisations
try to silence & shut down The Expose.
So we need your help to ensure
we can continue to bring you the
facts the mainstream refuses to.
The government does not fund us
to publish lies and propaganda on their
behalf like the Mainstream Media.
Instead, we rely solely on your support. So
please support us in our efforts to bring
you honest, reliable, investigative journalism
today. It’s secure, quick and easy.
Please choose your preferred method below to show your support.
Categories: Breaking News
The UK is being taken over by islam.
Stop it now or you’ll be too late.
And your evidence for this spurious claim is?
Is it from racists/Islamophobes like Jenryck, Braverman, Robinson, Farage, etc? Really? Use your intelligence and common sense and stop being a tool for the propagandists and hate preachers.
All 3.5million Muslims are taking over UK? How does that work? How many Muslim MPs are there in Parliament that can change UK law in their favour?
You don’t have a clue do you?
Ask Jenryck if criticism and attacks on Jews and his religion Judaism, burning the Torah, etc are all acceptable and part of free speech? Just like he attacks anyone criticising israel? So much for free speech hey !
star chamber Starmer would be an appropriate nickname, maybe.
9
The Qur’an was revealed to John the Baptist around 50AD. ‘Muhammad’ which is mentioned 4 times only in the Qur’an literally means ‘the one who was praised’. This is in reference to John who was praised by the Messiah when he said, “Of men born of women there is none greater than John the Baptist.”
In the Qur’an John is called ‘yahya’ which literally means ‘he will live’. This puts paid to the Bible version that John was beheaded.
In the Qur’an the destruction of the Temple is a FUTURE event. This dates the Qur’an to prior to 70AD.
In the Qur’an ‘mecca’ is mentioned one time in 48:24. When translated and read correctly this verse can ONLY be referring to the events of Makkedah in the Book of Joshua when the Israelites entered the Promised Land.
In the Qur’an the 3 verses 3:121-123 are clearly referring to Jericho in Israel. Badr in Arabic means ‘full moon’. Jericho in Hebrew is a form of yareach which refers to the moon. The Israelites fought against people who were physically greater in size, they pretended to retreat and Joshua got his ambush team in position in the very early hours of the morning. All this is clear when the 3 verses are correctly translated.
I could go on but the point is: “The Qur’an authenticates the Bible and the Bible explains the Qur’an.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/government-advisor-warns-uk-heading-civil-war
Holy War;
Why The Probability Of A UK Civil War
Has Dramatically Increased…
“How the destruction of legitimacy from successive governments’ open border policy has led to their inability to protect children from grooming gangs…”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/government-advisor-warns-uk-heading-civil-war
All other religions have faced offences, insults and Onslaught attacks from islamists on an ongoing basis, for years and at multiple levels. Yet, they can dish it and demand to get away with it, however they refuse to accept the same criticism as they’re dishing out. The hypocrisy is striking and I can’t believe people are even going in defence mode.
Obviously, Starmer is a puppet of WEF and the other UNELECTED GLOBALISTS, and therefore just following lockstep orders that WILL lead to a loss of national sovereignty where there’s no democracy or freedom of speech at all. I think tge globalists are half way there to succeed.
PEOPLE WAKE UP AND GET INVOLVED IN POLITICS ON A LOCAL AND FEDERAL LEVEL. IT’S DOWN TO THE FINAL HOURS BEFORE YOU HAVE LOST IT ALL.
That’s ok. When the
Lord returns He will
separate the sheep
from the goats.
Starmer better be on
the side of the sheep.
The UK has embraced Islam and in doing so has embraced Satan the father of Islam, this will not end well for the people of England.
You need serious psychiatric help. If you had an ounce of intelligence you could be credible. But comments like this show your utter ignorance, lack of education bordering on racism and bigotry.
To educate you should read the Quran to learn the answer to your stupid claims.
UK has NOT embraced Islam. Thanks to Godless racists/ Islamophobes like Jenryck, Farage, Braverman, Anderson, Gove, etc we have a violent culture of hate against Islsm/ Muslims ( e.g Southport hijacked). So how has UK embraced Islam?
As or ” Satan the father of Islam” – i won’t waste my valuable time on educating an imbecile who displays amazing lack of knowledge. Get educated before you make such idiotic claims. Even a primary school kid knows Satan is an enemy of Islam, as well as of Christianity and Judaism ( the monotheistic regions).
Stick to trains not theology!
Islam is not a religion, it’s an ideology and nothing more. Muhammad was not a prophet but a crazy man with illusions of grandeur. He was a psycho who loved to kill. You can’t make religion out of that.